Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

Preparing food to eat, cooking, breaks down into two methods, fast and slow. And each has their place and time. When I get home at the end of the day fast is good. But if I want layers of flavor, deep and rich, well, there’s no replacement for low and slow. Check out some of my recipes here. That’s one of the reasons I bought a slow cooker. It cooks while I’m not home and makes really good food. So, here, I’ll cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker. This is nothing new, It’s an oldie but goodie, true comfort food, so read on for slow cooker whole chicken

The cooking method

The electric slow cooker has been around for a long time, originally marketed as a bean cooker. During the 30’s and 40’s as women were entering the workplace, it helped to reduce prep time when they came home. But before the slow cooker, there was the Dutch oven. Made form cast iron it can be used on the stove top or the oven. The Dutch oven does have some advantages over an electric slow cooker. Firstly you can sauté the vegetables and brown off the meat in the same pan you’re cooking in, this helps to keep the flavors. Also, in this case, the Dutch oven can help to brown the skin of a chicken while it cooks.

There are ways around some of these, when you sauté the vegetables and brown the meat for a stew in a slow cooker, just deglaze the pan with some liquid (wine or stock). All the tasty bits stuck to pan will be transferred to the slow cooker, and bring all their flavors with them. To brown off the skin of a chicken cooked in a slow cooker, when the chicken is cooked, transfer to a tray and place under the broiler for a few minutes till the skin is crispy. I personally don’t feel the need to, but it’s an option.

The prep

A slow cooked chicken creates a lot of juice (stock), and it’s packed with chicken flavor. You’ll want to capture that. There’s no better way than with vegetables. There’s something quite wholesome about potatoes cooked in chicken juice. Build a nice vegetable bed for the bird. Carrots, potatoes and onion work well. Cut them up coarse to keep the bird at least an inch off the floor of the slow cooker. As the chicken cooks they will be completely submerged, and have soaked up all the flavors from the chicken, herbs and spices. Now lay the bird on the bed.

Now for the spices. I add garlic to everything. When cooked it has a wonderful sweet flavor, and it’s good for me. I’ll half the cloves and slide them under the skin, both the breast and thighs. As the chicken cooks the garlic flavor will seep through the meat. There are certain herbs and spices that work really well on chicken. Rosemary is a wonderful herb, goes great with chicken and potatoes. Both these will be in the slow cooker, so we’ll start with that. To that I’ll add basil, thyme and oregano. These herbs will help to create a flavor base. But there’s more. Garlic powder, to accentuate the flavor, and paprika to add color, as well as it’s smokiness. Melt some butter in a small pan over low heat, add the herbs and spices, mix well and just pour over the bird. Remember, handling raw meat requires good clean up, please read this post.

Cook and serve

The prep is complete. Time to cook. Put on high for about 5 hrs. temp check the chicken at that time, 165 degrees. When the chicken is done, remove to a tray, cover with foil and allow to rest 10-15 mins. Meanwhile, the vegetables. They’re sitting in a bath of delicious, flavorful chicken stock, remove to a serving bowl with a slotted spoon. You can use the juice for gravy or save it as a savory chicken stock for another recipe. Now, serve and enjoy slow cooker whole chicken. Thank you for reading.