Making a whole chicken in your crockpot or slow cooker is easier than you think. This garlic and brown sugar whole chicken slow cooker recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and savory. Meet your new favorite slow cooker recipe!
Cooking a whole chicken in your slow cooker is a lot less intimidating than it seems. If you’ve never done it before, it’s super easy. Don’t be intimidated by cooking a whole chicken in your slow cooker, trust me, you’ll never want a rotisserie chicken again.
I recently made this garlic brown sugar slow cooker whole chicken recipe for my husband after he was gone all week on a business trip. I put everything in the slow cooker that morning and once he got home that afternoon, the entire house smelled amazing. It was incredible and the perfect home cooked meal for him after he had been traveling all week.
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What ingredients are needed for this recipe?
For this recipe, you will need:
- Whole chicken: Mine was around 4 pounds.
- Brown sugar: Dark or light brown sugar, both work.
- Yellow onion: You’ll want to coarsely chop it.
- Carrots: You can use regular or baby carrots. You’ll need about 1 pound.
- Garlic: You’ll need two cloves of minced garlic
- Chicken stock or broth: Just a little will do. The whole chicken will make its own broth as it cooks.
- Bourbon and brown sugar seasoning: If you can find this, it is an amazing seasoning on whole chicken. I used the McCormick brand.
- Salt and pepper: I recommend salt and pepper to taste.
A note about adding liquid
You do want to add a little liquid, but if you add too much liquid it can actually dry out your bird. It seems opposite that adding liquid wouldn’t dry out your whole chicken, but it will! I think about ½ cup of chicken stock is enough, especially when you’re using your slow cooker and leaving it on for so long. The chicken will create more broth as it cooks.
Tips for this recipe
- Do not add more than ½ cup of broth or stock or you will poach your chicken.
- Make sure the internal temperature is 165 degrees before serving.
- Go for a whole chicken that is about 4 to 5 pounds.
Other chicken crockpot recipes:
- Slow Cooker Garlic and Lemon Whole Chicken Recipe
- Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore
- Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff
Garlic Brown Sugar Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker
Equipment
- slow cooker (6 quart or larger)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken mine was around 4 pounds
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 yellow onion coarsely chopped
- 1 pound carrots baby carrots or sliced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar and bourbon seasoning optional
- ½ cup chicken stock or broth
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Begin by removing the gizzards from inside the chicken and discarding them.
- Next, spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray.
- Place half of your carrots and onions in the slow cooker.
- Rub the chicken with the brown sugar, bourbon and brown sugar seasoning (optional), minced garlic, and salt and pepper.
- Place the whole chicken in your slow cooker and then add about half of the onion inside of the bird. Place the remaining onion and carrots around the bird.
- Add the chicken stock and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
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