// Finally Lose Weight

When looking for dinner ideas I always seem to think of chicken. It’s easy, there’s a million different ways to make it. You can add so many different flavors to create meals from many cultures. It’s also a relatively cheap cut of meat, which makes it perfect for family meals. Here are some tips to help you cook chicken my favorite way, in the crock pot.

It seems chicken is a staple in many American households, whether you live in the south or the north, whether you bake it or fry it, you find it being served for family dinners at least once a week in many households.

You can cook pieces or a whole chicken in the crock pot. All of the chicken pieces will do quite well. If you are cooking them all together you just need to be aware of the temperature setting and how quickly certain pieces will cook. You will find the wings, thighs and legs will cook faster than the thicker breast pieces. This is quite similar to cooking a whole chicken in the oven.

If you are cooking chicken pieces with bones in, you are in luck. These pieces are less likely to dry out in a slow cooker. However, you have to be a little more careful with boneless breast pieces. Without enough liquid, and cooking them too long you may find they dry out.

One great thing about cooking chicken in the crock pot is you can just throw the chicken in frozen. Not only is this ok, it makes it less likely you will have dried out chicken by the time you get home from a long day. When you put frozen chicken in the crock pot it will take longer to not only cook the meat but defrost it first. This gives you plenty of leeway to leave the chicken cooking for the whole day. You will find using frozen chicken in your crock pot creates perfect dinners after a long hard day.

If you are using thawed chicken make sure to give your chicken a rinse, and then go ahead and season the chicken before you put it in the bottom of your crock pot. If you are using frozen chicken just go ahead and toss it in the crock. You can add your seasoning to the top of the frozen chicken.

A liquid is needed at the start of cooking. Instead of water, add some seasoned chicken broth to infuse the meat with flavor. Another hint is to lightly flour and saut the chicken for a couple of minutes before slow cooking. The bits from the pan will flavor the broth in the slow cooker even more. Frozen chicken needs very little liquid as liquid will be created as the chicken defrosts.

You can also add vegetables in with your meat. You can use just about any vegetable in the crock pot, but some will hold up better than others. Green beans are a veggie you want to add in for the last 30 minutes of cooking or so. The crock pot can also change the flavor of vegetables. Peppers are one example of this. Peppers will turn bitter if cooked too long in the crock pot, so add these in the last 30 minutes as well.

Crock pots can varied widely in cooking temperature. This is why you see such wide cooking time frames in recipes. You have to test your crock pot a few times so you will know which end of the cooking time your particular machine is on. When cooking chicken you will have to cook chicken parts at least 3 hours. Frozen chicken needs to be cooked the maximum amount of time. If you are in a hurry you can switch to the high setting. For every one on high it equals 2 hours on the low setting.

Any spices you add to chicken dishes can be left for last. Fresh herbs will infuse quickly throughout the meal so an hour in the cooker is good. Dried spices can take a bit longer to flavor so add about two hours before the meal is done. Stir up the dish so the herbs and spices are evenly distributed.