To think a whole chicken cooked in a slow cooker is

[formerbabe]

absolutely disgusting!

WARNING...Graphic description of chicken!

So, I'd read a lot on here about cooking a whole chicken in a slow cooker, so I did it and it was absolutely repulsive!

Slimy, greasy, grey, falling apart with bits of limp skin hanging off it and tiny bones breaking free from the carcass.

Yuk, yuk, yuk!

How long did you do it for?

Quite a while...I think maybe about 5 hours. I think I prefer chicken with more bite to it and a bit of crispiness. Plus, it looks so unappetising. My dc were when I served it up to them!

I think its fine if you are doing it to make soup and use left over meat for a pie, but otherwise not so much.

Also with dollydaydream ... I don't care how many times people say "I never sweat the veg" or "no need to brown the meat" "my food is delicious" .... it really really isn't
if you throw ingredients in and warm them through all day then it's just not going to taste of anything other than not quite boiled veg peelings.

Certain types of meat are delicious slow cooked, shin of beef just begs to be left on its own bubbling away all day, but for goodness sake treat it properly....sear it off first, sweat some onions, celery and carrots, add S&P and some herbs, deglaze the pan with some decent stock, then set it in the slow cooker.

We had a broken freezer on a farm last year, so all the (ridiculous) amounts of meat in it needed properly thawing and cooking before we froze it again. Among this was five chickens, and we had the slow cooker going constantly.

We didn't sweat the veg or brown the meat, and Tondelaya, it was delicious. However, we didn't expect magic from meat and veg - we chucked in herbs/spices, stock, some wine etc too.

I don't like it much either.

Boneless thighs in the slow cooker are the best.

YANBU. It made me heave.

Chilli (meat browned first otherwise it's oily) and pulled pork are the only two meals I've managed to do successfully in the slow cooker. I really really want to like it as I like the smell when you walk in on a cold day but everything else has been bleurrrgghhh.

If you are going to serve chicken as it is, it helps to season it with something like paprika, so it isn't quite so white looking.
Lamb shoulder is wonderful in it... I left it in with tin of tomatoes, red wine, seasoning for a few hours, then took out the bone, added peppers and pearl barley, yum.

I only do it for about 3-4 hours (check it with a meat thermometer), I don't brown it but do remove skin, add a glass of wine, salt and pepper, bay leaf, a couple of chopped carrots and onions for the gravy.

I'll just leave this here.

Slow cooked food is generally rank. Get a pressure cooker instead.

I mean, slow cooked in a slow cooker. For some reason the same food slow cooked in an oven/hob/Rayburn tastes much better.

Anyone with an electric oven doesn't need a separate slow cooker. My mum slow cooked all her stews and meat by putting it on a really low heat for hours in the ordinary oven

I wouldn't go out and leave my electric oven on buy quite happy to with my SC.

SC chick makes the BEST gravy,we have it with rice and broccoli.

If you'd complained about gammon in coke THEN I'd agree OP! Blerk!!

Yep. Same here - have tried all sorts of different things in our slow cooker - really wanted it to work each time as I loved the idea of doing all the work earlier then enjoying a delicious tea. Always disappointed by soggy meat, hard veg, rubbery sausages. Tried browning meat first. Tried chopping veg small. Always ends up tasting like ready made stock ( even if I didn't use any!) And now I have to store a massive slow cooker in a tiny kitchen because it was a gift.

I've done it w couple of times and basically made soup. It's delicious, chicken, stock, veggies, leave to slow cook, strip th chicken and put it back in. Yum.

Plus I hate those recipes where you are supposed to make something in a slow cooker... and then serve with mash or even baked potatoes!

Er, yes, I will just put the oven on for an hour now to cook some baked potatoes. Or start farting around with peeling, boiling and mashing spuds then washing up the pan. Doesn't that defeat the object of an energy saving/ pre- made tea?

Love my slow cooker but whole chicken didn't work for me either , I was expecting it to be like a casserole chicken texture but it was just ...weird. Good quality free range chicken too!!

Very - I have just invested in an Instant Pot and will probably be getting rid of the slow cooker now. A whole chicken done in either of them is similar, but for everything else that I used to do in the slow cooker the IP is proving to be better, faster and cleaner. Being able to saute in the same pan is a really useful too.

Love a beef casserole or coq aux vin in the sc really easy and delicious. Not the same smell as using the oven but still good!

OP the same happened to me, although the meat tasted lovely, I was not prepared to see all of those tiny bones, sinews and stuff, so I binned most of it, just yuk.

I don't care how many times people say "I never sweat the veg" or "no need to brown the meat" "my food is delicious" .... it really really isn't

That's why I bought a sear and stew version. You can saute, caramelise, etc. over a flame using the insert then shove the whole thing in the slow cooker. Much nicer results. I'm careful what I use the slow cooker for - it's just not suited to some things.

I'd just poach a chicken in a pot on the stove - it only takes an hour unless you've got one that's absolutely huge. Overcooked chicken in liquid is a bit grim, however you do it.

IMO slow cookers are good for tough cuts of meat that need a lot of gentle simmering, which would cost you more to do in the oven. Not chicken, which isn't tough.

Everything tastes much better if you saute/caramelise first.

As above, LRD tfd - don't forget about poaching chicken, either whole or joints. Quick and tender. Remember, poaching is on minimal heat. Poor chickens do not deserve to be consigned to the slow cooker. Slow cooker is best for tasty, tougher cuts that are often overlooked like Oxtail for example.

Oh, it's lovely, but you have to do it without the skin. Chicken skin is delicious, but only if roasted. Poached, it's vile.