Whole chicken in the crock pot & white chili.

This post is pretty gross looking. Mainly because I think chicken looks gross, especially raw chicken, especially raw chicken with bones. {Yuck.}

BUT, this tactic of cooking the whole chicken worked so well, it’s worth sharing. Growing up, my mom boiled her whole chickens on the stove top whenever we would have chicken rice soup, chicken salad, etc. It always grossed me out because the chicken got slimy in all that water. I recently came across this post, while Googling how to cook a whole chicken. It’s pretty darn economical to cook chicken as a whole, rather than buying the individual breasts. I spent $5 on the chicken and it got us more than three meals – white chicken chili, chicken Chinese, and bbq chicken rollups.

And, to my surprise, both Eugene & I agreed that it tasted much better than way then when we buy the boneless, skinless frozen chicken breasts.

I followed “the happy housewife’s” instructions pretty much to a tee, except that I added carrots and Italian seasoning for added flavor. Basically ya just plop the frozen, clean chicken in the crockpot, add some seasoning, no liquid necessary. Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on low.

Then you let it cool, and pick out the meat. This part wasn’t nearly as nasty as I anticipated. The bones and skin pretty much sunk to the bottom and the meat was easily separated. Not slimy or greasy. And SO delicious. It was moist and flavorful, not at all tough or soggy.

Then you’re left with the skin and bones and liquid, which you can use to make chicken broth.

Your next step is to add 5 cups of water to this and let it cook on low all night, or 8 hours. Then you strain it & have a great supply of all natural broth.

Place it in a container in the refrigerator, and soon enough it will have a layer of fat rise to the top; skim it off and you’re all set.

I made some throw-together white chicken chili…which wasn’t nearly as good as my mother-in-laws {it’s my favorite dish of hers.} Still tasted good though.

White navy beans, water & broth….

Spices…

Chicken & cook on low for hours, smash the beans some to add thicker texture…

Then it still didn’t taste just right, so I tried adding sour cream, which helped…

Tasted especially good because it was a cold rainy night when we indulged in the white chicken chili…

Sorry if you read this and lost your appetite looking at the raw chicken. I promise it tasted really good. ;)