Slow Cooker Jamaican Jerk Chicken

This is one of my all time favorite ways to eat chicken!! Its so easy to let these drumsticks slow cook all day in half of your homemade jerk seasoning. Then when you are ready to eat, take them out and broil in the oven on both sides until nice and crispy. The great thing about this recipe is you can make them as spicy as you want by simply adding the seeds of the habaneros or as mild as you want by seeding your peppers. And let me tell you, my 3 year old LOVES this chicken. The meat is falling off the bone tender and oh so juicy!! The skin is nice and crispy with just enough heat to make my nose run a bit with a mouth watering flavor.



**I generally double this recipe to feed my family of 5 including a teenage boy. We generally have a couple pieces of chicken left over. If you have a family that does not include ravenous teenagers, then the recipe as is will generally feed 2 adults and 2 children with no problems. The recipe calls for 4 pounds of drumsticks but counting how many drumsticks are in a package will generally give you a better idea if you need to double it or not. To give you an idea, my 3 year old will generally eat 2-3 legs while my teenager will eat up to 6 legs in a single sitting and I eat 3-4.**

Ingredients

FOR THE SLOW COOKER:

• 8 green onions, roughly chopped
• 2 Habanero or Scotch Bonnet chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1 inch of ginger, peeled and sliced or 4 Tbsp of ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 3 Tbsp crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp molasses or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 4lbs bone in, skin on chicken drumsticks
• Vegetable oil spray like PAM
• *optional lime wedges for serving
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utensils needed:

• cutting board
• shopping knife
• food processor or blender
• slow cooker
• large baking sheet for broiling
• tin foil
• medium bowl/Tupperware
• basting brush
• tongs
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Directions

FOR THE SLOW COOKER:

1. Defrost chicken legs!!
2. Prep veggies                                                              
3. Peppers are not that hard to seed. Simply cut off the stem as shown. Next take your knife and gently cut the membrane connecting the seed pod to the pepper walls. Finally take a spoon or like I did, a 1/4 tsp spoon and scoop out the seeds. If you do it this way there is no direct contact with your hands and no burning.                                          
4. Puree green onion, syrup, garlic, thyme, allspice, oil, habaneros, and salt in food processor until smooth. Takes about 30 seconds. Don't worry when it turns a muddy color!                                            
5. Toss chicken legs into slow cooker.      
6. Pour 1/2 the puree on top of the raw chicken. 
7. No sense even trying to keep from getting your hands dirty here. Just dive in and ensure the legs are all well covered with the puree mixture.            
8. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. About 5 hours for 4lbs and 6 hours for 8lbs. 
9. Cover your remaining puree mixture and refrigerate until needed. 
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FOR THE oven/broiler:

1. About 30 minutes before ready to eat, position oven rack to about 10 inches from the broiler (the heating element on the very top inside of your oven- see Google image below) and turn broiler on. If you have a Hi/Lo option, you want it on high                                  
2. Line your baking sheet with tin foil and spray with vegetable spray to prevent sticking
3. Using tongs, CAREFULLY remove chicken from slow cooker one at a time and place on baking sheet                                                                           
4. Discard liquid in crock pot
5. Using basting brush, coat chicken with 1/2 of the remaining puree mixture
6. Place in oven under broiler and set timer for 10-15 minutes. You want the chicken to lightly char and the skin to get crisp.                                 
7. Using tongs, gently flip chicken, baste with remaining puree mixture and broil for 5-10 additional minutes or until lightly charred and crisp on second side.
8. I don't personally care for the lime wedges one way or another but many do with this spicy chicken
9. Enjoy!!!
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