question about slow cooking

sara76

I'm a new mom and I only have time to cook early in the morning so I just got a crockpot and am loving it.  I want to make this recipe, only using boneless chicken breasts that I have on hand instead of ground.  My chicken and sausage are both frozen.  Do you think this recipe would still turn out delicious if I put everything in at once, without precooking the meat, and changing temps, etc?  And do I need to thaw the meat and make it tomorrow instead?  I've never slow cooked anything frozen yet so I don't know if it works, and I don't want to waste food, or time.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-and-sausage-chili/Detail.aspx

Jim&Jaime

If your frozen meat is wrapped securely, submerge it in room temp water for about 15 minutes. Great way to thaw meat quickly.

sara76

Jim&Jaime:

If your frozen meat is wrapped securely, submerge it in room temp water for about 15 minutes. Great way to thaw meat quickly.

It is, it's about a pound in the original packaging from the store.  OK thanks, I can definately manage that.  Then should I cook it first?  I've never seen a crock pot recipe that says to cook the meat first but this one says to cook both the chicken and the sausage, seperately.  Seems to defeat the purpose of the ease of crock pot cooking, but the flavors sound really good so I want to taste it. 

UDscoobychick

sara76:

Jim&Jaime:

If your frozen meat is wrapped securely, submerge it in room temp water for about 15 minutes. Great way to thaw meat quickly.

It is, it's about a pound in the original packaging from the store.  OK thanks, I can definately manage that.  Then should I cook it first?  I've never seen a crock pot recipe that says to cook the meat first but this one says to cook both the chicken and the sausage, seperately.  Seems to defeat the purpose of the ease of crock pot cooking, but the flavors sound really good so I want to taste it. 

I didn't read the recipe, but if it has you sear the chicken and sausage, then the pre-cooking is to draw out more flavor (from the yummy bits that get browned)...it's not because the food won't get cooked through or anything.  You could put everything in there from frozen, and it just would take a bit longer to cook.  I'd shred the chicken when it's done cooking, and let it go just a touch bit longer so that the flavors get into all of the chicken, not just the outside, to compensate for subbing breasts for ground.

BlueGeneBaby

UDscoobychick:

sara76:

Jim&Jaime:

If your frozen meat is wrapped securely, submerge it in room temp water for about 15 minutes. Great way to thaw meat quickly.

It is, it's about a pound in the original packaging from the store.  OK thanks, I can definately manage that.  Then should I cook it first?  I've never seen a crock pot recipe that says to cook the meat first but this one says to cook both the chicken and the sausage, seperately.  Seems to defeat the purpose of the ease of crock pot cooking, but the flavors sound really good so I want to taste it. 

I didn't read the recipe, but if it has you sear the chicken and sausage, then the pre-cooking is to draw out more flavor (from the yummy bits that get browned)...it's not because the food won't get cooked through or anything.  You could put everything in there from frozen, and it just would take a bit longer to cook.  I'd shred the chicken when it's done cooking, and let it go just a touch bit longer so that the flavors get into all of the chicken, not just the outside, to compensate for subbing breasts for ground.

This is a great response.  The pre-cooking is to get a sear/browning on the outside with adds flavor.  It has nothing to do with how safely the meat will be cooked.

I put frozen meat in the Crock Pot all the time--it just takes longer.