When I’m feeling fancy, I love roasting a whole chicken in my Dutch oven. But when my need for chicken is more utilitarian, I turn to my crockpot. Cooking a whole chicken in your slow cooker is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most beneficial things you can do for successful meal planning. It’s such a great homemade alternative to buying a store-bought rotisserie chicken! You can use the meat in salads or in any number of soup, casserole, or other recipes throughout the week! All you need for this recipe is a whole chicken and an onion, plus some salt, pepper, and water. And a couple (optional) fresh rosemary sprigs. The chicken comes out sooo juicy and moist every time! And I love that this recipe ALSO makes chicken stock, which you can keep in your freezer for another day. Are you ready to find out how easy it is to make a whole chicken in your slow cooker? Let’s go!
How to make a slow cooker whole chicken
When the chicken is finished cooking, remove the rosemary sprigs and discard. Then, place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet or carving board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting it up. This will allow the juices to redistribute and keep the meat really moist and tender.
Tips and Tricks
When adding the water, don’t pour it on top of the chicken. This will remove the salt and pepper. Instead, pour it along the sides, and make sure you leave about 1-2 inches of the chicken above the water. Prep the chicken in your sink. You’ll need to move any giblets from the inside, pat it as dry as you can, and liberally season inside the cavity and on all sides with salt and pepper. This can get messy, so from a food safety perspective, I like to keep everything contained in my sink for easy clean-up.
What kind of slow cooker to use
I don’t recommend using a smaller slow cooker unless the chicken you are using is very small. A larger one, such as an 8 quart, will be fine.
What size chicken to use
I recommend using a 4-6 lb. chicken. If you want to use a smaller chicken, such as a 3 lb. bird, cook for less time (and likewise for a larger one, for more time). Just make sure the internal temperature is 165 degrees F and you’re good to go!
How can I get crispy skin on the chicken?
The unfortunate thing about cooking a skin-on chicken in a slow cooker is that the skin doesn’t get crispy. Since I usually just cut this chicken up and store it for other recipes, it doesn’t bother me. But if you want crispy skin, just place it on a baking sheet and broil it for 5-10 minutes, until the skin is crisped to your liking. I use this method when making slow cooker turkey breast and slow cooker buffalo wings and it works well!
Variations
This is such a basic recipe, so it’s easy to play around with it and make it your own! Here are some suggestions.
Try rubbing the chicken with a mixture of butter, chopped rosemary, minced garlic, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Use another kind of spice mixture, like a homemade poultry rub. Instead of rosemary, use sprigs of thyme or fresh oregano (or both!). Add some more aromatics, like a head of garlic cut in half or some celery stalks or carrots, to the sliced onions. You can place these inside the cavity of the chicken, too.
Recipes that use cooked chicken
I almost always make a chicken salad when I cook a slow cooker chicken, such as chicken salad with grapes or curried chicken salad with apples and raisins. Looking for comfort food? Chicken and dumplings is a great way to use both the chicken and the stock, and chicken pot pie, buffalo chicken stuffed shells, and healthy chicken stroganoff are so delicious too. Soups and stews are a great way to use both the chicken meat and the stock. I love this chicken, sweet potato, and black bean stew, this chicken and gnocchi soup, this chicken and wild rice soup, and this easy classic chicken noodle soup.
Browse all my slow cooker recipes here. Did you make this slow cooker whole chicken recipe? Please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe!
