Slow Cooker Chicken And Red Wine

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With summer in full swing and the beach calling me, its time to get out my slow cooker and begin planning my meals around our beach time. Using a slow cooker to make Chicken Merlot is not only easy, but a great way to allow flavors to build gradually during the slow cooking process. It also frees up your day for other activities……like the beach!

Chicken Merlot prep

Let's get our ingredients together for this dish. You can use a whole chicken, cutting it up yourself (see the video for instructions) or buy it ready cut. **When I make this dish again I'm going to use just thighs and legs, the dark meat was fall off the bone tender and moist, while the breasts did dry out a bit.

Around the Kitchen Table

The original recipe I saw in a magazine would have been a little flat, without the extra ingredients I used in my Chicken Merlot. Of course, you can take this any direction you choose by using more or fewer vegetables, beans or grains in your interpretation of this dish.

Chicken Merlot

When I first decided to make this dish, I hadn't thought of it being French Country, but as soon as I opened up the slow cooker and began working on the presentation, there was no doubt in my mind that with the addition of some fresh herbs this could have easily been a dish from Provence. Comfort food without the feeling of guilt or being overfull. The added roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and onions was a delicious side dish. Of course, you can substitute your favorite grain, pasta or rice with this dish.

As for the vegetables in the slow cooker, other than the celery they retained their identity and were still firm. I especially liked adding in the cannellini beans, they really added to the flavor of the dish.

If you don't have merlot use your favorite red wine, because you're going to be left over with a good portion of the bottle. Of course if you find yourself with a partial bottle that you can't finish you can always freeze it in ice cube trays, pop them out once frozen and store them in a ziplock bag for when you need them for cooking.

If you love your slow cooker you might also enjoy these recipes:

Tangerine Sticky Ribs
Guinness BBQ Beef Ribs
Ginger Beer BBQ Baby Back Ribs
Wild Boar (and pulled pork sliders)

Chicken Merlot - Slow Cooker Recipe

Looking for that perfect week night meal? Using a slow cooker to make Chicken Merlot is not only easy, but a great way to allow flavors to build gradually during the slow cooking process.

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 5 hrs

Total Time 5 hrs 20 mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American, French

Servings: 4

Calories: 655 kcal

▢ 1 whole chicken (3 - 4 lbs)cut up in pieces - skin taken off Chicken may be deboned
▢ 1 in large onion - cut chunks
▢ 16 ounces mushrooms -cut in half or three slices leave on the thick side
▢ 3 carrots - peeled and sliced thicker cut than normal
▢ 5 stalks celery - large dice
▢ 1 ounces can cannellini beans drained and rinsed 16
▢ 4 cloves garlic - whole
▢ 6 ounces tomato paste
▢ 8 ounces merlot or red wine of your choice
▢ 8 ounces chicken or vegetable stock
▢ 1 teaspoons dried basil
▢ ½ teaspoon sea salt
▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

place chopped vegetables and cannellini beans in the bottom of your slow cooker
add chicken pieces on top of the vegetables
in a bowl whisk together tomato paste, wine, stock and spices then pour over chicken and vegetables
Cover and cook on low for approximately 5 hours or high for approximately 2 ½ hours
remove vegetables and chicken after cooking and cover to keep warm
pour all liquid from slow cooker into a saucepan and reduce by half until sauce is thick and clingy
pour sauce over chicken and veggies and serve with rice, potatoes, pasta, or your favorite grain

About Chef Dennis

Chef Dennis is a semi-retired Chef, writer/blogger, photographer, recipe developer and creator of A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis aka Ask Chef Dennis®. Chef Dennis worked professionally in White Table Cloth Restaurants for 40 years and has been developing easy to make, restaurant-style recipes since 2009. The second phase of his reinvention from chef to blogger has earned him a place at the Worlds Dinner Table. Join him on his Culinary Journey enjoying his easy to make Restaurant Style recipes and travel adventures. For more details, check out his About page.

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