Herb Roasted Chicken with Summer Tomatoes Slow Cooker Recipe
Roasting a chicken in your crockpot slow cooker is an awesome way to get super moist and delicious chicken each and every time.
I hate dry chicken and when you cook it this way it will always be juicy!
Save the drippings in the bottom of the crock to make a wonderful gravy or to use as a broth for making rice, cous cous, or quiona.
I made a whole chicken yesterday in the slow cooker, and it turned out really well.
We had some tomatoes that needed to get used up before they turned into pasta sauce, and I threw them on top of the bird while it slow-cooked.
I loved the end result: a moist, flavorful chicken with gooey packed-with-flavor tomatoes.
For an added bonus, you can save the crock drippings to make steamed rice.
The best rice in the history of the universe.
The Ingredients.
serves 4-6
4 pounds chicken, whole or parts, your choice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons herbes de provence (fancy!)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
8 vine-ripened tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine (you could use apple juice)
The Directions.
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine dry spices and set aside.
Wash chicken, remove neck and giblets, and try to cut off as much skin as you can using poultry shears.
If the chicken is fully thawed, this is much easier to do.
Rub the seasoning mixture on all sides of the bird, inside and out and place into your stoneware. I chose to put the chicken breast-side down, to keep it extra moist.
Wash and cut the stemmy part out of each tomato, and plop on top.
Pour the white wine in, and cover the slow cooker. Cook on low for about 7 hours, or on high for 4-5.
Carefully remove the bird from the pot, and retain the drippings to make a pot of steamed rice.
The Verdict.
I loved this meal.
The chicken was cooked perfectly (I did 2 hours on high, 3 hours on low, and then it sat on warm for another hour) and the tomatoes were amazing.
I am so glad to have made rice out of the pan drippings----it was a delicious side.
This is the type of rice cooker I use (amazon aff link) -- I found mine inexpensively at Walgreens.
The kids ate their chicken dipped in barbecue sauce, because that's what makes them happy, and weren't overly pleased with the seasoned rice, but did eat it.
do you remove the skin for another reason than the fact that chicken skin squicks you out? I tend to leave the skin on always, and just wanted to know if that was important for this recipe.
ReplyDeleteJust curious!
Thanks!
ooh, I like that word, squick. It's up to you, of course, but skin in the slow cooker gets really slimy and tends to fall off. I also try to lower the fat overall in most meals that we make, and removing the skin removes virtually all the fat. When cooking in the oven, or on the bbq, leaving the skin on is important to retain moisture, but a slow-cooked chicken will be moist no matter what.
ReplyDeletexox steph
Stephanie, please tell us how you made the steamed rice with the chicken drippings.
ReplyDeleteHi Rosemary,
ReplyDeletesure! I scooped out the drippings, and saw that it was pretty close to 3 cups of liquid, so I put that in the rice cooker with 1 1/2 cups of raw rice and pushed the button!
:-)
If you don't have enough collected drippings to do the math easily, you can add warm water or some chicken broth to round it out.
xoxo steph
Im curious if the tomatoes tasted a lot like tomatoes or if they absorbed the other flavors well. I am not a huge tomato fan, but there always seems to be so many of them each summer! (And I eat some because I know it is good for me!)
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeletethey do taste pretty tomatoey, probably even more so than normal, since they slow cooked in their own juices. Tomatoes might not be the best idea for you, then.
xoxo steph
PERFECT! I have a handful of tomatoes that I need to use,and chicken is on sale this week! I'll be trying this one for Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI have some chicken parts that need to be used and some garden fresh tomatoes. I am doing this tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteyummy! Adding it to our menu for next week!
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious, but reading it is making me sad. My crock broke (a big crack through it!) and I haven't gotten a new one yet. You don't realize how much you use something until it's gone.
ReplyDeleteI love making chicken in the crockpot, it's just so easy! This will be a nice change from the 40 clove garlic chicken that I make a lot. Thanks, steph!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using the juice to make rice! I'm cooking a chicken in my crock right now, so I'm excited to try this to make my rice extra tasty!
ReplyDeleteHooray for such a great summer recipe. I made the skinned whole chicken like rotisserie and my we absolutely loved it. It was so tender without the skin. This is a nice way to change it up.
