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Search Results for: Chicken salad

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad Recipe (Less Than 5-Minutes of Work)

April 28, 2016 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Hi! It’s me. The girl without an oven.

Actually, I have an oven. It’s sitting in my living room by my couch. See? There it is:

gas oven

Oh man. If you’re one of my Facebook followers, you might have witnessed my first ever Facebook Live video where I showed off my new stove and made a bad joke about having gas. “Going Live” with you was super fun, so I’ll definitely be doing that more often. Please check it out and join us!

While I type, my favorite guy is going up and down the stairs to complete the transition from electric hook-up to gas. As soon as my pretty new dream oven is hooked up, I will be making a Peach Cobbler to reward Matt for all his hard work getting this set up for me! (To catch you up on the latest, on a whim we checked to see if Craigslist had anything for us. We didn’t have our hopes up. But would you believe, we found exactly one double oven and it is exactly what we want/need – except better?! And we got it for an amazing price!! So thankful!)

During the days I’ve been without an oven I’ve been using my crock pot, my electric skillet, my cast iron griddle, my blender, and my waffle iron quite a bit. As you can see, being oven-less has not been the end of my world.

This Easy Salsa Chicken Salad recipe is actually just a simple variation of my Crock Pot Chicken Tacos. I made this last Sunday when we needed to leave for church in ten minutes but I hadn’t figured out lunch for the day. I got out frozen chicken, ran it under some hot water, plopped it into my crock pot, dumped in some salsa, and left for church.

I said, “Wow, easiest meal ever.” and my boys said, “Mom you say that every day.”

It’s true. I only make food that’s easy. Multi-step recipes are not for me. And yet here we are still eating a healthy, real food diet. Don’t forget how to put the easiest, healthiest side dishes on the table too. Fruits and veggies are the best convenience foods there are!

organic spring mix

Speaking of healthy convenience foods – big containers of Organic Mixed Greens are my favorite fast food to get at the grocery store! Instead of making my Salsa Chicken into a taco last Sunday, I dumped a big hand-full of mixed greens into a bowl, added my tasty chicken along with some tomatoes, black beans, and corn – and I had the best salad! I didn’t even need salad dressing. (Though you can take a look at the yummy options I have listed here.)

Easy Salsa Chicken SaladYum

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad Recipe (Less Than 5-Minutes of Work)
 
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Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
  • Your choice of greens
  • Your choice of salad fixins (I like tomatoes, corn, and black beans for this salad)
Instructions
  1. Place fresh or frozen chicken in a crock pot.
  2. Dump salsa over the chicken.
  3. Cook on low for about 4 hours.
  4. Shred the chicken and serve with your favorite salad fixins.
3.4.3177

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad

A similar recipe to this Salsa Chicken idea is this Crock Pot Bbq Chicken Recipe. Dump it into the crock pot and go!

What are your favorite healthy convenience foods?

 

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Easy Homemade Chicken Salad

October 2, 2012 by Laura 28 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I couldn’t very well make homemade pita bread last week without making Chicken Salad, now could I?

Matt happened to be out of town for two days last week on a soccer trip. The poor guy. All I talked about when he came home was how good the new pita bread recipe ended up and how I’d made chicken salad to go in it and served it all with fresh tomatoes from our garden. And how all four boys scarfed it up and came back for more.

And then I had to tell him that all of it was gone – that we’d saved none at all for him.

Yeah. Welcome home, Dad. ;)

Not to worry. I’ll make him more soon. Have you tried the Whole Wheat Pita Bread recipe yet?

Easy Homemade Chicken Salad

Easy Chicken SaladYum

Easy Homemade Chicken Salad
 
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Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower)
  • 2 Tablespoons pickle relish (I use either homemade pickle relish or an organic variety from Amazon or Vitacost)
  • ¼ teaspoon onion salt
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together and serve on crackers, on bread, or in pita pockets.
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Shucks, get out a fork and eat it plain if you want. It’s good stuff. :)

Recipes and links you might need for your Chicken Salad:

  • Hain Safflower Mayo
  • Homemade Pickle Relish Recipe
  • Pre-made pickle relish from Amazon or Vitacost

I’m not a fan of hard boiled eggs in my meat salads. You? And you know, if you all leave a comment answering that question, this will make for one of the most exciting blog conversations – ever.  :)

You can also use this recipe to make Turkey Salad with turkey leftovers after a holiday meal. This is one of my favorite ways to use up chicken or turkey leftovers! Chicken or turkey salad makes a wonderful convenience food!

