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Quick and Easy Marmalade Crockpot Chicken
I love this recipe as it's so easy! I can set it in the morning, just like a roast, and let it cook and soften all day long. And oh, are the smells wafting through the house wonderful!
What's truly great about this recipe is that you can mix and match all of your ingredients to make a new meal every time you make it.
Try peach jam with fresh peaches, apple jelly with fresh slices of apple and some cinnamon, or even blueberry preserves with fresh blueberries.
Or you can even mix it up and slice up some apples and pears to go with your orange preserves.
This recipe allows me to take advantage of whatever I happen to have in my refrigerator and to make a quick, no fuss dinner.
One of my favorite combinations is cherry preserves with fresh peaches. Yum!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 3 large chicken breasts, or even a whole fryer chicken
- 1 (12oz) jar your favorite jam, jelly or marmalade, peach, orange, apple and cherry are all delicious
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2-3 large pieces of fruit (peaches, apples, cherries, etc.), optional
Instructions
- You will want to prepare your chicken breasts (or whole chicken) for cooking ahead of time. If they are not already thawed, they will need to be before cooking.
- This can be done by setting them out in the refrigerator to thaw overnight, they can be thawed in the microwave, or they can be thawed by setting them out in the sink in room temperature water until ready.
- For a whole chicken, the refrigerator or water bath will be the most appropriate thawing method.
- While thawing, set your crock pot to high.
- Lay your chicken down into the bottom of the pot.
- Pour the entire contents of your chosen jam, jelly, preserves, or marmalade in to the pot, spreading it evenly over your chicken.
- Next, pour your honey over the top of your jam and chicken.
- Now, slice up your chosen fresh fruit, if you've chosen to use it, and dump it also into the pot on top of the chicken.
- Finally, pour enough water into your mixture to submerge your chicken about halfway. You want to give your meat some liquid to cook in.
- Cover the crock pot and leave for the entire day.
- Periodically check on your chicken, marinate your chicken in the mixture you've made by spreading it evenly over the chicken.
- Towards the end of the cooking process, you will want to help break up the chicken, as it will already be falling apart.
- When you are using a whole chicken, you will want to remove any and all bones, tendons, fat, skin, and muscles before serving. This may be a good time to get that process started.
- You should end up with a chunky chicken mixture similar to shredded bbq chicken.
- As this is a very sweet dish, it's best to serve it with some toned down sides, like mashed potatoes and asparagus. Anything sweet, like sweet potatoes, would be overkill with this dish.
- Enjoy! Yummy! Yummy!
Nutritional Information
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 342 | |
| Calories | 4 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Carbohydrates 45 g | 15% |
| Fiber 1 g | 4% |
| Protein 34 g | 68% |
| Cholesterol 88 mg | 29% |
| Sodium 256 mg | 11% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Personal Review
If you like sweet meals, this is quickly going to be one of your favorites. Chicken is inexpensive, easy to come by, easy to cook, and an all around good base for any meal.
If you are using a whole chicken for this meal, it's going to be important to remove all of the skin, bones, and other non-edible parts of the chicken before serving it.
As the chicken is already falling apart as it's absorbing the juices, it's really easy to run a wooden fork (or a silverware fork) through the chicken and pull out anything that doesn't belong. It usually only takes a few minutes for me to do.
I also like to marinate the chicken and stir it around a bit while its cooking to break it up and keep everything covered with yummy juice.
You can serve this with rice, by itself, and even as sandwich if you'd like. Any way you serve it, it's bound to be delicious!
Healthier and Quicker Options
Update:
Since originally posting this recipe I have begun canning and preserving my own foods. Not only does this make meal preparation quicker and easier, but a great deal healthier.
To avoid having to worry about bones, ligaments and other non desirables in your crockpot, I find chicken on sale at my local Sprouts grocery store and buy it up in bulk. When I get home, I pop it all into the crockpot and cook it all day with a little bit of water. At the end of the day, or even the next morning I end up with a ton of yummy soft chicken and a great deal of healthy chicken broth. Both can easily be frozen in ready to use, meal-sized portions to be tossed into a soup, casserole, or in this case the crockpot, later. You could even do this with whole chickens and eliminate the bone and inedible portion removal at mealtime by doing it ahead of time.
I also started making my own jams and preserves, which is a whole lot easier than it sounds. I frequently find fruit on sale for great prices at farmer's markets, Sprouts again, and even local mercados and stock up. Then, once again using my handy dandy crockpot (by the way I love this machine!), I just fill my large crockpot with fruit, all the way up to the top, add a quarter cup of honey or so, and cook it all day. At the end of the day I blend it up with an immersion blender, pour it into jars and can it up to keep for another day. I told you it was super easy, and much healthier than you can get it at the grocery store without all of the added sugar, chemicals and preservatives. my favorites are peach and cherry.
When a day comes when groceries are short or I have no idea what to make for dinner, I can pop some chicken and broth from the freezer and a jar of my favorite homemade jam into the crockpot a few hours before dinner and voila!
Quick Poll
What is your favorite flavor of marmalade (jam or jelly)?
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This is the perfect meal for one of those nights when you don't know what to make. It can easily be done in the crockpot to cook all day and be ready when you get home, or in a pot on the stove in a matter of 30 minutes of so. Enjoy!
© 2013 Victoria Van Ness
