Kathy's Krazy Chicken

Guest Blogger Lawral the Librarian (aka My Librarian) introduced this and many other delicious "meal in a bowl" recipes to the kitchen. From time to time she might drop in with a recipe or two that won't disappoint. Enjoy! - CMolieri

This is a recipe that my mom made all the time when I was little. It is GREAT potluck fare, and having grown up Baptist, I know potlucks. The actual recipe appeared in a Blackfoot Baptist Church fundraiser cookbook, or maybe a Campfire Girls fundraiser cookbook. Whichever book my mom found it in, it is long gone now. Kathy, whoever and wherever you are, I am so glad you spilled Coke in your bbq and decided it was good!

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs chicken - I usually use boneless breasts; my mom used bone-in drums and thighs. Whatever you use, just make sure it's skinless
  
• 2 bottles of bbq sauce - I prefer a bottle of Kraft's regular or Mesquite with a bottle of Honey or Brown Sugar
• the "recipe" calls for 1/2 a can of Coke, I usually use the full can. I cannot stress to you how important it is to use regular Coke and not diet. I don't know why, but the diet makes this whole thing taste nast.
  

Directions:

• Throw everything in the crock pot or countertop skillet and cook it till it's done!

Now seriously, I use a full can of Coke to make everything a bit saucier and cook it in the crock pot on low for roughly 8 hours and then serve it over rice. Left in the crock pot that long all the chicken will fall apart and it will end up tasting as American as Apple Pie (and goes really well with it too) but will look like Indian food. I like my food this way; it fits better in the ice cream bowl I take most of my meals in.

My mom uses only half a can of Coke so that the sauce is more likely to cook down into something un-runny enough that you could actually eat it off a paper plate. She cooks it in the countertop skillet for about an hour at around 350. This way the chicken is still cooked all the way through but still in whole pieces which she pulls out of the sauce. If the chicken is actually going to a potluck, only a little bit of the sauce is kept to keep everything moist during transport and the rest gets chucked. If we're eating at home, Mom also serves this with rice, using the leftover sauce as a kind of rice gravy.

Now that we're getting to the colder months, I love cooking "outside" recipes like this so I can pretend it's warm enough to picnic (or potluck). I hope you all have fun putting Coke in your food!