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Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for Tacos or Salad)

March 28, 2017 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Once again, feel free to make this new recipe even if you failed to thaw chicken ahead of time. (See also: Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick, Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken, Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast, and Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp – all recipes that do not require thawing meat ahead of time.)

You might be thinking, “Do you ever plan ahead? Don’t you ever thaw your meat? This is what lists are for, Laura. Get yourself a planner!”

ranch chicken salad1

I do have a planner. And a calendar. And several phone reminder alarms that go off all week to remind me of important things to do and places to be.

But my planner, calendar, and phone can’t walk to the freezer to get out the chicken, now can they? So basically, frozen meat is what I have learned to deal with in this life, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. My crock pot gently says, “I’m here for you. I’ll thaw and cook your meat – all at the same time. So you just quickly throw it in here and go about your day.”

Hmm. I think I like my crock pot better than my planner. My crock pot saves my neck, makes my house smell amazing so as to make people think I’m actually working at today’s food, then kindly provides my family with dinner. Meanwhile my planner just bosses me around and tells me what to do all day. Rude.

Planner? You could learn a thing or two from Crock Pot. And Phone Alarms? You need to just sssshhhhhhhhhussshhh once in a while. I heard you the first four times you went off. I know I have a deadline. Can you not see that I’m down on the floor trying to sort through these tax forms? Seeing as you are way over there in the other room, one cannot expect me to just bounce off the floor and spring into the kitchen to swipe your sound off. I can’t afford to be inflicted with a strained muscle if I want to try and keep up with everything Planner is making me do.

And Calendar? I’d much appreciate it if you stop staring at me, mocking me with all your words and appointments. Why don’t you just say, “Stay home. Relax.” once in a while? But no. You’re all, “Take your kid to this, head over to that, so-and-so and such-and-such, be sure to, and don’t forget.”

It’s possible that I may need anger management classes as I learn to deal with the organizational tools that help me handle all my responsibilities. In the meantime, I will happily forget to thaw my meat and let my BFF, the Crock Pot, save me once again with another Simple Recipe.

Simple Shredded Ranch Chicken (for tacos or salad)

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Shredded Ranch Chicken (for tacos or salad)
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2-3 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons Taco Seasoning*
  • 3 Tablespoons dry Ranch Seasoning**
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in the bottom of a crock pot.
  2. Drizzle on olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle on seasoning mixes.
  4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  5. Shred chicken and serve with favorite taco toppings on hard or soft shells.
3.4.3177

*Here’s my Homemade Taco Seasoning recipe.
**Here’s my Homemade Ranch Seasoning recipe.

Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for Tacos or Salad)

I now invite you to enjoy more Simple Recipes (which you can get in eBook form if you like):

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  • Simple Baked Salmon and Asparagus
  • Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
  • Simple Skillet Taco Pasta
  • Last-Minute Lentil Chili
  • Simple Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Legs
  • 20-Minute Taco Soup
  • Simple Cheesy Baked Chicken
  • Simple Creamy Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot
  • Simple Italian Beef and Broccoli Skillet
  • Simple Bacon Ranch Chicken
  • Simple Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken
  • Simple Taco Rice Dinner
  • Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate
  • Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick
  • Simple Beanie Weanies
  • Simple Crock Pot BBQ Spareribs
  • Simple Pizza Chicken Bake
  • Simple Italian Chicken and Green Bean Bake
  • Last Minute Creamy Bacon Spaghetti
  • Simple Hamburger Soup
  • Simple Parmesan Broiled Fish
  • Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
  • Simple 15-Minute Meal
  • Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast
  • Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta
  • Simple Oven Fried Chicken
  • Simple Honey Mustard Chicken Legs
  • The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World
  • Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp
  • Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips

Save even more time and energy when you join Simple Meals!! It’s getting rave reviews!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How I Fed 12 People with One Sam’s/Costco Rotisserie Chicken

August 7, 2024 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here’s how I fed 12 people with one Sam’s/Costco Rotisserie Chicken…

Oh how we love us a Rotisserie Chicken from Costco or Sam’s! The cost just under $5.00 and can stretch a long way. Plus they taste really good. And the best part? They are hot and fresh and ready to pick up, take home, and eat right away.

Now, we have a large family. So people often ask how many of these chickens it takes to feed us all. If our entire family is getting together plus guests, I definitely grab two. But on a regular day? We can get by with just one. How??

