James's No-Prep Slow Cooker Chicken and Vegetables

[jdunson]

The following Crock-Pot (slow cooker) recipe is not only unusually fast to set up, but particularly easy. I've tried to write it up in enough detail that anyone can follow the directions, even if they are a novice cook or haven't used a slow cooker before. Comments, feedback, and questions encouraged.



James's No-Prep Slow Cooker Chicken and Vegetables

This recipe and two of the primary serving options was developed and fine-tuned with five goals in mind:

1. All ingredients are either frozen or shelf-stable. You can keep everything on hand at all times, and suddenly decide to fix it with no worrying about whether you remembered to buy something this week.
2. Pre-cooking prep time is kept to a minimum. This was designed to be thrown together into the Crock-Pot on the way out the door to work in the morning.
3. No intermediate steps, fully ready to eat once cooked, minimal post-cooking plating time, simple serving, and minimal cleanup. Many slow cooker recipes specify adding items 30 or even 45 minutes before the end. As a computer professional, some days work unexpectedly runs hours late, and I'm not in the mood to wait for dinner when i get home. As an online gamer, some days I have evening group commitments I'm rushing to not be late to, with no time to leisurely arrange a meal or clean up from one. You'll also notice that the serving options have something to absorb or thicken much of the broth, for minimal mess on those days you end up having to eat at your computer.
4. Holds well, stores well, and re-serves well. My Crock-Pot will automatically drop to "keep warm" after the set time on high or low, which is handy when work runs late. Leftovers keep well in the fridge (or frozen), and are easy to re-heat in the microwave.
5. Reasonably healthy without compromising on flavor. Prepared as directed this is very low fat, and has a lot less sodium than many similar dishes.

I'm going to be very specific about ingredients, for those without a lot of experience; however, the fundamental idea is very flexible and robust. It's hard to go very wrong with reasonable substitutions and all quantities are approximate. The key concept on the vegetables is that baby or miniature whole vegetables hold together better with extended cooking time than chopped pieces of larger vegetables. This is particularly important for the potatoes, and for some of the onions. I use a mix of pearl onions which remain intact as vegetables, pre-diced onions which largely meld into the broth, and dried onion powder to coat and flavor the meat.

Base recipe ingredients, for a 6-quart slow cooker:

• 1 disposable slow-cooker liner (I use Reynolds; these are basically a slow-cooker shaped oven-safe bag which drastically simplifies cleanup.)
• 1 bag frozen stew vegetables, 32 oz. / 907g (I use Kroger Family Pack Stew Vegetables, which has baby potatoes, pearl onions, coarse-cut carrots, and coarse-cut celery.)
• 1/3 bag frozen seasoning vegetables, about 4 oz. / 113g (I use Pictsweet Seasoning Blend, which is mostly diced onions and celery, with some diced green and red bell peppers and finely chopped parsley)
• 1 jar low-fat turkey gravy, 12 oz / 340g (I use Heinz Fat Free Roasted Turkey Gravy)
• 1 small box chicken stock, 8 fl. oz. / 237 ml (I use Kitchen Basics Natural Chicken Stock, which has a much richer flavor and less than half the sodium than most commercial broths.)
• 1 small box vegetable stock, 8 fl. oz. / 237 ml (I use Kitchen Basics Natural Vegetable Cooking Stock, which is even better in comparison to most commercial vegetable broths, dark and rich but roughly 1/3 the sodium.)
• 4-6 frozen chicken tenders, boneless & skinless, about 1/2 to 1 lb. (I typically use Tyson, or sometimes a storebrand or bulk; look for low percentage of added solutions (15% or less) and miminal processing)
• dried onion powder, several generous shakes
• dried garlic powder, several generous shakes
• (optional) dried finely chopped scallions, several generous shakes
• water, to cover
• (See below for additional ingredients depending on serving options)

Base recipe instructions:

• Place the disposable liner in the slow cooker according to package directions.
• Dump the vegetables in the slow cooker, generally larger pieces first.
• Place the chicken tenders on top, roughly arranged to not overlap much.
• Pour the gravy and then the stock over everything. Add some water to each container, swirl to get the rest of the good stuff out, and then add to the slow cooker; at this point the liquid should mostly cover the vegetables but not yet the chicken.
• Start the slow cooker; I usually set for 8 hours Low following which it will drop to Hold-Warm. If you're in a hurry, 4 hours High will probably also work.
• Generously shake the dried onion, garlic, and scallions over the chicken to coat; if you're wanting to be a bit more elaborate you can coat both sides.
• Add water to the slow cooker to just cover the chicken. Preferably do this along an edge, so you don't wash the spice coating off.
• Put the lid on the slow cooker, and double-check that it is plugged in, turned on, and set correctly. Go away and don't fiddle with it until done and ready to eat.

