A Crockpot Winner: Barbecued Chicken and Cornbread Casserole

It’s been a crazy busy week here at Tummy Treasure central.  Like everyone else in our area, we also returned to school this week- hitting the books from the comfort of our own home.  I forgot how much work it is for me! And I also forgot that with schooling underway, I lose a ton of the time I’ve been using to prepare meals in the past few weeks.   I’m going to have to get better at using the crockpot and the freezer, I think.  The freezer so that I can make a meal once, but make two portions, and pop one in the freezer to pull out on a busy day.  Thursday nights, though,  are going to be one of our regular crockpot nights I think.

I’ve gotten better at finding sources for crockpot recipes where the resulting meal doesn’t taste like crockpot.  I know you know what I mean by that!  I honestly think that “crockpot flavor” comes from those recipes that combine a myriad of packaged mixes loaded with preservatives- rather than relying on fresh ingredients.  A packet here and there should be okay, but when you’re adding a packet of this, a bottle of that, a jar of this, and a container of that- and they’re all preserved by something- those chemicals combine in the crockpot to create that all-too-familiar “crockpot taste”.

One cookbook series that I pick up from the library often is the Not Your Mother’s series.  I haven’t had a bad recipe from those books yet, though I do find the seasoning is often off.  Most often they need a hit of salt, unless there is soy sauce or some other salty component in the dish.  But my hands-down go-to recipe source for the crockpot has to be fellow food blogger Stephanie O’Dea.  I caught on to her blog in the midst of her one year of crockpot cooking every single day.  I couldn’t fathom cooking out of my crockpot every day, and yet she did, and as a result of that experiment, has gone on to produce cookbooks and recipes that, so far anyway, are delicious and reliable.

Yesterday’s crockpot creation was Stephanie’s Crockpot Barbecued Chicken and Cornbread Casserole.   I’ve never made something like this in my crockpot- I was never convinced that it would work right, but Stephanie said it was good, and I really liked the list of ingredients.  Specifically, it was little bits of this and that, which combined to make one meal.  It called for just one small sweet potato.  I’ll admit, I was tempted to add more, but when you added the one pound of cooked chicken, one cup of corn, and one onion, and then topped it all with cornbread, it was a perfect meal.  It really was a one-dish meal, and it was more than enough for our family of four.

The best part?  Everyone enjoyed it immensely.  The kids are always up for barbecue, and this was no exception- they even at the sweet potato chunks, which is unheard of here!   This actually is a great dish to use up leftover bits of stuff in, and I am definitely going to keep that in mind, because this couldn’t have been easier.  I dropped chicken, corn, sweet potato and onion into my crockpot, and then poured barbecue sauce and water over that.  A quick stir, and that part was ready.  Next, I mixed up some cornbread and spread that over the top of the barbecue mixture.  I made that from scratch, but you can certainly use a cornbread mix if that is your usual poison.  Then I turned on my pot and let it cook.  Mine was perfectly done at 6 hours.

The only change that I would make was with the barbecue sauce.  I used the full 18 ounces, and it was just too much for my taste.  I think I would use maybe 10-12 ounces, and then eyeball the water.  It just was a hair too much barbecue for me- though Andy said he thought it was perfect, and the kids ate without complaint.

Have I mentioned that the kids gobbled this up?  They didn’t finish the cornbread on their plates, as that wasn’t their favorite part, but they did eat some of it, and they were both satisfied with dinner.  I added some garden fresh tomatoes on the side for a bit of a fresh element- a salad would have been lovely as well.   Since this was a kid-pleasing dish, it’s most definitely going into the file as a repeater.

I’m going to send you over to Stephanie’s sight for the recipe today- do make it!  But while you’re over there, check out her exciting news and enter her amazing sounding giveaway!

Crockpot Barbecue Chicken and Cornbread Casserole