Recipes

Sometimes I get asked questions about kitchen tips and tricks, and although I don’t have too many, I do have one favorite. Most marinade recipes work great in the crockpot. Make the marinade and pour it over the meat in the crockpot, let cook for hours, and enjoy. The recipe below does exactly that – takes a jerk marinade recipe from this month’s Bon Appetit minus the oil – and turns it into a delicious slow cooker meal. I used chicken thighs and breasts for this but it would work great with pork as well. It also goes without saying you could as it was intended as a marinade and then throw it on the grill.

Weight Watchers Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken
Points: 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus
Servings: 1/12 of recipe
Serving Size: 12
Nutritional Info : 106.1 calories, 2.2 g of fat, 1.8 g of carbohydrates, .2 g of fiber, 18.9 g of protein

Ingredients
1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thights
1.5 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp allspice berries
4 scallions
3-4 habanero peppers, seeded
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 red pepper
Salt and pepper

Instructions
1. Place all of the chicken in the crockpot.

2. In a blender, combine all the other ingredients. I recommend adding the habaneros one at a time and then tasting so you get the right level of heat. Pour over the chicken. Cook for 6 hours in the crockpot.

3. Shred the chicken and serve.

Note: Next time I make this I will do two things that I think will make it even better, and it was delicious. First, I will add in probably about a cup of fresh chopped pineapple into the crockpot with the chicken. I think this will add a nice sweetness to the dish. Then once the chicken is done cooking, I will pour the broth into a sauce pan and thicken it up a bit – the broth was great but it would have made an even more delicious sauce.