How I Fed 12 People with One Sam’s/Costco Rotisserie Chicken

Here’s how this worked most recently when we had a grocery stock up day at Sam’s and we brought home a Rotisserie Chicken for lunch…

Who we fed that day: Six adults and six kids.

Auggie still can’t eat solids well enough so I didn’t count him as one of the 12. Our three little girls aren’t big eaters yet and didn’t eat a lot of chicken, so that’s worth noting for how we can stretch one chicken for this many people. Keith had a medium-sized portion. Brayden and Kiya ate as much as the adults.

How we stretched the chicken: We did what we do with almost every meal in that we ate our chicken along with lots of healthy side dish options.

  • Some of the grown-ups used some of the chicken to make Chicken Wraps with tortillas.
  • One adult ate a pile of chicken along with raw carrots and broccoli with ranch.
  • The kids all ate their bites of chicken on a plate with grapes, blackberries, and pickles.
  • Keith ate his along with fruit and some pieces of cheese.
  • Some of the kids had a piece of bread and butter with their chicken and fruit.

Those chickens look small, but I’ve found that we can pull a lot of chicken off those bones.

Another day recently we came home from Costco and simply ate a Rotisserie Chicken with Smoothies. That’s it. We ate until we were satisfied (just 3 adults and 5 kids that day) and we had leftover chicken.

Best tip for stretching a rotisserie chicken:

Serve lots of side dishes with the chicken. Fruits and veggies taste great with a rotisserie chicken and they are inexpensive. Here’s a list of inexpensive side dish ideas to make Rotisserie Chicken a fast food that goes a long way:

  • Grapes
  • Strawberries
  • Blackberries
  • Raspberries
  • Caesar Salad Kit
  • Bread/Rolls and Butter
  • Steamed Veggies
  • Carrot Sticks
  • Smoothies
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Canned Fruit
  • Pickles
  • Tortillas (to turn the chicken into a wrap)

How many Rotisserie Chickens does it take to feed your family?

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How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

July 19, 2023 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Who takes a salad for a family picnic?! We do. When you go out for as many picnics as we do, you start to get creative. :)

Now that we are living in Lincoln, we’ve been taking our seven little kids out for almost daily “adventures.” The weather has been beautiful and the outings are sooooo good for our kids’ mental health (and for mine, actually). Plus this has been a good way to help us all become familiar with our new surroundings.

So many family picnics

I’m telling you, we pack food a lot for our crew to eat while we’re out. They love it, it’s not hard to do, and the best part: THERE ARE NO DISHES TO WASH AFTERWARD.

We live a few blocks from the zoo, so we bought a membership and go there for an hour or two whenever we can. Here’s our picnic last week: meat, cheese, applesauce, carrots, crackers, and juice. We had lunch with the giraffes.

Another day Eva, Kelsey, and I took the kids to a splash park and enjoyed sandwiches, chips (wow, what an actual normal picnic), mandarin oranges, and juice.

One Saturday we took the kids to “Discovery Day” at a UNL campus where they featured all kinds of science-based, hands-on learning booths for the kids. We enjoyed doing experiments at many booths before sitting down under a tree to eat nuts, cheese sticks, and fruit.

A couple weeks ago Eva and I took the kids to play at a huge park all morning, then ate hotdogs that I’d heated and “bunned” ahead of time for us to eat at lunchtime.

And yes, we also enjoy a lot of picnics in our backyard. This one was pizza and fruit. But it all tastes better outside. :)

Other picnic ideas we’ve enjoyed:

  • Quesadillas
  • Hamburgers
  • Chicken Sandwiches
  • Burritos
  • Summer Sausage
  • Tortilla Roll-Ups

How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

So now let’s talk about salad.

This idea came to me as I was quickly searching my refrigerators to see what I could throw together for my kids to eat at the zoo this week. I had already grabbed some sliced meat and cheese, but we needed a veggie that could easily be transported and eaten at a picnic table. I was out of carrots, but aha! There was a Salad Kit I’d bought for Elias sitting in my veggie drawer. We could make that work at the zoo!

(This is the photo I sent Elias from Aldi asking if he wanted me to get it for him. And then I bought it for him. And then we ate it without him. Sorry Elias. I’ll get you a new one.)

I threw the kit into a gallon-sized ziploc bag along with avocado cups for our toddlers, applesauce cups and muffins for everyone, and juice boxes. We got to the zoo just in time to sit down for a Baby Cheetah “show.” We settled everyone in with an applesauce cup and spoon, then I dumped the salad kit into my ziploc bag.

