After doing a little bit of research (by little bit, I mean going to google, typing 5 words in the search bar and opening the first 2 links) I have found out why chicken breasts aren’t the best choice of meat to cook in your slow cooker (see my previous post about the Greek chicken). I have known that it doesn’t turn out that great for a long time. But I’ve never really understood why. Now I do. I feel so empowered. Do you want me to explain it to you? Too bad, I’m going to anyway.
There’s two ways of cooking food–dry heat and moist heat. Dry heat includes baking, roasting, and grilling. Slow cooking uses moist heat. The slow cooker is best for meats that have a lot of connective tissue and that are very tough (and typically fairly inexpensive). The connective tissue is turned to gelatin after slow cooking in moist heat for several hours. That is why tough meats become “fork tender” in the slow cooker. Chicken breasts have very little connective tissue; that means they can be cooked quickly because the long cooking time needed to soften connective tissue isn’t necessary. They also have little fat, which means they can become dry if cooked too long.
So that is the science behind it. I hope this helps. Although chicken breasts don’t work that great in the slow cooker bone-in chicken works great. If you’re scared of bones use boneless, skinless thighs.
OK, understand breasts do not do well in slow cooker! But perhaps you can explain why so many recipes, basically the same type, require such a vast cooking time difference? If one follows a recipe for chicken breasts and the time is exceptionally long – end result will be over cooked chicken. Thank you for your help.
I guess because all slow cookers cook differently. the old kind from 30 years ago would truly take 8 hours to cook chicken. the new ones can cook in like 2 hours. also it depends how full your pot is. If your pot is stacked full of chicken breasts it could take up to 8 hours to cook. If it only has 2 chicken breasts in the bottom of a huge crock that will only take 2 hours to cook.
Laying a bed of hard veggies with water and cooking the chicken breast on top helps keep the chicken moist. I agree it helps to brown and coat your chicken first.
It works better if you brown it then cook it in something with a "gloopy" consistency, like a gravy or sauce thickened with guar gum or xantham gum.
I ALWAYS do chicken in my crock pot and it is NEVER dry. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen) put about 5-6 in my crock pot and turn it on high. I will check it through out the day, and if the water is low I just add a glass of water to the chicken. (If I can't be home to watch it I just add A LOT of water to the chicken before I turn it on) Before I serve the chicken I drain the water. It is juicy and tender.
I noticed that not only do the chicken breast turn out dry but they also have an odd over cooked taste.
If I cook chicken breasts in the crockpot I usually put them in frozen lightly salt them and cook for a much shorter time (3 hours on low) then I add the chicken to another dish to finish cooking. I do this a lot when I have several recipes that require cooked chicken and I don't have the time to defrost and individually cook them.
However like you mentioned things, wings and even whole chickens turn out very delicious in the crockpot!
I make crock pot teriyaki chicken all the time and it always turns out great. Maybe because the chicken is frozen when I put it in…
Thanks for that info. I've always wondered why the chicken is so dry~now I know how to remedy it!
We have a favorite crock-pot recipe that uses FROZEN chicken. Because it's completely frozen you can cook it for several hours and it still turns out well. I've never noticed that the chicken is tough at all. I tried to reproduce the recipe by cooking everything without the chicken on the stovetop and adding pre-cooked chicken scraps later. UGH! What a flop. The seasonings in the crock-pot version just soaked into the chicken and it was delicious.
I would be lost without my slow-cooker! I cook just about everything in it and in this heat it is working great for not over heating the kitchen every night. But you are so right about what can and should be cooked in the cooker. Good for that not so good cut of meat, not so good for those expensive pieces of chicken.