Question For Those Who Cook Whole Chicken In Crock Pot

[Guest brit1]

I totally make all my dog food, often feed raw but one of my rescues has an immune problem so am cooking for her. I know that raw fat is actually good for them but cooked fat is a different story so was wondering how you deal with the fatty skin on a whole chicken when you crock pot it? I usually buy skinless thighs etc but would like to buy a whole chicken but seems impossible to remove the skin prior to cooking, thanks for any input.. brit

[Guest FawnFan]

I cooked a whole turkey breast in the crock pot (no bigger than 6 pounds) with the skin on. I put the turkey in and then almost fill up the crock with water (leave about an inch or so). Then turn it on low overnight. In the morning after it cools a bit (I take the turkey out and put it on a platter to cool), the skin is easy to take off. Most of the fat is in the pot or the water. I even do this with turkey thighs too. Hope this helps!

[TwiggysMom]

When I was crock-potting chickens for Twiggy, I would pull off all the skin and cut off as much of the fat as possible before cooking. (This process would easily take me an hour or more, but then again I'm way too detail-oriented...).

 

It was really a pain in the neck, and FawnFan's method may be just as effective. Even with all the preparation, I still found a great deal of solidified fat in the chicken broth after it cooled.

 

I was somewhat relieved when the chickens started to disagree with her. Now I just cook her a steak when I feel like giving her something extra!

[greytpups]

I cut as much fat off before cooking then pull the rest off after it is fully cooked when the bones turn to mush.

[Guest june]

I just cook it. Remove chicken from liquid. Chill all. Remove skin; comes off easy. Remove fat; has floated to top of liquid and is easy to remove.

[DogGolden]

Sorry to derail a bit, but what is the problem with cooked chicken fat? We roast chickens all the time (for ourselves) and when I make broth I often skim the fat and use it to make training treats. Atticus loves them. I also save bacon fat for the same reason.

[TheFullHouse]

Removing the skin from the whole chicken is easier if you cut off the legs, then you can just start at one end of the chicken and start pulling. If comes off pretty easily that way.