How do i

cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker? and can i put veg in there to eat too or would it soak up too much chicken fat? thanks in advance

You just put the chicken in and switch it on. Personally I wouldn't add the veg because a lot of fat and liquid comes out of the chicken. Someone here recommends putting some scrunched up foil in the bottom so the chicken is not resting in it while cooking. There are threads on this in the recipes section so have a look there if you need more info.

someone posted the other day, that if you screw up foil in to balls and rest the chicken or joint of meat on this it works, check out SW slow cooker recipes.

Definitely would not put anything else in, because there is always a bit of fat in the liquid that gathers at the bottom of the dish.

What I do is to use the screwed up foil which has already been mentioned, or an old carrot cut into chunks (you are not going to eat this!!) so that the chicken does not sit on the bottom of the dish, put a little boiling water (no more than a quarter of an inch) in the dish, and then put the chicken in upside down - that is, breast side down. That way, the juices flow downwards into the breast instead of away, and it is moister.

What you will end up with is a very tender and tasty chicken (too tender to carve - it will fall apart!) and some liquid at the bottom of the dish. Pop the liquid in a bowl in the fridge and the fat will rise to the top and you can spoon it off and throw it out. The stock (it may turn to a jelly in the fridge) can be used for a gravy or a sauce or whatever.

All good advice there, you could put a cut lemon and a few cloves of garlic inside the chicken while it is cooking, and you will have a cooked chicken tasting of lemon and garlic, - lovely.....

I just bung it in. I do put optatoes in too, but I don't eat them cos I don't really like them anyway.

Lynda

Hi,

If you put the juices in the fridge & remove the fat does that make a free chicken stock or is it synned??

Thanks in advance

Lyn

If you scrape off every bit of fat from the top of the stock, then as far as I am aware the remaining stock will then be free. You won't get a lot of it, cooking a chicken this way, but it will be quite concentrated and taste lovely!

dont do what i did!. i thought id be clever and skin it before putting it in. left it for 10 hours, took it out and i swear i could used it to put nails in the wall

ok thankyou, have just put it in. It was still slighly frozen so have put it on high and wont get in from work for about 8 hours, it wont burn will it? Have put it upside down in a bit of water, a chicken stock cube and a load of garlic

Your chicken should be fully defrosted before you cook it otherwise there's a risk of food poisoning. Take it and defrost it fully and then cook it on low. If you can't do that today because of work then have something else.