Slow Cooker Chicken

One of my favorite ways to prepare chicken is to to slow cook a chicken in the Crock-Pot. If you haven’t roasted a chicken in your Crock-Pot yet… try it!

Not only is slow cooker chicken the easiest and least expensive way I’ve found to prepare it, but you get a couple quarts of chicken broth from it too! It is great on a busy day (every day) and an easy dinner meal.

Ingredients and Tools

• a whole chicken (usually available for a reasonable price for even organic)
• 1 TBSP butter
• favorite herbs and spices (I add 1 tsp garlic granules or powder, 1 tsp sea salt, and about ½ tsp each of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary)
• Crock-Pot (here’s the one I have)

See below the recipe for instructions on making broth from the bones and a few slow cooker chicken variations

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4 from 5 votes

Slow Cook a Whole Chicken Recipe

Slow cooker chicken makes dinner time a snap. And bonus -- you can make delicious and nutrient packed broth from the bones!

Course Dinner

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes

Servings 1 chicken

Calories 260kcal

Author Katie Wells

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Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 TBSP butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp thyme
• ½ tsp rosemary

Instructions

• Rinse the chicken and make sure innards are removed.
• Put the butter or coconut oil in the bottom of the Crock-Pot and turn it on low.
• Once butter melts, put chicken in Crock-Pot (putting breast-down will make it cook faster).
• Sprinkle with the spices.
• Put the lid on and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until completely cooked.

Notes

Don't throw out the bones! See below for instructions on how to make broth. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/6 of chicken | Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.6g | Protein: 27.3g | Fat: 15.7g | Saturated Fat: 5.1g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 470mg

The chicken goes great with roasted brussel sprouts!

How to Make Broth

1. Remove the chicken and pull the meat off the bones, but leave all the juices in the Crock-Pot.
2. Put the chicken bones back in the Crock-Pot and add 1 small chopped onion, 2 ribs of celery, 1 chopped carrot, and a little more sea salt.
3. Add 2-3 quarts of water (depending on what your slow cooker will hold).
4. Cook on low overnight.
5. Strain bones and vegetables out.
6. Use within 3 days or freeze for later use.

Note: This makes a thick broth which can be frozen in ice cube trays for “instant” chicken broth when needed in recipes. Also, view my in-depth broth tutorial here.

Some other ideas for using your whole roasted chicken:

• Put a small colander on top of the chicken when almost done cooking and fill with veggies. It will steam them so you have the whole meal ready to serve.
• For the last few hours, put some medium sized sweet potatoes on top of the chicken and put the lid back on. Both will be ready for dinner.
• After making the broth, remove the bones, add some chicken back in along with a few cups of favorite veggies and you have an easy chicken soup (with tons of nutrients)

How do you cook a chicken? Do you make broth too? What’s your secret? Share below!