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!
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.
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.
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
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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
Patricia
I’m vegetarian, so I only did the sauce with veggies. It was delicious! I used mushrooms, carrots and green beans. Thank you!
Sondra Barker
Yum! The perfect dinner recipe!
Kristina
Love this- it’s so nice to find a slow coooker recipe that isn’t stew or soup!
Leslie
Stunning recipe that is slow-cooked to perfection!
Marina
Love this chicken recipe! Exactly what I needed during this winter month!
Alexandra
Such a delicious dish – full of flavour!
Elaine
This is a fabulous recipe, but I wonder if you used only 6oz of wine and 6Oz of broth you would not have to boil down the sauce as much at the end? Would this greatly impact the flavours? Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Elaine
starting with more and reducing the sauce adds extra flavor to the sauce. You can of course reduce the amounts in the beginning and skip the reduction.
Akiko
I’m glad I found this chicken recipe. I needed more slow-cooker recipes to add to my rotation and this is perfect and delicious!
Emily Woodward
mmm, I cannot get enough of this recipe. It’s delicious. Thanks for sharing
Elizabeth
Fabulous recipe! So delicious!
Raquel
So much flavor and love that I can use my slow cooker or this!
Andrea
This is One of the best recipes I have ever made. It was delicious
I just fried everything a little before putting into slow cooker
I give it 5 stars
John
It would be nice to see British units (Kg ml etc) given so us in the UK can follow the recipie
Chef Dennis Littley
If you look under the ingredients there is an option for metric. I’m slowly updating each recipe to include the equivalents.
Joel
The flavor of the sauce was superb but I felt like never got it to the right consistency even I certainly reduced it by half or more. Maybe my expectations were wrong though. I was thinking The sauce would be more thick like a gravy or pudding but mine was more Soupy. I’m a big sauce guy though so maybe I just expected it to be saucier than it was meant to be. If I make it again I may try to make extra sauce.
Jennifer
Question for you–in the recipe, it says, “1 pounds whole chicken cut up in pieces – skin taken off 3 1/2 -4”–does this mean take the skin of 3 – 4 pieces of the chicken? I was confused by this instruction. Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley
sorry that wasn’t clear Jennifer, it was supposed to be a 3 – 4 lb chicken
Ricci
You had me at slow cooker recipe! I have been using my slow cooker a LOT this summer, it has seriously saved my butt!!
Heather
Looks delicious. Can’t wait to make this in our slow cooker!
Swathi
I am all for the chicken merolt looks delicious and easy to put together as slow cooker does the work for me. Delicious meal.
Tasheena
This recipe would be perfect for the ultimate date night at home. The Mister loves chicken, and I know he’s going to love this recipe.
Terri Steffes
This would be fun to make for a date night at home. We love to cook, and this is fancy enough that we would love to make it and eat it together!
Catalina
I love Slow Cooker meals! It’s definitely the best way to cook during these hot summer days!
Kathy
I honestly don’t think I have ever had chicken merlot before. This sure does look amazing though. I love cooking in the slow cooker, so I’d love to try this.
Rena
I have to try this immediately! I love recipes like this that you can throw in and forget it until dinner. It looks delicious.
Beth
This looks delicious! I love using my slow cooker, I think it makes everything so much easier!
Melanie
I am always on the lookout for more slow cooker recipes. I have not invested in an instant pot yet, so the slow cooker is still my go-to.
Melissa Dixon
I was just looking into new crock pot recipes and I love the idea of using more chicken in our menu each week as well. This is a great combo of the two things I need to incorporate more. Thanks for the idea!
Theresa
We were in France last summer, so I’d really love to make this dish and reminisce on our travels. It looks and sounds absolutely delightful!
Melissa
I love to use my slow cooker in the summer! Thanks for this delicious recipe. It is one my entire family will enjoy!
Sarah Bailey
Ok now this sounds absolutely incredible! I am blown away at the amount of things you can actually make in a slow cooker!
Natalie
I haven’t whipped out the slow cooker in ages! Need to change that ASAP. I will be sharing this recipe with my family, they’d very much enjoy this.
Melissa Chapman
Another winner of a recipe and so nice to use a slow cooker. I know that chicken cooked this way will be a favorite for so many.
Alexys
Can it be made in a regular pot if theres no slow cooker ?
Chef Dennis Littley
yes it can, or in the oven
RavieNomNoms
That looks amazing Chef!!! Awesome recipes
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Raven, it was a little taste of France!
Liz
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
you’re welcome Liz and thanks for stopping by!