ALL ABOUT: Chicken in the Slow Cooker
It’s hard enough to cook chicken properly on the stovetop or in the oven, where you have complete control of the temperature, but in a slow cooker it’s even trickier to ensure moist, flavorful chicken at the end of a long cooking time. We’ve seen soups and stews full of dry shredded chicken and braised breasts and thighs that were bland and unappealing. Here is what we’ve learned about getting juicy, flavorful chicken from a slow cooker.
Cooking Times for Chicken
We found that the only way to cook chicken in a slow cooker is on the low setting, which takes longer to get to the maximum heat level and allows the chicken time to gradually cook through without overcooking. Different cuts also require different cooking times to keep from overcooking.
Type of Chicken: Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Cooking Time*: 2 to 3 hours on Low
Type of Chicken: Bone-In Chicken Breasts
Cooking Time*: 3 to 4 hours on Low
Type of Chicken: Chicken Thighs
Cooking Time*: 4 to 5 hours on Low
Type of Chicken: Drumsticks and Wings
Cooking Time*: 3 to 4 hours on Low
Type of Chicken: Ground Chicken
Cooking Time*: 2 to 3 hours on Low
* Note that cooking times vary in our Cooking for Two chapter
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Convenient and easy to prep, this lean cut is great for quick weeknight meals, but it’s also the most likely to overcook and turn dry. To keep our breasts juicy and tender, we found that keeping the heat level low and minding our time range were essential. We also cook them in a flavorful liquid to keep the heat gentle and even and to infuse the meat with flavor.
Bone-In Chicken Breasts
Bone-in breasts work well in the slow cooker because the bone helps to insulate the lean meat, preventing it from drying out during the longer cooking time. We cook the breasts with the skin on so that its fat can help keep the meat juicy and infuse it with flavor, but the moist environment of the slow cooker leaves it flabby and pale, so we remove it before serving. A paper towel is useful to help grip the skin more easily.
Chicken Thighs
Chicken thighs work well in the slow cooker; even after hours of simmering, they stay tender thanks to their fat and connective tissue. For stews and curries, we like boneless thighs; once cooked, they can easily be shredded into bitesize pieces. For hearty dishes where we want whole pieces of chicken, we like bone-in thighs. To keep the fatty skin from making the dish too greasy, we remove it before cooking, using a paper towel to provide extra grip.
Drumsticks and Wings
We found that the low, steady heat of the slow cooker is ideal for breaking down collagen for exceptionally tender drumsticks and wings. For crisp, browned skin, we simply pass them under the broiler for a few minutes, basting them with a thick, flavorful glaze partway through.
Ground Chicken
We found that ground chicken turns grainy in the slow cooker. To solve this problem, we microwave it for a few minutes, until it is just firm enough to break into coarse crumbles. It was also important to use ground chicken, not ground chicken breast, which was too lean and consistently overcooked.