Easy Serving Option One:

• For each hearty serving, microwave two precooked frozen biscuits according to package directions (I use Pillsbury Microwave Butter Tastin' Biscuits; 45 sec. for two).
• Split biscuits in half, place the four pieces in the bottom of a large soup bowl, split sides up.
• Stir slow cooker briefly with ladle, and then ladle broth, vegetables, and about a piece's worth of chicken into bowl over biscuits. (If properly cooked, the chicken tenders should readily break apart when poked with a silicone ladle.)
• Optionally top with either a shake of your favorite grated hard cheese (Parmesan, etc.), or a few thin slices of an easy-melting cheese (Velveeta, etc.).

Easy Serving Option Two:

• For each hearty serving, pour a generous handful of dried instant cornbread stuffing mix into a large soup bowl. If there's a seasoning package, skip it... they're mostly salt and chemicals. (If you can get unseasoned or where the seasoning is entirely in a separate package you can omit, that will do best, but it will work with just about anything. You can also use non-cornbread instant stuffing mix, but I think it's a bit less flavorful; try to get one with a mix of bread types at least, and in fairly small pieces.)
• Stir slow cooker briefly with ladle, and then ladle broth, vegetables, and about a piece's worth of chicken into bowl over biscuits. (If properly cooked, the chicken tenders should readily break apart when poked with a silicone ladle.)
• Optionally top with either a shake of your favorite grated hard cheese (Parmesan, etc.), or a few thin slices of an easy-melting cheese (Velveeta, etc.).
• Let sit for a minute or two, so the hot broth will reconstitute the dried cornbread.

Slightly more complex Serving Option Three: (Something like this usually ends up happening on one of the subsequent days with the leftovers, to provide a bit more variety.)

• Remove most of the broth and about half of the large vegetable pieces to a separate large bowl (thus leaving the chicken pieces and the other half of the vegetables). Make sure you've shut off the slow cooker for safety.
• Using a stick blender, puree the contents of the bowl to a rich silky texture. If too thin, add some instant potato flakes and apply stick blender.
• Add the remaining vegetable pieces and pulse a few times with the stick blender to yield small chunks, going for a chowder-like overall effect.
• Optionally add a can of creamed corn.
• Break up the chicken pieces with a fork into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl.
• Heat if needed, and serve as you would a thick soup or chowder; I tend to have some sort of cheese and some sort of bread either as a topping or as a side.

Major Variant: Beef

• Replace chicken stock with beef stock
• Replace turkey gravy with low-fat beef gravy
• Replace chicken tenders with pre-cubed stew beef
• Use a heavier hand with the spice coating, particularly the garlic
• Optionally add just a dab of Liquid Smoke
• Err on the side of longer cooking times

If eaten immediately, this is no longer low-fat. However, you can refrigerate overnight to set the beef fat, and remove the hardened top layer to remove much of the fat (and, unfortunately, some of the flavor).

Edit: After running into ashoemaker tonight, I was reminded to post this vegetarian version. I've not done nearly as much testing on this, and to get the depth of flavor without meat involves a few more ingredients.



Base recipe ingredients, for a 6-quart slow cooker:

• 1 disposable slow-cooker liner
• 1 bag frozen stew vegetables, 32 oz. / 907g
• 1/2 bag frozen seasoning vegetables, about 6 oz. / 170g
• 1 large box (or 4 small) vegetable stock, 32 fl. oz. / 946 ml
• dried onion powder, several generous shakes
• dried garlic powder, several generous shakes; OR if you have roasted garlic in some ready to go form, use a dab of that instead
• (optional) dried finely chopped scallions, several generous shakes
• a few drops of Liquid Smoke
• a few drops of Pure Sesame Seed Oil, of the dark / from toasted seeds variety
• water, to cover

Instructions pretty much as above, but you'll be using less liquid, just enough to cover the vegetables. This leans more heavily on roasting as a way to bring out flavor, although of course you're not doing any of it. It's more important to use good quality vegetable stock for this one; the Superior Touch "Better Than Bouillon" Vegetable Base is probably a usable alternative option although I haven't tried it with this particular recipie. While you can throw in some of your favorite vegetable protien granules or whatever, this doesn't really need it. As prepared it should be vegan, but not nutritionally complete; serve as suggested with bread and cheese to make it more of a full meal if that's appropriate for you. This can be a bit thinner than desired sometimes; Serving Option Three (pureeing some of the vegetables afterward) works pretty well to add body, or you can leave the lid off for a bit to cook it down some.

Depending on personal taste, you may end up preferring to use just the Liquid Smoke, just the toasted sesame seed oil, or the some of each I've listed as the default option. Those two are my "secret ingredients" for hearty vegetarian cooking; even when used in small quantities that don't really come out strongly in the final tasting, they add depth and richness to dishes that are already largely vegetable or legume, but that would normally be flavored with some meat.