Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Onions

I modified this original recipe a bit, mainly because I thought I had a few things that I didn't have in the spice drawer.  This was another great work week recipe, as long as you have a few minutes in the morning to do the prep before you go to work.  Cook up the bacon, brown the chicken, and when you get home you'll have a delicious dinner ready to go.  You don't have to use a whole cut-up chicken, you can use about 4 pounds of any chicken pieces you want.

Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Onions

Ingredients:

• ½ pound sliced pancetta, diced
• 1 4- to 6-pound chicken, cut up
• ½ cup cooking sherry or dry white wine (or ¼ cup dry vermouth plus ¼ cup water)
• ½ pound small white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup water
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Cook the pancetta in a large skillet over medium-low heat until crisp. With a slotted spoon, transfer it to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Pour off all but a light coating of fat from the skillet. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Transfer garlic to slow cooker.  Add the chicken and brown over medium-high heat; transfer to the cooker.
2. Pour the wine into the skillet and scrape up any browned bits; add the skillet contents to the cooker, along with the mushrooms, onions, thyme, and salt. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours.
3. Transfer the chicken, pancetta, and vegetables to a platter; keep warm. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan. Combine the water and cornstarch; stir it into the sauce. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour over the chicken.

Notes:
Next time I make this, I'll probably saute the mushrooms before adding them to the slow cooker, mainly for the texture.

Comments

[Spence Grants]

Looks tasty. I'm reblogging this.

[Laura-Lee Boswell]

sounds yummy but do you use boneless skinless or bones in with skin???

[jkelber]

I used a cut up whole chicken, so it was bone-in with skin. You could easily adjust it to boneless skinless though.