I added all the extras included in the kit, closed up the ziploc, and shook it up. This took 5 minutes and it was brilliant! (I did wish I had scissors. That would have made the process only take only 4 minutes.)

I then dumped salad out for Brayden, Keith, Kiya, Matt, and me, handed out forks, and we learned about baby cheetahs while we chomped on salad. Truly, this idea is genius.

These kits are around $3 at Aldi, which is a GREAT PRICE for a lunch on the go. Plus they have several varieties to choose from. I will definitely be grabbing more next time I’m shopping so that I’ll have these on hand for outings as needed!

Meanwhile, Acacia ate her avocado cup with a spoon. She loves those!

Want to make your own salad to take along on a picnic? Here are some great recipes:

  • Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad
  • Black Bean Taco Salad
  • BLT Chopped Salad
  • Easy Taco Salad
  • Chicken Chef Salad
  • Tuna Salad
  • Perfect Pasta Salad
  • Simple Bacon Broccoli Salad
  • Strawberry Spinach Salad with Vinaigrette
  • Easy Salsa Chicken Salad

How about fruit salad?

  • Strawberry Christmas Salad
  • Easy Blue Raspberry Salad
  • Pineapple Fluff Salad
  • Hawaiian Fruit Salad
  • Simple Strawberry Fluff Salad

Ever tried taking salad for a family picnic?

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12+ Ways to Use a Rotisserie Chicken as Fast Food

May 3, 2023 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Use a Rotisserie Chicken as fast food? Oh yes! Here are 12 full meal ideas to work with as you get your creative meal idea juices flowing…

Seeing as Costco and Sam’s offer their delicious Rotisserie Chicken for just $4.98 every single day – we should keep this in mind as a Fast Food option as a way that saves money and provides a healthy meal! Here are some tasty ideas to create a meal with a Rotisserie Chicken:

Ways to Use a Rotisserie Chicken as Fast Food

There are so many different food combinations we can put together to enjoy a rotisserie chicken as a meal! Anything you choose will offer a fast food meal at a fraction of the price compared to ordering take-out at a restaurant. And you can put together some very healthy meal options too!

Look through all the different Rotisserie Chicken meal combinations below. Put these items into your cart, take them home, and put them on your table. Or, how about taking any of these to the park for a simple picnic?? So delicious and fun!

Rotisserie Chicken Meal Ideas:

  1. Rotisserie Chicken, Caesar Salad Mix, Fresh Strawberries
  2. Rotisserie Chicken, Croissants, Romaine Lettuce, Grapes (at home, grab out mayo, mustard, and ranch to complete your sandwiches)
  3. Rotisserie Chicken, Potato Salad, Pickles, Blackberries
  4. Rotisserie Chicken, Mixed Greens, Sliced Cheese, Crackers, Watermelon (enjoy salad dressing that you already have in your fridge with your mixed greens)
  5. Rotisserie Chicken, Hawaiian Rolls with butter, Coleslaw, Grapes
  6. Rotisserie Chicken, Baby Carrots with Hummus, Veggie Straws, Cherries
  7. Rotisserie Chicken, Tortilla Chips with Guacamole, Grape Tomatoes, Sliced Melon
  8. Rotisserie Chicken, Baked Beans, Fruit and Veggie Tray
  9. Rotisserie Chicken, Pasta Salad, Cherry Tomatoes, Fruit Cups
  10. Rotisserie Chicken, Tortilla Chips with Salsa, Olives, Pickles, Peaches
  11. Rotisserie Chicken, Tomato Soup, Cheese and Crackers, Pears
  12. Rotisserie Chicken, Steamed Veggies, Rolls with Butter, Cuties

Mix and Match any combination of these, or add anything else you find that looks good! Simply grab a Rotisserie Chicken (or two if you have a large family, pick up some simple sides, and you have a quick, easy, and healthy meal!

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Parmesan Chicken and Rice Recipe – $1.00/person!

January 15, 2023 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You are going to love this Parmesan Chicken and Rice recipe. It’s so easy and flavorful, and can be made for just $1.00 per person!

You realize that this means that your entire dinner for four people only costs $4.00? Throw in a steamed veggie and a salad and you’re up to maybe $6.00, total, for a super-amazing, delicious, wholesome meal that nourishes.

My intent with this series is to encourage all of us. Grocery prices can look discouraging right now, but I’m finding that it really is possible to keep our costs low while still eating well.

