Chicken Merlot Slow Cooker

Name: Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 300 min
Total time: 320 min
Ingredients: 3½ lbs whole chicken (cut into pieces (or parts of your choice) skin removed); 1 large onion (rough cut into chunks); 16 ounces mushrooms (cut in half or quarters); 3 carrots (peeled and rough cut ); 5 stalks celery (large slice); 16 ounces cannellini beans (drained and rinsed); 4 cloves garlic (peeled but left whole); 6 ounces tomato paste; 8 ounces merlot (or red wine of your choice); 8 ounces chicken broth; 1 teaspoons dried basil; ½ teaspoon salt (more or less to taste); ¼ teaspoon black pepper (more or less to taste)

4.95 from 54 votes

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Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot is a hearty and delicious dish that requires very little prep time. After cutting up the vegetables for this tasty chicken stew, just set the timer and let the slow cooker do the rest.

Using your slow cooker to make Chicken Merlot not only makes cooking this delicious dish easy, it also allows the flavors to build during the slow cooking process.

Another favorite chicken dish is Coq au Vin. It’s not a slow cooker recipe but its amazingly delicious.

Chicken Merlot over rice on a white plate

Not a fan of Merlot? Use your favorite red wine to make this dish.

Ingredients for Chicken Merlot

Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”

Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.

Simple Ingredients

chicken pieces
onion
mushrooms
carrots
celery
cannellini beans
garlic cloves
tomato paste
merlot or dry red wine of your choice
chicken broth
dried basil or fresh basil
salt
black pepper

How to prepare Merlot Sauce

Add the tomato paste, red wine, chicken broth and spices to a small bowl.
Whisk the ingredients together until well blended.

How to make Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot

Add the chopped vegetables and cannellini beans to the slow cooker.
Place the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables.
Pour the red wine mixture over top of the chicken. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 hours or high-heat setting for 2 ½ hours.

Remove vegetables and chicken when the cooking has completed. Cover both and keep warm while you finish the sauce.

collage showing how to finish merlot sauce.

Pour all liquid from the slow cooker into a saucepan.
Heat the sauce over medium-high heat until it begins to boil, then reduce the heat to medium, cooking long enough to reduce the sauce by half, until the sauce is thick and clingy.

ladle adding sauce to chicken on a white platter

Place the mushroom mixture on top of a serving platter, topped with the chicken pieces and ladle the sauce over the chicken.

chicken merlot on a white serving platter

Serve the Chicken Merlot with roasted potatoes, rice, or your favorite grain. You’re going to love this slow cooker recipe.

Recipe FAQ’s

What can I do with leftover merlot wine?

If you are not wine drinkers and find yourself with leftover wine, freeze the wine in an ice cube tray. When the wine has completely frozen, pop out the wine cubes and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. The next time you need a little wine for a dish you can defrost a few of the wine cubes.

What are the best chicken parts to cook in a slow cooker?

When it comes down to slow cooking, dark meat is the chicken of choice. This recipes uses a whole chicken, but can be made using chicken thighs and chicken legs. Dark meat holds up better in a slow cooker. Chicken breasts will tend to dry out a bit from the extended cooking time.

More Slow-Cooker Recipes

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4.95 from 54 votes

Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot

Looking for that perfect week night meal? 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.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time5 hrs

Total Time5 hrs 20 mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American, French

Servings:

Calories: 648kcal

Author: Chef Dennis Littley

Ingredients

3½ lbs whole chicken cut into pieces (or parts of your choice) skin removed
1 large onion rough cut into chunks
16 ounces mushrooms cut in half or quarters
3 carrots peeled and rough cut
5 stalks celery large slice
16 ounces cannellini beans drained and rinsed
4 cloves garlic peeled but left whole
6 ounces tomato paste
8 ounces merlot or red wine of your choice
8 ounces chicken broth
1 teaspoons dried basil
½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper more or less to taste

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Add the tomato paste, red wine, chicken broth and spices to a small bowl
.Whisk the ingredients together until well blended.
Remove vegetables and chicken when the cooking has completed. Cover both and keep warm while you finish the sauce.
Add the chopped vegetables and cannellini beans to the slow cooker.
Place the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables.
Pour the red wine mixture over top of the chicken.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 hours or high-heat setting for 2 ½ hours.
Remove the vegetables and chicken from the slow cooker and cover to keep warm.
Pour all liquid from the slow cooker into a saucepan.
Heat the sauce over medium-high heat until it begins to boil, then reduce the heat to medium, cooking long enough to reduce the sauce by half, until the sauce is thick and clingy.
Place the mushroom mixture on top of a serving platter, topped with the chicken pieces and ladle the sauce over the chicken.
Serve the Chicken Merlot with roasted potatoes, rice, or your favorite grain. You’re going to love this slow cooker recipe.

Nutrition

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Slow Cooker Chicken Merlot