Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

Make Ahead and Storage

Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Use the carcass for stock.

Making Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

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1. Mix the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Rub it all over the chicken and under the breast skin. Put the lemon halves in the cavity.

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2. Lay the onion slices in a layer across the base of the slow cooker. Set the chicken on top, breast side up.

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3. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours, until the leg moves freely and a thermometer reads at least 75°C / 167°F.

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4. Lift the chicken onto a tray with two spatulas. For crisp skin, grill for 5 to 8 minutes.

   Mark done Start 5 min timer

5. Rest for 10 minutes and carve. Strain and skim the broth in the pot to serve alongside.

   Mark done Start 10 min timer

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Worth Knowing

• Sit the chicken on onions, not in the liquid.
• Use two spatulas to lift the bird out whole.
• Save the broth for gravy or soup.

Some Background

Stand it on onions. That one move keeps the chicken out of the liquid at the bottom of the pot, so it steams and roasts gently instead of boiling, and the juices drip down into a savoury stock. Without it, the underside turns pale and the bottom stays soggy.

A 1.8 kg bird fits most cookers. Rub it with a mix of smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, salt and pepper, working some under the skin, and sit it breast side up on thick slices of onion. No liquid is needed; the chicken releases its own as it cooks, and by the end there will be several hundred millilitres of rich broth.

It will not crisp. Slow cooker chicken has a pale, soft skin, which many people pull off and discard. If you want it browned, lift the bird out carefully with two spatulas and grill it for 5 to 8 minutes until the skin colours and crisps.

The meat is ready when the leg moves freely in the joint and a thermometer reads at least 75°C / 167°F. It will be so tender that carving is more of a pulling apart. Save the broth, skim the fat, and use it for gravy, soup or cooking rice.

Serving Ideas

Mashed potatoes · Green beans · Gravy · Buttered carrots

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Skillet Cornbread, Creamy Coleslaw, Philadelphia Soft Pretzels.

If You're Missing Something

• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried thyme at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high. How the figures are worked out.

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