Slow Cooker Chicken and Couscous

Thanks to the lovely Victoria Roberts (@starPS) who shared this slow cooker recipe with me.  She’s very keen to share no nonsense meals that kids will devour and my family did!

‘This one is a staple in my house,  my mates (and their various offspring) request it often…its my kids fave too!  Dead easy.’

Ingredients

  • Whole chicken (do bear in mind it needs to fit in the slow cooker)
  • Garlic bulb
  • Lemon
  • Salt, pepper, dried cumin & coriander
  • Chicken stock cube thingy
  • Pint of hot water
  • Mixed frozen veg
  • Couscous
  • One finely chopped onion

What you do with it!

  1. Brown the chicken off in a frying pan or wok first with a little bit of butter or oil to give it some colour.  Cut the lemon in half and put it inside the carcass, break up the garlic bulb and also ram it in there.
  2. Rub salt, pepper, a bit of cumin & coriander on the skin of the chicken, put it in the slow cooker.  Add a pint of chicken stock.  Put it on low heat for 8 hours. Don’t lift the lid during cooking as that will let out all the lovely steam.  When it’s done, lift it out and put it somewhere covered to rest while you make the couscous.
  3. Leave all the lovely stock and chicken juices in the bottom of the slow cooker but turn it off, add enough couscous for how many people you are feeding.  If you need to add some more stock at this point go ahead.   Put the lid back on the slower cooker and let the couscous steam itself, still leave it switched off though.  Gently fry off the onion in a smear of butter or oil.  Add the frozen veg to the frying pan and a splash of water. Simmer till warmed through, add to the couscous in the slow cooker and give it a good stir.
  4. Serve…the chicken will literally fall off the bone so I like to bung it in a nice big dish, the couscous in another one and let people help themselves but you may be posh and prefer a more civilised method!

A few small changes:

Normally I stick to recipes word for word.  However, in this case I was a bit worried about trying to brown the chicken in a frying pan. I had visions of it falling on the floor.  So, I preheated my oven on full whack (250 degrees).  I put the lemon and garlic in the cavity and rubbed the chicken with oil, and massaged the salt, pepper, cumin and coriander on the skin and then browned it in the oven for 20 min.  I then transferred it to the slow cooker and carried on with the instructions above.

I also used my own chicken stock substituting the stock cube and pint of water for 500ml of home made chicken stock.

The only other change I made was the amount of liquid for couscous.  We are only a family of 3 so I was a bit worried that there was too much liquid.  After checking the back of the couscous pack, I worked out that I would be using 250g of couscous and 300ml of liquid.  So I removed 250ml of the stock and I think it was the right decision.

Many thanks Victoria!  It definitely goes on our ‘have again’ list.  You’re welcome on the blog anytime.

 

 

 

 

 

Author: mediocremum

A slightly older mum of one, who drinks far too much red wine and has an unhealthy obsession with her slow cooker. During the day she's an ICT Trainer, Social Media/Online Marketing consultant and does a bit of public speaking. Full Profile on Google+

3 thoughts on “Slow Cooker Chicken and Couscous”

  1. You do not need to brown the chicken first. 8 hours it will cook justbfine. I don’t brown anything. I do have a meat thermometer though to double check.

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