Crockpot Chicken and Yams

We made this recipe earlier in the week. I think the yams were about 50 cents a pound and a chicken costs a few dollars. (I used homemade broth, so that cost nothing.) So that's a whole crock full of food for about $5.


Crockpot Chicken and Yams

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken broth or stock
whole chicken
lemon pepper
dried sweet marjoram
sea salt
2-3 yams

Directions:

Pour 2 cups chicken broth or stock into the bottom of the crockpot. Turn crockpot on High.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Sprinkle generously on all sides with lemon pepper and dried sweet marjoram, and more sparingly with sea salt. Place the chicken breast-up in the crockpot. Put the lid on.

Peel and chop the yams. Add the yam chunks to the crockpot, arranging them over and around the chicken. Sprinkle with more lemon pepper, dried sweet marjoram, and sea salt.

Cook for 4-6 hours until the yams are tender and the chicken falls off the bone.

Notes:

If you don't have sea salt, plain salt will do. Check your lemon pepper label! Most are no-salt blends but some include salt, so you don't need to add salt if it's already in there.

You really need dried sweet marjoram. Don't substitute fresh, delicately flavored herbs in a crockpot recipe.

The chicken really will fall apart when done. Expect to remove more of it from the crockpot with a slotted spoon than with lifting forks.

Yams may have variable texture because they cook faster when submerged and it's difficult to stir them around the chicken. As long as they yield to a fork they should be fine, and it's also okay if they turn to mush. You can try to stir the yams a few times during cooking if you have a big enough crock, but this recipe filled my 8-qt crockpot with no room to stir.