Slow cooker easy chicken casserole

P933alilli

Hi, i started a slow cook this morning in my 4L slow cooker. 

500g baby potatoes went in first,
then two bags of 300g mixed veg & herbs,
then the 600g of chicken breast fillets chopped on top
and finally a Colman's chicken casserole mix, chicken stockpot, tablespoon of flour and two tablespoons of tomato puree'
all mixed up in 500ml's of boiled water.
  I'm leaving it for 8 hrs on low!

Is this the conventional way to put the chicken fillets on top of the potatoes, veg & herbs? And am i doing the right thing pouring the 500ml mix over it and stirring slightly to let it seep in and mix? I wouldnt like to think that it would encourage bacteria by doing it like that! I have however got a food thermometer which beeps when the temperature of the chicken reaches 84 degrees c!

Thanks!

Pollycat

IIRC, my first slow cooker (almost 50 years ago) said to put the meat on top.

I do a one-dish pork or chicken recipe in my slow cooker.
I use ordinary potatoes, add onion, mushroom & peppers, sometimes a tin of beans (butter/cannellini etc).
Veg goes on the bottom.
I add flour (SR or plain) and stir it round to coat the veg.
Then a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Then I add chunks of chicken or pork, also coated in flour.
I use various herbs/spices - oregano, Italian herbs, paprika, whatever I feel like.

A stock cube with water poured over and all stirred round.
I make sure everything is just covered with liquid.

I find this rarely needs any thickening.

If it's pork, I might add some chopped chorizo towards the end of the cooking to spice it up if I have any left in the fridge.

I never use any casserole mix or pre-prepared veg.

P933alilli

I'm doing enough for 4 portions! I freeze the other portions! Maybe i should just do for one then? So dice all my vegetables and maybe buy herbs from a supermarket too? And just a stock cube and no casserole mix? How much liquid do you add to the stock, i presume you do boil before adding it? Thanks for the reply!

Pollycat

I always do enough for 4 or 6 in my slow cooker - I have 2 different sizes - there are 2 of us.
Rest goes in the freezer.

If you have a market near you or an Asian shop, try there for herbs and spices. Usually cheaper than supermarkets.
Grape Tree also sell larger tubs of herbs & spices and often have a 3 for 2 offer.

I've never used packet mixes.
I have a range of beef, lamb, chicken, pork stock cubes that I just add boiling water to.
Have a look at your packet mix to see what herbs are in it.
I usually add garlic powder, onion powder and celery powder as well as herbs.
First 2 from Asian shop, last from Grape Tree.

I don't add a particular amount of liquid. Just enough to cover the ingeredients.

I did a diced lamb dish the other day.
600 gm diced lamb, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, onions plus garlic, herbs and spices (I add ground coriander and ground cumin and mint to Greek/Turkish style dishes), flour, stock to cover.
Then I sliced 2 courgettes & 1 large aubergines, tossed in olive oil and cooked in the oven.
I halved the courgettes and quartered the aubergine slices when cooked and added to the pot about half an hour before servicg.
The flour (see my comment in my first reply) meant that it didn't need any thickening.
It made 6 portions (3 doubles).

If I think a dish does need thickening, I sometimes add dry Quixco (Aldi) granules and stir it in. They do beef, onion & veg.

Today I'm doing a beef stew with carrots, onions and leeks that I froze at Christmas.
I'll add herbs and make stock using beef stock cube, water and some leftover beer.
Serve with homemade mashed potatoes. I do 4 double portions at a time and freeze 3 portions.

How did your casserole taste?
Just take that and experiment.

Farway

Collyflower1 said:

I'm doing enough for 4 portions! I freeze the other portions! Maybe i should just do for one then? So dice all my vegetables and maybe buy herbs from a supermarket too? And just a stock cube and no casserole mix? How much liquid do you add to the stock, i presume you do boil before adding it? Thanks for the reply!

Yep, that would do you, no need to limit it to one portion though, make extra & freeze as you are already doing

Once you have a stock of dried herbs, or are growing some, there's no real need for a shop bought mix, usually an Oxo or similar cubes do the job

Having said that, I have a beef stew thing in my slow cooker this morning, and used an Asda packet of Beef & Ale casserole mix, only 30p though

bouicca21

Tbh Unless OP actually has a reason for using the slow cooker (as in out all day, come back to meal ready done), I’d be looking at the cost of running the slow cooker for 8 hours versus the oven for 40 minutes.  

I’ve been surprised by comparing cost.  Admittedly I have two small ovens rather than a standard sized one, but if I cook something in the oven I can put other things in there too, so the cost of cooking is as it were split across several items.  I tend to save the slow cooker for really cheap cuts of meat  that do need long slow cooking. Chicken breasts don’t.

