One of the most popular parts of a chicken carcass is the hips. They are not dry, unlike breasts, and less greasy than whole legs. Thanks to this, meat is difficult to spoil or cook tasteless. For a good result, the thighs need only a little salt and pepper, but various spices, sauces, marinades and additional ingredients are well suited to them. Thighs can be baked, boiled, fried in a pan, grill and an open fire. It also turns out a very tasty and tender chicken thigh in a slow cooker.
The subtleties of cooking chicken thighs
Cooking chicken thighs in a slow cooker is incredibly simple - even a child can handle it. To get started, prepare the chicken - you need to remove the skin from the thighs and trim the excess fat. For cutting chicken, use a separate board, which together with the knife must be thoroughly wiped with paper and then washed, since raw chicken can be infected with Campylobacter bacteria, which provokes inflammation of the stomach and small intestine in humans.
Also, wash your hands thoroughly, but do not rinse pieces of chicken under the tap - along with splashes of water you will spread bacteria throughout the kitchen. If you want to somehow process the meat before cooking, just wipe it with a paper towel.
Thighs in Soya Honey Sauce
Chicken goes well with Asian sauces and seasonings, so you should cook it in this spicy sweet-salty sauce. For such a chicken, take:
- 4 hips;
- 125 milliliters of soy sauce;
- 125 milliliters of ketchup;
- 80 milliliters of honey;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- dry basil.
In a separate cup, mix all the components of the sauce with a fork or whisk. We recommend using soy sauce with a low salt content, since its excess has a bad effect on the health of the body.
Turn the slow cooker into frying mode and lay out the hips. Fry them for a couple of minutes on each side without using oil. Then fill the hips with sauce and put on the "Stew" mode for 1.5 hours. Chicken thighs in a sauce in a slow cooker are ready. Serve them with steamed vegetables or rice.
Hips stewed in tomatoes with vegetables
Chicken is very well combined with tomatoes, so you can simply stew chicken thighs with them in a slow cooker. Recipes with the addition of tomato paste, ketchup or ready-made trade winds sauce can be supplemented with juicy vegetables and beans so that you get a full lunch or dinner and did not require a separate side dish. Take:
- a kilogram of chicken thighs;
- 400 grams of white canned beans;
- 400 grams of canned tomatoes;
- 400 grams of bell pepper;
- 400 grams of tomato sauce;
- onion head;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- olive oil for frying;
- cumin, salt, black pepper.
In the multicooker bowl in the "Frying" mode, heat the oil, put the hips in the bowl and fry on both sides. Season the meat with salt and spices. Pre hips can be chopped into smaller pieces. Cut the pepper into strips, chop the onion, squeeze the garlic. If canned tomatoes with skins, then they need to be removed and cut tomatoes into pieces. When the chicken is fried, put the beans without liquid, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic to it, pour in the sauce. Switch to stewing mode and cook the dish for 1.5 hours.
Chicken thighs with potatoes
Chicken thighs with potatoes in a slow cooker is a very simple and satisfying dish that cooks quickly, the longest in it is peeling potatoes. You will need 600 grams of chicken thighs, the same amount of potatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, vegetable oil and some spices to taste.
Dry the chicken with a towel. Then season with salt, black pepper and spices chicken thighs in a slow cooker. Chicken meat recipes often include dried garlic and paprika, but you can also take the chicken ready-made mixture. Rub it with meat and set aside. At this time, peel the potatoes and cut into slices. Put the chicken skin down in the multicooker in the preheated butter, lay on the top plates of fresh garlic, which will not burn, but flavor the potatoes. Put the potatoes on top of the chicken, salt, pepper, close the lid and cook in the “Baking” mode for about an hour. At the end of this time, juicy and fragrant chicken thighs with potatoes in a slow cooker are ready.
Stuffed thighs
This dish is somewhat more complicated than the previous ones, but is suitable for a gala dinner. For him, take:
- 1-2 chicken thighs per serving, depending on the size and appetite of the guests;
- 2 champignons per 1 thigh;
- onion - 1 piece for 4 thighs and 1 more for marinade;
- a glass of kefir;
- spices to taste.
To cook a stuffed chicken thigh in a slow cooker, the first thing you need to do is prepare the chicken. To make it stuffed, you need a boneless filet. If you can buy a ready-made thigh filet, take it; if not, you will have to remove the bone yourself. Make cuts in the meat with a thin sharp knife in the place where the bone is the narrowest, and go with the knife along the bone, separating it from the meat. 1 onion, cut into thin strips, put it in kefir, salt the mixture and immerse the chicken in it. Pickle for about an hour. Finely chop the mushrooms, by the way, instead of champignons, you can take any others - chanterelles, white, mushrooms. Also finely chop the onion. Fry the onion with mushrooms in a pan or in a bowl of a multicooker in oil. Salt in the end. Cool the minced meat.
