How to Get a Whole Chicken Out of a Crock-Pot Without It Falling Apart

Chicken cooked in a liquid, such as red wine, will fall apart with improper technique.

Crock-pots are essentially stand-alone braising ovens. Braising uses moist heat and low temperature to permeate chicken with the steam that dissolves connective tissue and creates a fall-off-the-bone final product. Using a Crock-pot is easy; add a cooking liquid, cover and cook for hours with no maintenance. Removing chicken from them, however, is not. It requires a modicum of dexterity and the proper utensils. Utensils used for other applications, such as oven bags and skimmers, have more uses than their title implies, and facilitate many kitchen techniques, such as removing a whole chicken without it falling apart in the process.

Things You'll Need

• Large oven bag
• Kitchen shears
• 2 slotted skimmers, 4 1/2-inch diameter

Instructions

Liner

1. Line the Crock-pot with a large oven bag. Make sure the liner hangs over the sides of the Crock-pot by several inches to give you something to grasp when pulling it out.

2. Arrange the ingredients in the lined Crock-pot as you would an unlined one. Cook the chicken according to the recipe. Ready the serving dish. Use a serving dish with walls at least 2 inches high.

3. Remove the cover from the Crock-pot when the chicken finishes cooking. Place the liner containing the chicken and ingredients in the serving dish.

4. Cut the liner down one side with kitchen shears.

5. Grasp the two edges where you cut the liner and pull them apart from each other and away from the chicken. The liner will split in half, leaving the chicken resting in the serving dish. Discard the two pieces of liner.

Utensils

1. Position the serving dish beside the Crock-pot. Remove the cover from the Crock-pot and grasp two 4 1/2-inch diameter slotted circular skimmers, one in each hand.

2. Work one of the skimmers between the Crock-pot and the broad side of the chicken.

3. Position the other skimmer on top of the chicken. Work the skimmer that sits between the Crock-pot and the chicken under the chicken, using the skimmer as a lever. The chicken should still be in the Crock-pot at this point but resting on the skimmer.

4. Apply slight pressure with the skimmer on top of the chicken, just enough to stabilize it on the skimmer holding it.

5. Lift the chicken from the Crock-pot and place it in the serving dish.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't want fall-off-the-bone chicken, simply reduce the cooking time by 30 minutes. When reducing the cooking time of poultry, use a meat thermometer inserted in its thickest portion to make sure it reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit.