So you have a whole chicken you need to cook and you want to get as many meals out of it as possible. Well how many meals you will get out of it depends on the size of your family you are feeding. You should be able to get at least two meals out of it no matter what.
Day 1: Place the whole chicken in your crock pot. If your chicken is still frozen make sure you get it in there in the morning so it will be done by dinner time. If it's thawed out then you can place it later in the day like around 12 or so. Or you can cook it all day on low as well.
Frozen cook on high most of the day, check with a meat thermometer to be sure it's fully cooked.
Thawed either low starting in the morning, or medium heat in the afternoon.
Once the chicken is in the crock pot add your spices and seasonings. You can add things like a pinch of salt, garlic, bay leaf (this will come in handy the next day for sure), thyme, rosemary, and just about anything you think sounds good. Play around with the spices and find some your family really likes.
There is no need to add water, let the chicken cook in it's natural juices for the day.
DINNER TIME: Now your chicken is done it's time for diner, I normally pair mine with a side of rice and a veggie for the first night. It's simple and easy.
When you go to clean up after dinner let your crock pot cool down and place the whole container with all the left over chicken in the fridge. This will make it easier for you tomorrow for dinner.
Day 2: Pull your crock pot with your chicken left overs out of the fridge and place it back in the base of your crock pot. Fill the crock pot with water and make sure the whole chicken is covered. Set the crock pot to medium heat and let it simmer most of the day.
Now you can think about what you might want to make with your chicken, there are a number of recipe's out there that call for chicken. But keep in mind the spices you used yesterday while cooking your chicken when choosing another dish. I have done a chicken casserole, open faced chicken sandwich with gravy, chicken over rice with gravy, things like that. This will also depend on how much chicken you have left on the bird. If you have a large family there might not be much left. If that's the case you can skip down to day three. If you have a small family you might be able to de-bone the chicken and get two days of "Day 2" out of it. ( I will explain de-boning in a moment).
De-boning chicken. Once your chicken has been simmering in the crock pot most of day under water it's time to de-bone it.
You will need two forks, a plate, bowl, and a pasta claw thing (don't know what they are called for sure). Take your claw and soup out some of the chicken and place it on the plate. Take your two forks (it will be very hot so I would not want to touch it) and start to pull the meat away from the bones. Place the meat in the bowl as you pull it off the bone. Keep doing this until you have all the meat off the bones. Place the bones, skin, and fat back in the crock pot. You now have your chicken for your second dish all ready to go. Let your crock pot cool off and place back in the fridge.
Day 3: Place your crock pot back in the base and place on high for a couple of hours. After a little while get out a strainer and strain all the bones and fat out of your broth. Now add some chopped up carrots, celery, pea's, and other veggies you would like to have in your chicken noodle soup. Taste your broth to see if it needs any more spices and seasonings. Turn your crock pot to low and let it simmer all day.
Just before dinner take some of the broth out and mix a little bit of either flour or corn starch in a cup. make sure to blend well, and add it back into your soup to help thicken the soup up. If you want to add some dumplings do so about 20 mins before dinner time so they have time to cook. I just use Bisquick for my dumplings.
So there you have between two and four or more days (again depending on family size) of dinners from one whole chicken.
Day 1: Place the whole chicken in your crock pot. If your chicken is still frozen make sure you get it in there in the morning so it will be done by dinner time. If it's thawed out then you can place it later in the day like around 12 or so. Or you can cook it all day on low as well.
Frozen cook on high most of the day, check with a meat thermometer to be sure it's fully cooked.
Thawed either low starting in the morning, or medium heat in the afternoon.
Once the chicken is in the crock pot add your spices and seasonings. You can add things like a pinch of salt, garlic, bay leaf (this will come in handy the next day for sure), thyme, rosemary, and just about anything you think sounds good. Play around with the spices and find some your family really likes.
There is no need to add water, let the chicken cook in it's natural juices for the day.
DINNER TIME: Now your chicken is done it's time for diner, I normally pair mine with a side of rice and a veggie for the first night. It's simple and easy.
When you go to clean up after dinner let your crock pot cool down and place the whole container with all the left over chicken in the fridge. This will make it easier for you tomorrow for dinner.
Day 2: Pull your crock pot with your chicken left overs out of the fridge and place it back in the base of your crock pot. Fill the crock pot with water and make sure the whole chicken is covered. Set the crock pot to medium heat and let it simmer most of the day.
Now you can think about what you might want to make with your chicken, there are a number of recipe's out there that call for chicken. But keep in mind the spices you used yesterday while cooking your chicken when choosing another dish. I have done a chicken casserole, open faced chicken sandwich with gravy, chicken over rice with gravy, things like that. This will also depend on how much chicken you have left on the bird. If you have a large family there might not be much left. If that's the case you can skip down to day three. If you have a small family you might be able to de-bone the chicken and get two days of "Day 2" out of it. ( I will explain de-boning in a moment).
De-boning chicken. Once your chicken has been simmering in the crock pot most of day under water it's time to de-bone it.
You will need two forks, a plate, bowl, and a pasta claw thing (don't know what they are called for sure). Take your claw and soup out some of the chicken and place it on the plate. Take your two forks (it will be very hot so I would not want to touch it) and start to pull the meat away from the bones. Place the meat in the bowl as you pull it off the bone. Keep doing this until you have all the meat off the bones. Place the bones, skin, and fat back in the crock pot. You now have your chicken for your second dish all ready to go. Let your crock pot cool off and place back in the fridge.
Day 3: Place your crock pot back in the base and place on high for a couple of hours. After a little while get out a strainer and strain all the bones and fat out of your broth. Now add some chopped up carrots, celery, pea's, and other veggies you would like to have in your chicken noodle soup. Taste your broth to see if it needs any more spices and seasonings. Turn your crock pot to low and let it simmer all day.
Just before dinner take some of the broth out and mix a little bit of either flour or corn starch in a cup. make sure to blend well, and add it back into your soup to help thicken the soup up. If you want to add some dumplings do so about 20 mins before dinner time so they have time to cook. I just use Bisquick for my dumplings.
So there you have between two and four or more days (again depending on family size) of dinners from one whole chicken.
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