Whole chicken in the crockpot

(Note to self...when you are modifying a recipe, write down what you're using & how much so you don't have to try & remember it all later!)

The short version...
Here's the recipe I used:

• 1 (5 pound) whole chicken, skin removed
• scant 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon* soy sauce
• 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon* olive oil
• 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon* honey
• 1-3/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon and 1/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• juice of 1 lemon (save the rinds)
• 1-3/4 teaspoons sesame oil
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 2 russet potatoes
• 1 small onion

* For the soy sauce, olive oil, & honey, I didn't actually measure the separate tablespoons & teaspoons, I just added a little extra to the 1/2 or 1/3 cup measurement.

1.  Mix all liquid ingredients in the crockpot.  Add minced garlic.
2.  Cut the potatoes into eighths and add to crockpot.
3.  Put the chicken in the crockpot & turn over once or twice to coat with sauce.
4.  Cut the onion into eighths and put inside the cavity of the chicken.  Add lemon rinds.
5.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Do not open crockpot until the time is up.

(adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kathys-Delicious-Whole-Slow-Cooker-Chicken/Detail.aspx)
 
More details...

This took a lot longer than I expected to prepare.  Because this was the first time I did this recipe, and was modifying it too, I kept referring back to the recipe instructions to make sure I was getting the right amounts.  Also I added things out of order, so I kept checking to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything (adding ingredients in order is much easier!).  By the time I got everything measured, mixed, cut, & in the crockpot, & skinned the chicken (had to wait til the kids were sleeping to do this) it was 2:30 in the afternoon!  I would have preferred to cook it on low, but had to cook on high & then had a rather late dinner.  It also took awhile afterwards to get all the chicken off the bones but try to avoid the fat & yucky stuff.

But...it was yummy!  The flavor was really really good.  The potatoes, which had cooked in the sauce the whole time, had a very delicious flavor, and the chicken was very tasty as well.  I shredded some of it to give to James, and he kept gobbling it up & signing "more!"  Tim & my only complaint was that once the chicken was out of the crockpot & onto our plates, it cooled off very quickly, and was slightly dry.  But it still tasted good.  :-)

2 ways I can think of to remedy the dryness...

I think technically the chicken cooked for almost 4 1/2 hours.  That extra half hour came as I was making a salad & getting ready to get the chicken out of the crockpot.  I should have started that sooner so I was ready right at the 4 hour mark to take it out.

In reading the reviews on the original recipe, some people said they used cornstarch to make a gravy out of the leftover sauce.  This would definitely have helped combat the slight dryness.  However, I had no idea how to do that, and didn't have any cornstarch even if I did know what to do.

So how about flour?  We had finished eating dinner and I was packing up the rest of the chicken meat for our lunches, & thought what the heck I'll try it and see what happens.  So I scooped out approximately 1 cup of the sauce, and added in scoops of flour until it reached a good gravy consistency.  Total flour was approximately 7 heaping tablespoons (the large-silverware-spoon kind, not the measuring spoon kind).

Well, I just ate my lunch, the chicken with the gravy.  It was pretty good.  Definitely not as dry as last night.  But, the gravy had thickened up more after sitting in the fridge overnight, and had a slight, well..."flour-y" taste.  Maybe I used too much flour...  :-)

All in all, I definitely will make this again.  I think I will try to prepare the sauce the night before and marinate the chicken overnight, then just start it cooking in the morning and let it cook on low for 8 hours.  Also, I think carrots would be good with this, but I don't know if that's too long for them to be cooking.  Will they be too mushy after all that time in the crockpot?  Or the potatoes for that matter, that is twice as long as this time, so how will they come out?  We'll just have to wait & see!

Now...I have a bag of chicken bones & the leftover sauce from cooking the chicken in the fridge.  I've heard some people make their own chicken broth...maybe I'll look into that and see what I can do with the bones.