This meal idea comes on the tail of this Whole Chicken Recipe in which we cooked a chicken with the goal of making three meals with it.

  1. Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges
  2. Parmesan Chicken and Rice
  3. Creamy Potato Soup (made with broth from the chicken we cooked as described here)

Today, we’ll share how you can take the “leftovers” from the Whole Chicken you made that you saved for this meal. You’ll make rice as detailed below, then you’ll stir in the leftover chicken. This is so delicious and easy.

 Parmesan Chicken and Rice Recipe

Parmesan Chicken and Rice Recipe - $1.00/person!
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 2 cups chicken or beef broth
  • 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • Sea salt to taste
  • Leftover baked chicken cut into bites
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or fresh garlic)
  • ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Stir rice, broth, onion, and salt into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. Cover and bake for one hour in a 350 degree oven.
  3. Stir in cooked chicken and garlic and bake for 10 minutes more.
  4. Remove from oven, sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top and serve.
3.5.3251

The rice cooked in broth with onion and salt makes this taste extra good. Now use those bones from the chicken to make broth. Then you can make Creamy Potato Soup too!

Did you get these yet?

All month long we are working our way through 30 Days of Dollar Dinners. Get the calendar filled with 30 dollar meal ideas, plus all these resources too. They are free and will hopefully save you a lot of money at the store!

Sign up here to enjoy these!

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Ways to Use a Costco Rotisserie Chicken

October 26, 2022 by Laura 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

We’ve been enjoying some creative ways to use a Costco rotisserie chicken. It’s so inexpensive and delicious!

First, let’s talk about the joys of a Costco rotisserie chicken.

They cost five bucks and they taste wonderful. A rotisserie chicken is a fantastic “convenience food” worth taking advantage of when you hit Costco. Enjoy it with a simple salad and container of berries and you have an amazing meal for around $10!

My Costco chicken friend

We have a dear, precious friend who blesses us with a rotisserie chicken almost every time she goes to Costco. Why does she do this? Because she knows we have our hands full of babies and a lot of mouths to feed. This is a way she blesses our family. Not only does she pick up a chicken for us: she takes the meat off the bone and delivers it in a bag, ready for us to eat! It’s such a gift!!!

Here are some ways we enjoy this gift…

Ways to Use a Costco Rotisserie Chicken

1. Serve the chicken with salad and veggie or fruit, and you have yourself a meal.

Like this, except with rotisserie chicken. I didn’t have a current picture. :) :) :)

2. Sprinkle the chicken into a salad to turn a salad into a meal.

3. Get creative with chicken in the lunchbox.

Send the chicken in a lunchbox along with ranch dressing or barbecue sauce for dipping.

4. Make Chicken-Cheese Melts.

Put chicken on open-faced buns, drizzle ranch or another favorite sauce on the chicken, cover with cheese and broil in the oven, or put them into the air fryer to melt the cheese. These are a favorite!!!

The above picture is a look at how I built our lunch sandwiches one morning. Elias and Matt were heading to their weekly prayer lunch with friends so I made theirs to send with them on paper plates. Malachi was finishing a work project with a deadline at his computer one morning so I fixed a special plate for him. The littles and I finished the rest. :)

5. Make Alfredo and stir in some rotisserie chicken. Amazing!

6. Make Chicken Enchiladas. 

This picture isn’t too exciting, but here’s what it looked like one morning when I was building a great big pan of Creamy Enchiladas to share at Malachi’s tennis team potluck. I had rotisserie chicken in the freezer so I pulled it out and used it to put this together quickly. It was a huge hit at the potluck!

The best way to eat a Costco rotisserie chicken is simply to eat it. :) But it’s fun to have these options too when thinking about creative ways to use up chicken that’s been pulled off the bone.

Do you like to buy a rotisserie chicken at Costco or at another grocery store? What do you do with the chicken?

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Instant Pot Whole Chicken

August 22, 2021 by Bethany Lotulelei Leave a Comment

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Did you know you can cook a whole chicken in your Instant Pot? This is one of my favorite time savers!

Instant pot Whole Chicken Recipe

Instant Pot Whole Chicken

by Bethany Lotulelei

Once upon a time, I was afraid of the whole chickens at the store. I wasn’t sure how to cook them properly, so I avoided buying them. Then one day, I got my courage up, and I purchased one. I stuck it in the oven, following a recipe I’d found online, and cooked it until I was sure it was done. The result? A sad, dry chicken that would have greatly benefited from some gravy.

