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Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin is an elegant French chicken recipe. The chicken is braised in a seasoned wine, mushroom, and onion sauce, and served with potatoes, pasta, or rice. This fabulous crock pot Coq Au Vin is much easier to make than to pronounce!
Crockpotr Coq Au Vin
A lot of people think of crock pot meals as creamy, cheesy, loaded recipes, or pot roasts and the like. But believe it or not there are some healthier, lighter recipes that are also elegant. Like this one!
What is Coq Au Vin?
Coq Au Vin (cock-oh-van) or chicken in wine, is a popular French recipe. This was originally made for cooking a rooster, which tends to be tough, to be cooked all day in a braise with mushrooms, onion, wine, and some kind of lardon (essentially bacon).
There are, of course, many variations of this classic dish out there, and I put my own spin on it for the slow cooker.
Which Cuts of Chicken Work Best?
You can use whatever you like. The recipe was originally for a whole cut-up chicken, but you can use breast, thighs, drumsticks, or a combination of them.
What if I don’t want to use wine or cognac?
Not everybody likes to cook with wine, for various reasons. Or you just might not have any on hand. No worries!
You can use a little of a good balsamic vinegar (start with 2 Tbsp.), pomegranate juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, or just use a bit more chicken broth.
If you use juice, I recommend one that is as close to pure, unsweetened juice as you can get.
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Pin This Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin Recipe
If you make this deliciously easy Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin recipe, please leave me a comment below. I’d love to know how you liked it!
Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin
Ingredients
- ¼ lb Bacon, cooked & chopped
- 1 Cut-Up Chicken (or use 4 breasts or 6 thighs)
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 8 oz Pearl Onions (fresh or frozen)
- 2 cloves Garlic, finely minced
- 4 sprigs Fresh Thyme (or 1 tsp dried leaves, not ground)
- 8 oz Baby Carrots
- 16 oz Crimini Mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- 1 cup Chicken Broth
- ¾ cup Red Wine (or dry white)
- ¼ cup Brandy or Cognac (optional)
Thicken
- ⅓ cup Flour
- 4 Tbsp Softened Butter
Instructions
- Cook the bacon and set aside to drain on a paper towel. If you want to do the extra step, you can brown the chicken in the bacon fat before adding it to the crock.
- Place chicken in the crock. Add the bay leaf, onions, garlic, thyme, carrots, mushrooms, salt, and pepper.
- Pour in the chicken broth, wine, and cognac.
- Cook on Low for about 5 hours, or until chicken is done and vegetables are tender. Dark meat bone-in may take longer to cook. An instant read meat thermometer is a great tool to use to determine temperature. Poultry should be 165°.
- Discard bay leaf.
- Mix together the flour and butter until a paste is formed. Microwave for 10 seconds if not soft enough. Stir into the sauce with the chicken and vegetables.
- Add the bacon and place lid back on. Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Serve over hot cooked rice or mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, or pasta.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I add cut up potato’s in this? I think cooking in the sauce would be awesome
Yes you can, though maybe not too small of pieces as they may get too soft. I think it’s a great addition!
This was absolutely delicious! I did not have brandy or cognac so I used sherry and it worked wonderfully! This is a keeper for us!
I have made this recipe 3 times already
It is a wonderful recipe and is pretty foolproof
I think it’s worth the extra few minutes to brown the chicken in the bacon drippings
I’ve never used cognac in it and just add a little extra chicken broth and/ or wine. It’s fantastic!
Didn’t have bacon, so I used leftover ham and cooked it along with chicken.the flavor was very nice. I cooked 2 hrs on high and 6 on low, a little too long for thighs, will reduce time next time.
Wonderful recipe for authentiic flavour. My one change would be to not add the chicken breasts until 1 hour before the end of cooking. If they are in for the full 6 hours they take on the consistency of tuna
I am having 6-8 people for dinner & I want to serve your Coq au Vin—so I need to increase the recipe — what should I do?
Tks, Melanie
Hi, add a couple extra chicken breasts, then add half again of the remaining ingredients except salt (add that to taste after cooking).
We really enjoyed this chicken recipe. I tossed in some cut up potatoes and mashed them. So delicious!