What’s the opposite of Post Traumatic Stress? Post Euphoric Orgasm? I don’t know, but something in me twitched when I saw this picture and suddenly I could taste the lime and avocado and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes in my mouth.
I was having lunch with a friend one day, lamenting about all the boring recipes available for cooking a whole chicken in a crock pot. I did an internet search, and all of them started with “place chicken in a crock pot with a potato, onion, and some carrots…” The traditionally roasted chicken in white wine or broth is nice on occasion, but I was looking for a new way to use slow cooked chicken. Buying a chicken whole is one of the cheapest ways to get it (ninety-nine cents a pound at Costco). I wanted to be able to buy it often, but not just to make the same old roasted chicken.
My friend pulled out a recipe she’d gotten from her mother-in-law (mother? I can’t remember now), and it’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ve already used the lime and cilantro to cook a chicken for the Thai Chicken and Rice Salad, and I’ll be on the lookout for more ways to use it.
How do you slow cook your whole chicken, and then how do you serve it? Share any fun recipes in the comments, or link to your own blog.
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Lime and Cilantro Whole Chicken
3-4lb chicken frier
¾-1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 small lime, juiced
½ cup Cilantro Sprigs
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Directions (for the night before serving):
1-Remove giblets neck and fat from fryer. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker, breast side up. Squeeze lime over chicken. Place lime rind, cilantro and garlic in cavity. Cook on low 6-7 hours to 180 degrees.
2-Allow chicken to cool. Remove skin from cooled chicken and shred.
3-Refrigerate juice in cooker.
4-Remove fat from refrigerated juice.
Directions for day of serving:
1 Large Onion
½ tsp Oregano
¼ C Dry White Wine
Salsa (to taste)
1-Cook onion until soft. Add oregano and cook 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook until almost boiled off.
2-Add cooked chicken until hot.
3-Add 1/3 of juice, sizzle and reduce until syrupy.
4-Add ½ of remaining juice, sizzle and reduce until syrupy.
5-Add salsa and remaining drippings and bring to boil. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
6-Season with salt and pepper
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This recipe is a two-day process, but it is so easy. You just have to remember to thaw the chicken over night two nights before you need to make the meal. The first time I made it I forgot to thaw the chicken, so I had to push it back a night. But believe me when I say it was so good I never made that mistake again.
As you can see from the picture, I added black beans to the chicken (we eat black beans with nearly everything), and served it in whole wheat tortillas with homemade salsa (avocado, green onions, sungold cherry tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, salt). I know I totally sound like Suzie Homemaker when say all that, but some nights all the planets align and I can manage to throw together a pretty decent meal.
Other nights? It’s broiled chicken with salt and pepper and a bagged salad. It all works out.
Thanks for this recipe! Yes, I am always looking for new recipes for a whole chicken, because it’s so cheap, and then I don’t know what to do with it! Good suggestion, I’ll try this one this week.
My Wednesday night meal – thanks Jennifer!