Remove the hips from the marinade, if the recess in the place of the bone is small, make it deeper with a knife. Inside, put a spoonful of minced meat, wrap the meat and secure with a thread or toothpicks. Pour a little oil into the multicooker bowl, lay the rolls and sprinkle them on top with chicken spices. Turn the appliance into baking mode and cook the chicken for 40 minutes. When half the time has passed, the rolls will need to be turned over so that they are fried from all sides.
Chicken thighs with rice in a slow cooker
Cooking rice for many housewives and especially novice cooks is sometimes a very difficult task. However, a slow cooker will help to cook rice perfectly. And if you add chicken, vegetables and a few spices to it, you get a fragrant, hearty and healthy dish. Rice for it can be taken long-grain, then it will turn out friable, a picture to a picture. A round rice will be more viscous, but it is ideal, for example, for pilaf. Such rice will absorb more liquid and will be more fragrant.
So take:
- 5 chicken thighs;
- 1.5 cups of rice;
- 2 cups chicken stock;
- 1 carrot;
- 1 onion;
- 2 sweet peppers;
- 50 grams of corn;
- 50 grams of peas;
- spices and salt to taste.
If you want to speed up the preparation of this dish, then instead of fresh and canned vegetables, you can take a bag of frozen ones. Also, instead of broth, you can take ordinary hot water.
Take your spices and salt and coat the thighs well on all sides, leave aside to marinate and soak up the aromas. After 20 minutes, pour the oil into the bowl of the multicooker and heat it, put the chicken and fry for about 20 minutes on both sides. Then remove the chicken and fry the vegetables in the same oil. If you got frozen, just pour them out of the bag without defrosting. If you took fresh, first peel and cut into cubes. Add rice and fry rice and vegetables for about 10 minutes. Salt and season with spices. Then put on top the pieces of chicken, fill everything with broth, turn on the “Rice” or “Pilaf” mode and leave for 40 minutes.
Chicken thighs in sour cream in a slow cooker
This recipe is dietary, as chicken thighs will be steamed. But by adding sour cream, the meat will turn out to be very tender and tasty. You can also use for this dish any other parts of the chicken - breast or legs.
Take:
- 4 hips;
- 1 tablespoon of sour cream;
- spices for chicken, such as turmeric;
- salt.
Remove the skin from the chicken, salt, add spices, sour cream and mix well. Put chicken in a special plate for steaming, pour water into the bowl of the multicooker and set a program suitable for steam. After 30 minutes, a gentle fragrant chicken in sour cream is ready. Serve it with potatoes or steamed vegetables.
Chakhokhbili
This delicious and fragrant Georgian dish is perfectly obtained in the home kitchen from any parts of the chicken. Of course, it’s best to take a whole chicken and chop it into pieces, but only the hips will do just fine. For stewed chicken thighs in a Chakhokhbili-style slow cooker, take:
- a kilogram of hips;
- 1 large onion;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 200 ml of chopped tomatoes;
- 1 green bell pepper;
- spices, for example, suneli hop, salt, bay leaf;
- vinegar.
For chakhokhbili, remove the skin from the hips and chop them into small pieces or in half. Cut the onion into thin half rings. Pepper also needs to be cleaned and cut into thin strips. Cut the garlic into thin slices. Turn the slow cooker on frying mode and put the chicken there. Fry in a dry bowl without oil. Then take out the chicken and put onions, garlic and pepper, and fry them lightly. Put the chicken back, add the tomatoes, a teaspoon of vinegar, spices and salt. Close the lid of the multicooker and set the baking mode. Let the chicken chill with vegetables and spices for about 40 minutes. Serve chakhokhbili in a bright sour and spicy sauce with rice.
Roasted Chicken
If you think that the multicooker is suitable only for stewing, then you are mistaken, it’s quite easy to bake meat or poultry in it. For best results, the meat should be wrapped in foil, so all the juices and aromas will remain in the dish, and it will turn out to be very tender and tasty. For a baked chicken thigh in a slow cooker, take:
- 6 chicken thighs;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- half a lemon;
- 100 grams of mayonnaise;
- turmeric, salt, pepper.
To get started, prepare chicken marinade - mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, squeezed garlic and spices. Spread chicken well. Close the bowl with the bird lid or cling film and leave to marinate. If you have only a couple of hours, then leave the bowl on the table. And it’s better to put it in the refrigerator for the night.
Put the chicken with the marinade on a double sheet of foil, wrap it well so that the juice does not leak. Put the meat in foil on the bottom of the multicooker bowl. Pour a glass of water there so that the foil does not burn to the bowl. Turn on the baking mode and cook the meat for 25 minutes. When the time runs out, the multicooker will turn on the heating mode. Leave the chicken on it for another hour. Due to the influence of a little heat, the meat will turn out to be very tender and juicy.