Lemon(less) Herb Chicken

I've been making lemon herb chicken thighs in the crock pot every few weeks. I do a big batch and freeze the extra. They reheat in the oven really, really well. I thought they might get dry, but they don't. I planned on making a bunch tonight, because I'll be out of town for about a week and I know James likes them and will eat them while I'm gone. The only issue was, I forgot to get a lemon when I went grocery shopping. I tweaked a few things, and you know what? They are super yummy anyway. And of course, they are SCD legal. So I thought I'd share.

I'll even give you the original version, lemon included. If you don't want to look at the pretty pictures, scroll to the bottom for the bare-bones recipe.

First, I mix some seasoning. I use about a teaspoon each of oregano, basil, poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, pepper, nutmeg), and garlic powder, a half teaspoon of pepper, and a generous pinch of salt.

I lay out all the chicken thighs on a cutting board and sprinkle on about half of the seasoning, then rub rub rub those chicken thighs. Turn 'em over and repeat.

Next, I chop some garlic. At our house, the love for garlic is only second to the love for bacon, so I used three fairly large garlic cloves. Normally, I squeeze the juice of one lemon into a measuring cup, then add stock or water until it's about one cup of liquid, and toss in the garlic. This time, I used homemade vegetable stock and added a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

At this point, I usually remember that I should've been heating the frying pan. So I turn on the burner. I also pull out the crock pot, brush the bottom with olive oil, and turn it on high. Into the pan go those chicken thighs, as many as will fit.

Give it just a minute or two, just lightly brown them, then flip and lightly brown the other side.

Put them in the crock pot and repeat until all of the chicken is browned and nestled snugly together, waiting for some liquid.

Dump the garlicky lemon water and/or vegetable stock into the frying pan and scrape up all the goodness that's stuck to the bottom.

Bring it just to a boil, then dump it in the crock pot on top of the chicken.

Put a lid on it and let it cook for a while. I usually give it a couple of hours, then pull out a piece and check to make sure it's cooked through. There's been a few times I've let it go for much longer, and the only problem was trying to get it on a cookie sheet to freeze. It kept falling apart.

I imagine this would make for tasty chicken breasts, too. I use chicken thighs because they're cheaper and smaller. The size works well for freezing and makes it easy to reheat just enough to eat. I let them cool in the stock, then place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Once they're frozen, I put them in a labeled freezer bag. Easy peasy.

Lemon (or lemonless) Herb Chicken:

8-10 chicken thighs

1 tsp oregano

1tsp basil

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp pepper

salt

3 garlic cloves, chopped

juice of 1 lemon + water/stock to equal 1 cup

-OR-

2-3 tbs apple cider vinegar + stock to equal 1 cup

Mix together oregano, basil, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Rub seasoning mix onto both sides of chicken thighs. Lightly brown both sides of chicken thighs in a frying pan; transfer to crock pot. Pour liquid ingredients and garlic into frying pan. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the frying pan. Bring the liquid to a boil; pour over chicken in crock pot.