Crock Pot Lemon Chicken

This past weekend I combined some of my favorite things!  My crock pot, lemons, garlic and chicken. I'd made an early morning run to the grocery and picked up a whole chicken (cut up) that was on sale plus several other items.  At that point I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with the bird but knew I could turn it into something special.  Since I had the whole day ahead of me, I decided my trusty slow cooker would be the way to go so I gathered my other ingredients and started cooking.

This dish came together rather quickly and results were incredible.  The chicken was moist, full of flavor and there was delicious broth from all of the lemons and garlic.

After removing the chicken from the pot, I strained off the rich liquid and with the addition of some flour, butter, salt and pepper made some gravy which I served over a steaming scoop of rice.  After all my years in the kitchen, this principle still holds true for me …simple food cooked with love shared with family and friends is total joy.

Crock Pot Lemon Chicken

1 whole chicken - cut up
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 lemons cut into thick slices
3 garlic bulbs - tops cut off to expose cloves
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme

• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and brown in hot pan working in batches.  
• Place all but 3 to 4 lemon slices on bottom of crockpot along with garlic bulbs. 
• Layer chicken on top of lemon and garlic.  Gently pour over stock. Place remaining lemon slices on top of chicken and sprinkle on thyme.
• Set slow cooker to low and cook for 6 hours.
• When done, remove chicken from pot and strain broth.  
• For gravy, melt 2 tablespoon of butter in a pan.  Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour and cook until golden brown.  Slowly pour in flavored broth and continue to whisk until smooth.  Cook on medium heat until gravy is thickened, stirring constantly.  
• Serve chicken and gravy over rice, noodles or creamy grits.

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