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Slow cooker easy chicken casserole

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  • JIL
    JIL Posts: 8,835 Forumite
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    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.
    Slow cookers are made for meat that needs a long slow cook, so ideal for braising steak etc.
    I think the convenience they offer has expanded the versatility.
    I use mine to make batches of mushy peas and rice pudding. Much quicker on the hob, but I dont need to spend 20 mins over a pan. 

    If I'm using the oven I do make a decision as to using oven/slow cooker. But that's more about what works best rather than cost.
  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,695 Forumite
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    My mum always used condensed chicken soup instead of stock!  Might give it a go myself sometime.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 35,770 Forumite
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    bouicca21 said:
    My mum always used condensed chicken soup instead of stock!  Might give it a go myself sometime.
    Campbell's condensed oxtail soup made a deliciously rich and tasty base for beef.

  • Katiehound
    Katiehound Posts: 8,125 Forumite
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    I have used condensed mushroom soup in chicken & ham pie / crumble
    Being polite and pleasant doesn't cost anything!
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  • If I were making a casserole of chicken any method, it would be thighs, legs or drumsticks - not breasts. Slow cooking is ideal for tougher more sinewy pieces of meat, not meat that has no fat 

    OP, when choosing the veg to use, you have to have an idea of how long they would take to cook. Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, swede are hard veg, onions, leeks are a lot softer so take less cooking. So for a casserole you would cut the hard veg smaller and the soft veg larger.Onions for example I quarter, any smaller and they cant been seen come the end :smile: If adding green leafy veg, put them in when nearly cooked

    Slow cooking produces a lot of condensation which drips back into the casserole so you need to start with less. If you are using a sachet and it says 3/4 of a pint, cut to half a pint 

    Once you get a bit more confident you will move away from the packet mixes. Hell I used them for years when I started to cook 45 years ago :) A packet is just flour and spices and a lot of salt and sugar.But they are great to get an idea as to what favours you like before you start buying herbs and spices and learning how best to thicken something 
  • tastyhog
    tastyhog Posts: 860 Forumite
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    Should use chicken thigh, much cheaper and tastier
  • Madbat60
    Madbat60 Posts: 169 Forumite
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    I wouldn't casserole chicken for that long.  3 hours is long enough.  I use a stock cube and gravy granules to thicken my stews and casseroles.  Quite often I make the day before so the taste has time to develop
  • Katiehound
    Katiehound Posts: 8,125 Forumite
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    Madbat60 said:
    I wouldn't casserole chicken for that long.  3 hours is long enough.  I use a stock cube and gravy granules to thicken my stews and casseroles.  Quite often I make the day before so the taste has time to develop
    3 hours on low is not sufficient for chicken if it is thighs/ legs- it wants to fall off the bones
    If it is chicken breasts no real reason to use a slow cooker at all!
    Being polite and pleasant doesn't cost anything!
    -Stash bust:in 2022:337
    Stash bust :2023. 120duvets, 24bags,43dogcoats, 2scrunchies, 10mitts, 6 bootees, 8spec cases, 2 A6notebooks, 59cards, 6 lav bags,36 angels,9 bones,1 blanket, 1 lined bag,3 owls, 88 pyramids = total 420total spend £5.Total for 'Dogs for Good' £546.82

    2024:Sewn:59Doggy ds,52pyramids,18 bags,6spec cases,6lav.bags.
    Knits:6covers,4hats,10mitts,2 bootees.
    Crotchet:61angels, 229cards=453 £158.55profit!!!
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  • JIL
    JIL Posts: 8,835 Forumite
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    edited 29 January 2023 at 11:59PM
    When I was at school many years ago we used to make a chicken casserole. It was very simple in that it was a whole chicken or legs, cooked in stock with chunky carrots, potatoes, swede, pearl barley and other root veg. When the chicken was cooked, we had to take it out and get all the meat off, then make a soup and a casserole with bits of chicken in both. We also had to make bread to go with it.
    Just thought it may be a better and more economical way to make a chicken casserole in the slow cooker rather than using expensive breasts. Doesnt flavour come from the bones?
  • JIL said:
    When I was at school many years ago we used to make a chicken casserole. It was very simple in that it was a whole chicken or legs, cooked in stock with chunky carrots, potatoes, swede, pearl barley and other root veg. When the chicken was cooked, we had to take it out and get all the meat off, then make a soup and a casserole with bits of chicken in both. We also had to make bread to go with it.
    Just thought it may be a better and more economical way to make a chicken casserole in the slow cooker rather than using expensive breasts. Doesnt flavour come from the bones?
    It does indeed and yes you are right, a whole chicken not only has the better flavour, but is more economical - £4 for a med in most supermarkets

    When I was young, chicken was very expensive, a treat, but you could buy boiling birds - roos normally. Tough as old boot leather , they were pressure cooked and there was a casserole, a pie and a soup made 

    As you learned, cooked with chunky veg, then the meat removed from the bird, then the best bits of meat went into the pie, usually with mushrooms and sweetcorn, the "gravy" made out of the cooking water. Dumplings made and dumped in with the cooked veg and the next lot of meat, the soup would be the carcass  pressure cooked again for another hour for the bones and gristle to break down, dried soup mix added . A chicken would feed a family of 5 for 3 meal times
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