Every Sunday we enjoy tucking in to a roast dinner, no matter what the weather is. The comfort food is great in winter, but with summer on the way (I promise, it is coming!), I am dreading how hot the house will get whilst cooking a roast dinner. I decided to try out cooking a whole chicken in my slow cooker, and here's how you can cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker.
What you'll need to cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker
To cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker you will need:
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B00888X55S” locale=”UK” tag=”edieazon-21″ type=”link” link_id=”8216″]A slow cooker[/easyazon_link]
- A whole chicken
- Chicken stock
- An onion
- Optional additional vegetables – I used carrots
- Foil – depending on the size of your slow cooker
- Herbs and spices for your chicken – I used smoked sea salt from Degustabox and rosemary
Cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker method
To get started, I made up my stock using a chicken stock cube and hot water – if you are super fancy or super thrifty, you might have made your own chicken stock.
I placed about 300ml of stock at the bottom of my slow cooker, and then added in peeled carrots, halved onions and some balled up tinfoil. Depending on the size of your chicken, you might not need the tinfoil.
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If you plan on serving the vegetables with your meal then you can chop them up differently – mine were going to be blitzed for soup based on Thrifty Husband's 15 meals you can make from one chicken.
I then moved on to my chicken rub, and here is where you can get really creative. I went for smoked sea salt and rosemary, and in hindsight I should have added paprika too. I mixed them up in a bowl for ease.
I then got very close to my chicken and gave it a good herb rub.
And then placed it upside down in the slow cooker.
Whilst this was going on I was enjoying some fruit cider and the cats wanted to get in on the action.
You have to be careful with a slow cooker chicken, because it can literally fall apart if you over cook it. If you want to cook it for longer then choose lower setting. I went for medium for 6 hours before giving it a 30 minute blast in the oven to crisp up the skin.
Serve with a vegetable crumble
If you are looking for something different to serve with your slow cooker roast chicken then you will love my vegetable crumble recipe.
How does a slow cooked chicken compare?
The slow cooker chicken definitely stayed moist, however I found that the skin didn't crisp up as much as we usually like.
I don't think we're converted, but I will definitely be doing it this way on those warm summer days when we want to cook a whole chicken. I can't wait to try this slow cooker chicken with salad. This would also be lovely with a vegetable crumble, or airfryer roast potatoes.
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