Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks (Low Carb, Gluten Free!)
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks is an affordable take on garlic chicken -- and, made easy-peasy in your Crock-Pot!
Do you love garlic? If so, boy do I have just the Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks recipe for you! This one plays off of the traditional 40 clove garlic chicken recipe, but uses uber-affordable drumsticks, rather than a whole chicken.
Here you'll take advantage of your slow cooker to infuse your chicken with garlicky flavor -- and then just finish everything off quickly in the broiler. This adds some nice browning to the chicken, and an extra level of caramelization to the garlic and onion.
Drumsticks are on sale this week (and are on sale somewhere about every week, but affordable even when not). This makes them the perfect fit for our June 11, 2017 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around ingredients that are either on sale or generally affordable. It's fun to play off this humble cut of meat with some unexpected elegance, and then you can optionally garnish with fresh herbs from your garden for extra brightness.
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
2.5 lbs chicken drumsticks (about six)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
20 whole garlic cloves (see Note)
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
Directions
Place drumsticks, onion, and garlic in large bowl. Combine olive oil, rosemary, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small separate bowl, then pour over the chicken/onion/garlic and toss to coat.
Add everything to your slow cooker, pour broth over, and cook on high for 4 hours.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer drumsticks, onions, and garlic to a sprayed roasting pan, then broil on high for three minutes a side until skin is golden brown.
Note: This is pretty garlicky -- if you have ever had that 40 clove roasted chicken, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you aren't a fan of too much garlic, you can cut that back (6-10 cloves). It should still be darn tasty, but with less garlic flavor.
Do you love garlic?
Garlic fans: This is the recipe for you. Mr. 10 loved the juicy chicken drumsticks, but was also picking out all of the garlic cloves and eating them. (They're also soft enough that the non-low-carb contingent can also spread them on bread or add them to a baked potato!)
Your drumsticks should be falling off the bone, but be nicely browned from their trip through the broiler. Serve your Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks along with their accompanying slow cooked garlic and onion, then add a green veggie or salad for a complete low carb, gluten free, comfort food meal.
I used my seven quart Crock-Pot for this recipe, but a smaller one would also do here.
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks, printable recipe
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs chicken drumsticks about six
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced thin
- 20 whole garlic cloves See Note
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
Instructions
- Place drumsticks, onion, and garlic in large bowl. Combine olive oil, rosemary, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small separate bowl, then pour over the chicken/onion/garlic and toss to coat.
- Add everything to your slow cooker, pour broth over, and cook on high for 4 hours.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer drumsticks, onions, and garlic to a sprayed roasting pan, then broil on high for three minutes a side until skin is golden brown.
Notes
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This sounds and looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing ?
I'm a big garlic lover but even I found this dish boring. The only flavour is garlic. Needs a little more spice
I love 40 clove chicken, and this is such a great, more simple take on it!! Can't wait to try it 😀
Do you think chicken thighs would cook in the same time? Bone in
Yes, that should be fine! 🙂
Thanks I'm cooking his today!
I love this recipe, and so does my whole family - even the ones who don't usually like dark meat! I cannot recommend it highly enough. I make at least once every week or two and it's always happily received.
This might be the only recipe I've ever used where I don't make any changes or adjustments.
This is in my crockpot now. Can’t wait to eat this!
Why can't you show the calories per serving?
Because that is so super variable in recipes -- depending on the size of drumsticks, for one thing. People often use happyforks.com or myfitnesspal.com if you'd like to estimate.
If I wanted to add vegetables, like carrots and potatoes, would I need to adjust the recipe at all?
I've never tried, but it's worth experimenting with. Cut up carrots I think would be fine. Potatoes, especially in the broth, would probably get a bit grainy.
Are the garlic cloves peeled or unpeeled?
Peeled.
Can you use minced garlic instead of whole cloves?
I've never tried it with minced garlic, which will be a little stronger and sharper without the mellowness you get from slow-cooking the cloves. You could certainly try, but I'd use less than a 20 clove equivalent of minced.
Can you use something else besides chicken or veg broth ? I have none and about to start cooking this. Ugh !
Can I use can of cream of chicken ? Only thing i have. Or chicken noodle soup
Hi - Sorry, I just saw this. It's of course worth a try -- let me know how it turns out!