Jill Can Cook: Sweet & Savory Crockpot Chicken

I love chicken. If I had to pick my favorite food, it would be chicken. It's yummy. It's versatile. It's what I usually order if I'm ordering out because, really, you just can't screw it up! I don't cook chicken (or anything really) too often; I usually leave it to my husband to cook. He's a better cook than me. It's true. He is. He's way more adventurous than I am... But not for long.

I found this recipe at "Cooking Pinterest" and decided I wanted to make it for dinner. But.. I didn't want to roast it. I wanted to make it in the crock pot. I have to be difficult, I know. So, I changed everything up so I could set it and forget it. We'll know by the end of this post if it worked or not. Fingers crossed.

 

Sweet & Savory Crockpot Chicken

Ingredients:
4 Chicken leg quarters
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Directions:
Place all ingredients in crockpot. Baste chicken. Cook for 5-6 hours in crockpot on high.


I don't know if I've fully explained why I choose the recipes I have. What makes me tick, you wonder! Well, I tend to look for recipes that, obviously, have stuff in it that I know me and the kids/husband will eat. That's a given. But beyond that, I tend to go for recipes that either have ingredients that already reside in my pantry, so I don't have to make a special trip to the store, or have ingredients that I've used before, so I have some sort of idea how to prepare it.

Not this recipe though. I don't usually stock fresh parsley or shallots in my kitchen. In fact, I've never cooked with either ingredient before. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but to me, the neophyte, it is. I'm starting to feel like a real "chef." (In quotes because I don't really feel like a full blown chef, but more of a chef than what I started as!)

So, those shallots, they're a killer.



Not my best picture, but you get the idea.

I only chopped 3 of them. They're tiny as all get-out, but the poisonous gas they realeased, OMG!!! I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out of my head. They REALLY cleared out my sinuses. Anyway, I tried to cut them up in my best Keanu Reeves/Matrix stance, as if bullets were flying at me, but that did not help. I had to actually leave the room for a minute to compose myself. I also had to wash my hands up to my elbows, with about a pound of hand soap, before I could function again.

Everybody in the Crock Pot!!!

I had the Crock Pot on high as I grabbed my ingredients and got to chopping and measuring. So, by the time I had to get the chicken in, it already smelled fantastic!

The chicken after the first time I basted them.

Since I'm doing this in the Crock Pot, as opposed to in the oven, I wonder how often I'll need to baste it. Joe always tells me not to keep opening the lid because it lets all the steamy air out. So, I've decided once every 75 minutes I'll move everything around and baste the chicken.

Right before I pulled them out of the Crock Pot

The chicken was so tender, it just fell right off the bone (which I expected). That made for a delicious dinner, but made it tougher to take nice pictures. I was able to get one leg quarter out of the pot nicely and here it is:

All plated up!!

I cut up some red potatoes and threw them in the oven with some olive oil, garlic powder, pepper, and a packet of dry French onion soup. I also cut up some veggies for a side salad, so we'd have a well rounded dinner. Joe was very impressed with my time management skills as dinner was ready about 5 minutes after he walked through the door after a long day of working.

It's like 8pm. I look like crap at 8pm.

Quinn ate all her salad before she ate her actual dinner.

Mitchell hardly ate anything. Better luck tomorrow.

Quinn ate all the salad, chicken and potatoes, but it took her a little over an hour. Mitchell only ate salad stuff and grapes. Usually, he's the better eater of the two, so that's kind of weird.

Toby, going in for the kill!!

I love catching the cats in mid-yawn. They look so scary!  Anyway, I think next time I make this dinner, I'll make it in the oven, like it was intended. I loved the tenderness, but I think I might prefer a crispier skin, although, I guess I could've fried the skin first. That's something to keep in mind, I guess. Even though it wasn't absolutely perfect, Joe and I really did like it. I enjoyed cooking with a few new ingredients. I don't think it was tough to get the kids to eat it because they didn't like it, they were just in the mood to be difficult. We will definitely be making this again!!