How to cook a Whole Chicken in your Crockpot

I recently came across an awesome sale at my local grocery store. For one weekend they had a buy one get one free sale on their organic chicken meat and I had three coupons for their organic store brand. Amazing, right? Well, I think a lot of other shoppers thought it was a great deal too because there wasn’t much left to pick from.

I bought what still looked good and decided to buy several whole chickens since we have a chest freezer in our garage. I’m incredibly glad I did because they taste amazing after cooking in a slow cooker and are super simple to make. I can’t believe so many other shoppers passed over the whole chickens!

First of all, do not be intimidated by cooking a whole chicken in your crockpot. It’s a lot easier than you think. You’ll never want a rotisserie chicken again!

The chicken reheats nicely for leftovers or you can get creative with your leftovers and make chicken salad or white chicken chili, if desired.

Ingredients:

One whole chicken
One yellow onion coarsely cut
One cup of chicken stock or broth
1 large lemon
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash original seasoning
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

So first thing is first, if you have a frozen bird you will need to defrost it in your refrigerator. The rule of thumb is 24 hours per 5 pounds so if you have a 5 pound bird, it will only take a day but it could take two days or even more for larger birds. If you have a fresh chicken or your chicken is already defrosted then you will need to begin by removing the gizzards from inside the chicken and discarding them.

Spray your crockpot with non-stick spray. Place one tablespoon of the olive oil in the bottom of your crockpot. Place your bird breast down. Next, add about half of the onion and a half of the lemon inside of the bird. Slice the lemon into slices and add around the bird along with the rest of the onion, then add the remaining olive oil, garlic, Mrs. Dash, and salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

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 would dry out your whole chicken, but it will! I think about one cup of chicken stock is enough, especially when you’re using your crockpot and leaving it on for so long.

Remember when serving that this chicken tends to fall apart (it’s a good thing!) and there will be small bones to look out for like a rotisserie chicken.