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome! Making rice with the drippings! I wonder how long it would take the rice to cook on the stove - I don't have a rice cooker.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow I'm doing a pork shoulder in BBQ sauce (with a little liquid smoke to make it taste like it was smoked!) with some portuguese sausage for more flavor! You and the lunch counter gave me inspiration (today's lunch was pulled pork, but I couldn't ask if it was GF, but I immediately thought of my crock 'cause your blog!)
Keep up the great work, and congrats on your other slowcooking project!
Stephanie GF 8/05
I don't have EXTRA tomatoes yet but I will soon enough, as I feel the avalanche about to start. Filing this away for when we're not eating them all just sliced.
ReplyDeleteI find it is easier to take the skin off a chicken when it's still partly frozen. At least it is for chicken thighs, which I mostly use. The meat is hard, so the skin just pulls away, and you can tear chunks of fat away easily too.
ReplyDeleteI love the recipe and idea for the rice. I am confused by the name change? Did I miss a memo about this year being slow cooking rather than crock-potting? I am guessing it has to do with brand name stuff but I really need a heads up to avoid brain scramble. I now remove the skin based on your comments on previous recipes and it has been a saving measure for many dinners. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds good. I wouldn't have thought to toss in the tomatoes like that. Good idea if you have extra maters. I bet the maters and broth would be good over pasta too.
ReplyDeleteThis recipe sounds great. I have a bunch of tomatoes I just picked off of my tomato plants, so this would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - my kids slather nearly every piece of meat with some kind of sauce or gravy, too.
I've preordered your book and anxiously awaiting its release. thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just found your site yesterday. I thought I was the only person in the world who had more than one crockpot!
ReplyDeleteThis is so simple & healthy. I'll have to make it!
ReplyDeleteThis was great! I made it this weekend, with skinless chicken pieces. Even though I put paprika in, the chicken wasn't very spicy, but the tomato flavours and the herbs just mingled perfectly! It was a great hit with my hubby and 2 ravenous sons. I used some mixed herbes de provence and some rosemary and thyme out of my garden (only thing I've ever planted that hasn't died LOL) ;-)
ReplyDeleteThen I followed your advice and used the sauce to make rice; that was very tasty but the rice came out less fluffy than it usually does, when I use just water.
Anyway thanks for this, we will definitely do this one regularly!
Greetings from France,
Larousse
I made this yesterday & it turned out great! I put chunks of carrots in the bottom with the chicken and added halved button mushrooms to cook during the last 2 hours. Oh, I had red wine, so that's what I used & it was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI've just discovered your blog... amazing!!
ReplyDeleteI'm following now for some more great ideas..
Well done you xx
That’s how I like it - super-easy and hyper-fast preperations. And I love herbes de provence . Will definitely try it!
ReplyDeleteThank you- I love this recipe. I've made variations of it a couple of times, and it'll definitely be in my regular rotation- when I get a get a rotation, that is. :)
ReplyDeleteI love this site. thank you. Im addicted to my crock pot and have made up a couple recipes but dont have nearly enough. cant wait to get your book!
ReplyDeletethis recipe is delicious! i used the drippings to make quinoa instead of rice and it turned out amazing!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this recipe! Great way to use up excess tomatoes from the garden!
ReplyDeleteThe first day, I loved the chicken the best. But for the leftovers, I think I liked the rice cooked in the juices better. I think some of my chicken breasts got cooked a bit too long, and were dry on reheating.
I might try adding some veggies to the bottom of the pot like someone else suggested. I'll definitely be making this again this week.
Thanks for a great dish :)
Made this last week. It was great!
ReplyDeletemmmm remove the skin, season with adobo, and pan fry it in a hot skillet! bang! crackling, heaven.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the biggest user of slow cookers, don't like them that much, but think I'll have to try this recipe. Really curious to see how it'll turn out, looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I'm a long-time follower of yours and love how "real" you are with the recipe reviews and how easy your recipes are to follow.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make this today. I have a question about rubbing the herbs on the chicken. Any time a recipe tells me to rub spices onto any kind of meat, I always seem to end up with half of them caked onto my fingers instead of on the meat. Any suggestions to prevent this or is it just what happens?
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question --- I have that happen, too. If possible, once the chicken is in the pot, rub your hands together to try and get all the stuff left on your hands to fall into the pot. Even if the spices aren't directly on the skin of the bird, that way they are in the pot to help permeate the flavor.
good luck!!