Marinated Chicken & Pork

Four pounds of cubed chicken breast and pork marinated in red wine, then slow-cooked in beef stock with tomatoes, garlic, and rosemary until everything falls apart. This is a dump-and-go slow cooker recipe that rewards you with deeply flavored, fork-tender meat by dinnertime.

The overnight marinade does the heavy lifting before the slow cooker even turns on. Red wine, garlic, and rosemary penetrate the cubed meat during those hours in the fridge, building flavor from the inside out. Cutting both meats into one-inch cubes exposes maximum surface area to the marinade, which means more flavor in less time.

Everything goes into the cooker together, marinade included. The beef stock and chopped tomatoes create a rich braising liquid that reduces and concentrates over those 6 to 8 hours on low. The chicken gets silky and shreds easily, while the pork cubes turn meltingly tender with that unmistakable slow-cooked texture.

Kitchen Tips

• Marinate for at least 2 hours, but overnight in the fridge gives the best depth of flavor. The wine acid tenderizes and seasons simultaneously.
• Use a dry red wine you’d actually drink. Cheap cooking wine adds a harsh, metallic taste that concentrates over the long cook.
• Don’t open the lid during cooking. Every peek drops the temperature and adds 15 to 20 minutes to the total time.
• The braising liquid makes an excellent sauce. Skim the fat, reduce it on the stove, and spoon it over rice or mashed potatoes.

Variations

• Serve over egg noodles or polenta to soak up the braising liquid.
• Add quartered potatoes and chunks of carrot in the last 2 hours for a complete one-pot meal.
• Replace the red wine with white wine and swap rosemary for thyme for a lighter, more herb-forward version.