Crock Pot Doro Wat Freezer Meal

Nothing says home like a comforting, familiar meal to fill your belly. After we adopted two of our kids from Ethiopia, I learned to make some of their traditional dishes, including Doro Wat, which I adapted to freezer cooking. It was a beautiful way to honor their heritage and has become one of my favorites. Our whole family has come to love this dish.

Special recipes do not have to be hard to make. With just a few basic adaptations, you can make so many meals easier, faster, and just as delicious when making ahead for the freezer. It can take a little discipline to start putting your meals together on the weekend, but once you find your rhythm, the easy meal times on busy nights will be such an improvement that you will persist in making it a habit.

This recipe is included in our Around the World Freezer Stack, which is a great way to get to know our recipes for minimal cost of entry. If you already know you want in just from poking around the site, you’ll want to go for the Freezer Meals 101 Club, which includes every recipe we have and our fail-proof system for freezer cooking.

Crockpot Doro Wat Recipe

Ingredients

• 12 chicken drumsticks
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, whole
• 2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. berbere powder
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 3/4 cup chicken broth

How to Make Crockpot Doro Wat

Assembly Instructions

1. Place chicken, lemon juice, and salt in a freezer bag and allow to marinate while you complete the other steps.
2. Mix onions, garlic, and ginger into a paste using a blender or food processor.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat in a small pan.
4. Add and cook paprika for 1 minute.
5. Add berbere and cayenne and cook another 3 minutes, stirring.
6. Add the onion purée and cook 5 more minutes. Let cool for a bit.
7. Add this sauce, wine, chicken broth to the chicken in the bag.
8. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
2. Cook in a slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours.
3. Optional (but highly recommended to get the full experience): Add 2-4 peeled hard-boiled eggs whole at the end.
4. Serve all over injera (a traditional Ethiopian spongy, sourdough-risen flatbread). You can also serve with other Ethiopian dishes such as shiro.

How do I know when the chicken is done?

Five or six hours in a slow cooker, and the meat should be falling off the bone, but if you want to test for temperature, it needs to be at least 165ºF with an instant-read thermometer. Don’t touch the bone when you check the temp.

What is berbere powder?

This traditional spice mixture from Ethiopia may include chili peppers, coriander, garlic, ginger, Ethiopian holy basil seeds, korarima, rue, ajwain or radhuni, nigella, and fenugreek. 

Is injera gluten-free?

If made with teff (a traditional Ethiopian flour) mixed with either rice flour, sorghum flour, or corn flour, it is gluten-free. Check the ingredients, because some manufacturers will add wheat even though it is not traditional. You can find easy recipes to make your own and control the ingredients, or find the bread at your local International market.

Doro Wat Recipe Ideas

Pre-boil your eggs so that they are ready to go. It takes about 6 minutes at a rolling boil for fully cooked eggs.

It’s a spicy dish, so it is a good idea to have a little dairy on hand to help cut the heat for more tender palates. Plain Greek yogurt, sour cream, or even a little peanut butter will diminish the heat faster than drinks.

Sometimes cooks like to throw everything in the pot at all at once to save time. Cooking this sauce in layers, a few minutes at a time, as instructed, helps bring incredible depth to the flavors of the dish. Skipping ahead is, in this case, not recommended.

Chicken legs can be incredibly inexpensive, but sometimes unavailable. If you can’t find them, the recipe works just as well with bone-in wings or thighs, though it is not traditional. You’ll still get all the flavors though.

How do I Store Doro Wat

Leftovers must be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container and consumed within a few days. Reheat chicken legs in a skillet or in the oven at 375ºF and cook them to 165ºF.

What to Serve with Doro Wat

We highly recommend serving everything over Injera, which is a traditional Ethiopian spongy, sourdough-risen flatbread. If bread is off-limits, rice will do. Shiro, Kik Alicha, Misir Wat, Sega Tibs, and other Ethiopian dishes are also nice, but not required.