CrockPot Spanish Braised Chicken Recipe


originally posted on July 29, 2008. Updated July 2015.


Day 211.

The kids and I went to the "good" library over the weekend and I checked out a bunch of cookbooks. One of the books was put out by Cook's Illustrated, and was called The Complete Book of Poultry.

There are probably a good five hundred recipes in this book, but narrowing down what I was going to attempt first was rather easy---I had all the ingredients in the house for this one!

The Ingredients.

1 tablespoon of butter (not pictured)
4 large chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 bell peppers, sliced (I used red and orange)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced in rings
1/2 cup cooking sherry (you could use apple juice)
2 teaspoon orange juice
12 large green olives, chopped

The Directions.

Plug in your crockpot and turn it to low. Add the butter to the bottom of the stoneware insert. Add the chicken--my chicken was frozen, but thawed would work, too. Add all of the dried spices to the chicken. Cut the peppers and onion, and chop or mince the garlic, to add to the mix. Top off with the cooking sherry and orange juice. Chop up the green olives, and sprinkle them on top.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I cooked our chicken for 6 hours, and the meat was cooked, but still a bit dry inside. I chopped each breast in half, and added it back to the pot for another hour. The chicken was then quite juicy.

The Verdict.

All four of us enjoyed this dinner. The kids dipped their chicken into barbecue sauce, but they always do. Adam said it was one of the best chicken dishes he'd had, and was pleased with the moistness of the breast. I enjoyed the peppers, onion, and olives a lot.

There was a lot of juice left in the pot---I'm thinking you could easily put in 6 breast halves.

Do you love this article?

Please share it with your friends!


Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at July 29, 2015

Sign up for the A Year of Slow Cooking newsletter and get the Top Ten Reader Favorite Recipes sent directly to your inbox!

What they say about this article

  1. This sounds amazing! If all goes according to plan I'll be trying it on Saturday. My husband's not too keen on chicken though, do you think turkey would work as well?

    ReplyDelete
  2. this sounds like a lovely recipe and I like that its all items that I tend to have on-hand. I love recipes like that!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You could substitute boneless chicken thighs. they are cheaper and moister.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds delicious! I might make it later this week.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just found your amazing blog and am trying out some of the receipes. As for rice~well here in Gumbo land-New Orleans ~ if you don't have a rice cooker~what is that? I put into a pot 1 part rice to 2 parts water . Let come to a boil. Boil 1 minute stirring constantly. Turn off heat. Then put the lid on and let rest on top of stove. Do not remove lid!!!! Done in 25 min. Easy Peasy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mmm, I'm getting hungry. Great meeting you at BlogHer. I'll be checking back often for yummo crock pot recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your blog! You have inspired me to use my crock pot at least once a week. Not organized enough to do it daily but maybe i will be risky and go for 2 times a week!!! I know I am wild and crazy gal! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just blogged about you on my recipe blog. What a great resource you are :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. My family loved this.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am ADDICTED to your site, this is my first tried recipe - my fam of 8 loved it - I added two more chicken breasts, did 2 cups of fresh, sliced mushrooms instead of olives and thickened the juice with cornstarch......my hubby is still raving about it and wants to know when I am fixing it again, and he is a MEAT and potatoes kind-a-guy - THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous8/21/2008

    Hi! I know this is a bit of a late comment, but I just wanted to let you know I made this yesterday and it turned out great. I am a big fan of the blog, because I love coming home from a long work day with dinner cooked and warm on the counter. I used 6 half breasts in the recipe and it was great. I overcooked it a little (I was 8 hrs on low + another hour of warming time), but it was still delicious. I will definitely make this again.

    Regards,
    Stephan

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just made this today and I'm baffled. I've tried 5 or 6 of your recipes in the last month and mostly the meat has the trouble I've always had with my crockpot: very tender but no flavor. I prepared it exactly as you mentioned and the chicken tastes like sawdust. The most succesful recipe I've tried was a bean and lentil soup and it was delicious but when it comes to meat, I'm doing something wrong. I just don't know what!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Laura,
    I'm so sorry you're having a hard time! That totally stinks---and I'm sure it's not your fault. Your crockpot might be too big, or you may be using old spices. You might also want to try using thighs instead of breast pieces until you get the hang of your crockpot. Crockpots work best when they are at least 3/4 of the way full. This doesn't call for too much food, so a 3 or 4 quart crock is plenty big. If you're using a big guy, you can insert an oven safe dish into your crock, then put the food in that to create a smaller cooking vessel. You can even put the lid of your oven-safe dish on inside the crock (or add a foil cover) to create a crock-within-a-crock.

    If you think I'm off, or you have additional questions, shoot me an email. I'm procrastinating at the library today. :-)

    good luck!
    xoxo
    steph

    ReplyDelete
  14. This isn't the first recipe of yours I have done and I have done a lot of them so far! You have inspired me to use my crock pot 3 times a week! Not only do I not like to cook, but I have a gluten allergy as well and this site has been a life saver. My stomach thanks you and so does my Husband!

    ReplyDelete