I didn’t buy another whole chicken for quite some time, until I read a recipe that promised a moist, delicious rotisserie-style chicken with crispy skin. All from cooking it in the Instant Pot.

Could it be true? Would the Instant Pot deliver me a beautiful roast chicken in less than an hour? My curiosity was piqued, and I gave it a go.

This recipe has changed my life.

We routinely eat roast chicken, thanks to the ease of making it in the Instant Pot! It is seasoned, delicious, and (thanks to a secret which I will share with you in this post) the skin is nice and crispy! Win-win-win!

If you, too, are avoiding whole chickens, because of less-than stellar experiences in the past, might I encourage you to give this recipe a go?

A few tips:

  • Only buy a chicken that will fit in your Instant Pot. If you have a smaller Instant Pot then you’ll need to purchase a smaller bird as well! I was gifted some beautiful, free-range chickens that were double the size of the grocery store version, and none of them fit in my Instant Pot! Sob! I use Laura’s method to cook them, rotisserie-style, in the oven instead!
  • Stuff your chicken with something delicious–lemon slices, sprigs of herbs, onions, garlic, all of the above!
  • Season your chicken liberally. Add your favorite herbs + salt, and don’t sprinkle it lightly! You want a well-seasoned bird!
  • Save the chicken broth in the bottom of the Instant Pot, and mix it into your Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes or make a delicious gravy out of it!

How to Give it Crispy SkinYum

Are you ready to hear the secret of how you are going to ensure your chicken has beautiful, delicious, crispy skin? Step in closer. I’m about to reveal all…

I LOVED cooking the whole chicken in the Instant Pot: it was easy, it was fast, it was incredibly moist. But what I didn’t love? The skin. I missed the crispy skin the oven would give a whole chicken.

Then I discovered this tip: after you have finished cooking your chicken in the Instant Pot, pull it out, set it on a cookie sheet in the oven, and broil it.

Broiling it after it has already baked will give you an amazing, delicious, crispy skin paired with the moist, flavorful meat from the Instant Pot.

So good, and so easy!

Instant Pot Whole Chicken
 
Save Print
Prep time
10 mins
Total time
10 mins
 
Delicious, moist whole chicken cooked in the Instant Pot!
Author: Laura
Recipe type: Main Dish
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken with the innards removed
  • 2-3 T of melted butter
  • 1 lemon cut in half
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • Seasoning of choice
Instructions
  1. Place trivet in the Instant Pot
  2. Pour 1 cup water into the bottom of the Instant Pot
  3. Rub melted butter over chicken.
  4. Stuff chicken with lemon, garlic, and onion.
  5. Season the outside of the chicken liberally with your seasoning of choice.
  6. Place chicken in the Instant Pot, and close the lid.
  7. Set on high pressure for 7 minutes per lb.
  8. Once cooking time is finished, allow pressure to release naturally for 15-20 minutes.
  9. Remove chicken from the Instant Pot, place it on a cookie sheet, and broil it for a few minutes until brown.
  10. Enjoy!
3.5.3251

 

Seasoning Ideas:

  • Italian Seasoning
  • Onion Soup Mix Seasoning
  • Ranch Dressing Seasoning
  • Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning

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5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken

June 9, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Can you really make 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken in only 5 minutes? Try it and see! Maybe you can make it in only 4 minutes? :)

Meals like this are my very favorite:

  1. Throw chicken in a crockpot.
  2. Dump something on top of the chicken.
  3. Turn on the crockpot and come back at dinner time.

Add a simple vegetable, a salad, some fruit, and your meal is complete. It’s so easy and delicious and perfect for summertime right?

That’s why I’m going to share several days worth of 5-Minute recipes in the coming days! I’m always looking for quick meals in the summertime that don’t heat up the house. As much as I love to cook, I don’t enjoy it as much in the summer. So if we can have meals that both:

  • Take very little prep time and
  • Don’t heat up the house

We love it, right?!

Right.

So subscribe if you haven’t already so that you don’t miss any of these 5-Minute recipes!!! And now for our first one:

5-Minute Crock Pot ChickenYum

5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
  • 4-6 boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 cups Italian dressing
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Place chicken pieces in a crock pot.
  2. Pour Italian dressing over the chicken.
  3. Sprinkle cheese over the top.
  4. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3.5.3251

I try to keep Homemade Italian Salad Dressing on hand if I can, which works great in this recipe! But any Italian dressing will work. So open a bottle and pour it on!

More 5-Minute Recipes coming. Stand by!

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