Katiehound

I tend to do a lot of chicken in mine. It's  small- 1.6L

yesterday I used chicken legs from Aldi- worked out at £2.50 per kilo approx (when I had removed bones & skin afterwards) half the price of the boned & skinned thighs. really wanted skin on bone in thighs but couldn't find them! thigh meat is juicier than breast & considerably cheaper.. managed to get 3 legs in s.c so that will be 3 meals.

This had 1 chicken stock cube (Aldi) several sprig rosemary and a good slug of lemon juice.

Another favourite is with 1 stock cube, 1 tin chopped tomatoes, good slug of tomato paste, mixed herbs & about T balsamic vinegar

In both cases 1 L sliced carrot &1 L sliced onion 1 clove garlic

Liquid to just cover the meat. I saute all my ingredients first & add boiling liquid. Pot on high for about 1 hour, turned to low for the rest of the time

Pollycat

bouicca21 said:

Tbh Unless OP actually has a reason for using the slow cooker (as in out all day, come back to meal ready done), I’d be looking at the cost of running the slow cooker for 8 hours versus the oven for 40 minutes.  

I’ve been surprised by comparing cost.  Admittedly I have two small ovens rather than a standard sized one, but if I cook something in the oven I can put other things in there too, so the cost of cooking is as it were split across several items.  I tend to save the slow cooker for really cheap cuts of meat  that do need long slow cooking. Chicken breasts don’t.

Would baby potatoes cook in the oven in 40 minutes in a casserole?
If I was doing chicken, mushrooms, peppers etc, maybe I'd consider doing in the oven but potatoes, carrots, swede, parsnip take longer to cook.

I'd probably cook the chicken fillets in the oven and use the baby potatoes to do home-made wedges also in the oven.

P933alilli

Pollycat said:

I always do enough for 4 or 6 in my slow cooker - I have 2 different sizes - there are 2 of us.
Rest goes in the freezer.

If you have a market near you or an Asian shop, try there for herbs and spices. Usually cheaper than supermarkets.
Grape Tree also sell larger tubs of herbs & spices and often have a 3 for 2 offer.

I've never used packet mixes.
I have a range of beef, lamb, chicken, pork stock cubes that I just add boiling water to.
Have a look at your packet mix to see what herbs are in it.
I usually add garlic powder, onion powder and celery powder as well as herbs.
First 2 from Asian shop, last from Grape Tree.

I don't add a particular amount of liquid. Just enough to cover the ingeredients.

I did a diced lamb dish the other day.
600 gm diced lamb, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, onions plus garlic, herbs and spices (I add ground coriander and ground cumin and mint to Greek/Turkish style dishes), flour, stock to cover.
Then I sliced 2 courgettes & 1 large aubergines, tossed in olive oil and cooked in the oven.
I halved the courgettes and quartered the aubergine slices when cooked and added to the pot about half an hour before servicg.
The flour (see my comment in my first reply) meant that it didn't need any thickening.
It made 6 portions (3 doubles).

If I think a dish does need thickening, I sometimes add dry Quixco (Aldi) granules and stir it in. They do beef, onion & veg.

Today I'm doing a beef stew with carrots, onions and leeks that I froze at Christmas.
I'll add herbs and make stock using beef stock cube, water and some leftover beer.
Serve with homemade mashed potatoes. I do 4 double portions at a time and freeze 3 portions.

How did your casserole taste?
Just take that and experiment.

Thanks for all the replies! The casserole didnt taste great and i wasnt impressed with the veg & herbs i bought from a local farm! I was buying them just for celerity. My previous casserole earlier in january was better when i chopped up carrots, broccoli and a medium sized onion. So, i'll take more time over it in future and hopefully i'll improve.

Katiehound

I suspect one of the reasons might have been that the veg were chopped up- if they are cooking for ages they tend to disintegrate. All root veggies work well. I'd add broccoli near the end.

Also cheaper cuts of meat- stewing steak, venison, bone-in chicken benefit from slow cooking.

Decide what kind of flavourings you like and just buy a couple.
You can experiment by adding one or two of teaspoonfuls - don't be too heavy handed until you know what works for you. taste is very individual after all. One spice mix that was recommended on here was Ras el Hanout- it's got a tiny chilli kick (and I do mean tiny) Goes well with the tin of tomatoes.

there are different recipes online that might give you some ideas

JIL

I find slow cooker casserole does get a bit watery and I have used packet mixes especially for slow cookers in the past and that confirmed to me that less liquid is the way forward.
If I do a casserole now I use tomato puree, stock, beer/cider/wine as the base.  Fry off the meat, onions, celery, herbs, tomato paste, veg, put in the slow cooker. Add to the pan used for frying the alcohol and stock to deglaze the pan. Bubble it. Add it to the casserole. Cook for 4 to 6 hours and test. 

You can also bump up the flavour with bits of chopped bacon and chorizo. Fried with the meat.