Recipe - No Peeking Peking Chicken

Last week I made a new crock pot recipe out of my Rachel Ray Magazine called No Peeking Peking Chicken.  It was a big hit with all of us - phew!  As usual, I did not make the recipe according to directions; I made my own adjustments.  Did you expect any less?  ;o)

The recipe called for 8 bone-in chicken thighs, but I am only cooking for 2 1/2.  I bought a whole chicken, cut the two leg quarters off and just cooked with those.  The breast I will use in another recipe.  You have to fill your crock pot at least 2/3 of the way with food in order for things to cook properly.  The 2 leg quarters did not fill my 4 qt crock pot enough but were too much for my 1 1/2 qt crock pot.  So, I decided to slice up a few organic carrots on the bias and put them in the bottom of the pot to bulk it up.  That worked.  I put the leg quarters on top of the carrots and mixed the full recipe amount of sauce to pour on top.  It really did not make a ton of sauce.  However, after the cooking was done, there was plenty.

The recipe said to cook on low for 4 hours.  After over 2 hours the chicken, which I could see through the lid of the crock pot, had not even started to change color and I was worried it would not cook al the way through in time.  So I put the temp up to High for 1 hour and then put it back down to low for another 45 minutes.  When I opened the crock pot and took the meat's temperature, it was really high.  I took the thermometer out when it reached 192 degrees b/c it was still climbing!  LOL!  It did not matter, however.  The chicken was plenty tender and juicy.  Next time, I will let it cook at the recipe's time and temperature.  We served the chicken with brown rice and the carrots were flavored wonderfully with the sauce.

In the magazine, Rachel said to take your leftovers and make fried rice later in the week.  We, unfortunately, did not have any leftovers with which to make fried rice, but no leftovers is a good thing in my book.  Enjoy!