Baked Chicken with Summer Vegetables in the Crockpot

I adapted this recipe for the crockpot by making just a few changes in it.  The original recipe comes from Country Gourmet Cookbook.  The instructions weren’t really complicated but there were several steps that involved baking the chicken skin-side down for a while, then flipping it, deglazing the pan… I cut out all of that by using the crockpot.  The results were delicious and much easier than the original.  The only thing lost was that the chicken didn’t really brown as it would in the oven.

Notice the ziplock bag of wine in the ingredients photo.  I found out recently that you can freeze wine.  I froze mine in 1/2 cup quantities.  It thawed out quickly on the counter while I prepped the ingredients.  This is a good money saver for me.  I like to cook with wine, but we don’t often drink it.  Buying a whole bottle for one recipe is an expensive thing to do, but freezing it for multiple recipes makes cents (ha! a pun.  sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

about 3 pounds of chicken (I used a whole chicken, cut up)

a bit of olive oil

2 Tbs. dijon mustard

salt and pepper

1 tsp. thyme

1 onion, cut in thick wedges

4 large cloves garlic, minced

red bell pepper, sliced

green bell pepper, sliced

1 can diced tomatoes, drained (or use fresh, chopped tomatoes)

1/2 cup white wine

{You can also add mushrooms and hot peppers if you like them}

Rub the inside of the crockpot with olive oil.  Rinse and pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel.  Rub the undersides of the chicken with dijon mustard and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.  Place them in the bottom of the crockpot, skin side down.  Put the veggies and wine on top of the chicken.  Cover and bake on high for 5 hours or so.  Or bake on low all day.

This is great served with angel hair pasta. 

Tagged as: Chicken, Crockpot, garlic, onions, Pasta, peppers, wine