Fried Chicken in the Crock Pot

I first tried this Fried Chicken in the Crock Pot recipe when we were renovating the kitchen in our house. In order to survive without a kitchen, I had to get creative with the tools I already owned. This included my slow cooker.

Also, as busy working parents, there was a real benefit for Bill and me to be able to throw that night’s dinner into the Crock Pot before we left for work. Then, by the time we got home — after work, after our daughters’ sporting events —dinner was ready and staying warm for us. Oh, how I love you, my Crock Pot slow cooker.

How to make fried chicken in the Crock Pot

When I talk about making fried chicken in my slow cooker, the word “fried” is a euphemism. I’m not really frying anything. However, the end result tastes like fried chicken.

I should stop and note that this recipe is an oldie but goodie in our household. That is, it was on a regular rotation when I was making and eating meat. I don’t eat chicken anymore but Bill does. So, we still make it for him or for when our daughters come to visit. Those aforementioned sporting events are long over but this set it and forget it recipe lives on.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Another reason I love this recipe is it uses just a few ingredients. There are five only. Here they are:

Recipe steps

Use the canola oil to coat the bottom of the slow cooker.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then, dredge or roll the chicken pieces in the flour mixture.

Place the floured piece of chicken in the slow cooker and repeat until all pieces are done.

It’s OK if you have to double up the chicken pieces in the Crock Pot.

Sprinkle with paprika to taste.

Now it’s time to put the cover on the Crock Pot and start cooking.

Set the Crock Pot to cook for eight hours on low.

You’ll notice that the background is different in this picture above. That’s because I had to move the slow cooker to a dog-safe place. The original table where we’d done the prep was too low and might encourage counter surfing. If you have dogs, you know what I mean.

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I prefer to use a Crock Pot with a timer and then an auto-off feature that turns it to keep warm. This is a great feature for when you set up dinner in the morning before you leave for work or the kids leave for school. Then, if you’re delayed in coming home, you know your dinner won’t have overcooked. At some point I’m going to try and make this in our Instant Pot, using the slow cooker setting.

You know how you’ve heard about chicken that just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth? Yeah, well that’s what happened with this chicken. Though it wasn’t fried in a traditional sense, it sure tasted like a reasonable facsimile.

You can serve this chicken with rice and salad or whichever kind of side you choose. Store leftovers in the refrigerator to take as lunch to work. Or, shred the leftover chicken and use it in one of our other chicken recipes, such as Easy Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole.

Here are some great fried chicken sides to pair with it as well.

Now that we’ve perfected Fried Chicken in the Crock Pot, I can’t way to try Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Great for when chicken is on sale

A few weeks ago my supermarket had chicken on sale for $.79 per pound. As any smart frugal shopper would have done, I stocked up so I could make easy cheap slow cooker recipes.

Yesterday, I finally got around to using some of that chicken. This one package, with six generous pieces of chicken in it, cost a whopping $4.12. You can try this recipe using one kind of chicken or a mix like I did. It was legs, breasts and thighs. Another idea for thighs: baked boneless chicken thighs.