The public has spoken–faux rotisserie chicken it is! Don’t worry, my little pretties, we’ll have Texas Sheet Cake soon.
Suffice it to say that me + a whole chicken = culinary disaster. I actually once had a real, true panic attack while skinning a whole raw chicken.
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Make 3 balls of aluminum foil and place them in the bottom of your slow cooker. These hold the chicken off the bottom so the hot air can circulate all around the chicken and so it’s not stewing in its own juices.
Rinse chicken, including the cavity, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken on its back so the breast is facing up and the legs are on the plate. If you want (and I actually strongly recommend that you do UNLESS you’re looking for a neutral flavor), pull the skin up all around the chicken. This does involve sticking your hand between the skin and the breast. Oooh, sounds dirty. Slice a few garlic cloves in half lengthwise and stick them under the skin. You can also arrange a couple sprigs of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, and/or sage under the skin. This makes a very pretty chicken when it’s all cooked and adds a lot of flavor.
Rub salt-based seasoning VERY liberally onto the skin of the chicken. Place chicken breast-up on the foil in the slow cooker, cover, turn heat to low, and leave it alone for 7-8 hours.
(And by breast side up I mean, completely opposite of the pictures shown in this post. Hey, you try photographing every step of your dinner and see if you make it all the way through without an upside-down chicken every once and a while…!)
This poor guy has no idea what’s coming…
I actually didn’t take it out of the slow cooker for the last picture because it’s so tender that the legs and wings will literally fall off when you pull it out. But that makes for some yummy chicken! Try it with steak fries or Sara’s Stuffed Bleu Cheese Potatoes.
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Instructions:
Make 3 balls of aluminum foil and place them in the bottom of your slow cooker. These hold the chicken off the bottom so the hot air can circulate all around the chicken and so it’s not stewing in its own juices.
Rinse chicken, including the cavity, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken on its back so the breast is facing up and the legs are on the plate. If you want (and I actually strongly recommend that you do UNLESS you’re looking for a neutral flavor), pull the skin up all around the chicken. This does involve sticking your hand between the skin and the breast. Slice a few garlic cloves in half lengthwise and stick them under the skin. You can also arrange a couple sprigs of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, and/or sage under the skin. This makes a very pretty chicken when it’s all cooked and adds a lot of flavor.
Rub salt-based seasoning VERY liberally onto the skin of the chicken. Place chicken breast-up on the foil in the slow cooker, cover, turn heat to low, and leave it alone for 7-8 hours. Try it with steak fries or Sara’s Stuffed Bleu Cheese Potatoes.
Questions & Reviews
So, do you do anything with the juice in the bottom of the crock pot? Or just throw it out?
You can use it to make gravy, save it and use it with the bones to make chicken stock, or just toss it. Totally up to you. 🙂
My husband stumbled across your website recently and since then I have made this twice. I did find that cooking the chicken leaves the breast dry, so for next time I think I will cut the cooking time down to maybe six hours. It was delicious! Thank You for making my busy weeknights easier 🙂
I love this. Like others I have many chicken “issues”. This solves all of them, Thanks!!
Here’s my problem – I have a 10hr time span from when I leave my house for work and make it home. I reeeaaally want to try this recipe but I am so worried about over-cooking. Should I try it frozen?
Get a programable outlet timer like what is used to turn lights off and on when you are on vacation. You can find it in the hardware/electronic department of many stores, Wal-mart, Target, Wal-greens, ect. Set it to come on at a time say, 4-5 hours before you get home, so it won’t be completely cooked by the time you get home.
I have the same problem, what a fantastic idea!
I can honestly admit that before now, I refused to cook whole chickens because I did not know how or want to spend the time carving all the meat off of it. What was I thinking!? I was missing out on the easiest thing ever. When the chicken is done, it simply falls off the carcus and there is literally no effort involved. I am so glad that I steped out of my comfort zone and tried this. I cook this all the time now.
I made this chicken today and it is the best chicken I’ve ever made! I used cilantro and lemon grass along with the garlic and salt. DELICIOUS! Thanks.
I made this last weekend and it was a bit hit! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I tried it your way with the skin on and another way with the skin off and there was more juicyness your way!! This is a delicious and easy way to fix an inexpensive meal, thanks!!!
Do you know if it's safe to cook a whole chicken in a crock pot? I've read several times that it isn't safe because the temperature does not rise quickly enough. I just Googled it and found several sources saying not to cook chickens this way. I'm a salmonella basket case too. This method looks so simple and I'm dying to try it, but not if it could end up making us sick.
I thought I’d post a link to a website that says it is not safe to cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker because the meat is in the “danger zone” too long: http://www.heb.com/page/recipes-cooking/food-safety/slow-cooker-tips This is a real shame because this method looks great. I’m going to try buying some bone in, skin on chicken breasts and cooking them using your method though!
Shiloh, thanks for the link. However, I have literally cooked HUNDREDS of chickens this way and no one has ever been sick. I also worked in a restaurant that cooked whole turkeys similarly, and they served thousands of guests a day, and there were never any kind of violations or complaints of illness. If you’re concerned about safety, try cooking a smaller chicken, don’t cook it from frozen, use a thermometer to check on the temp, and cook it on the high setting, but I promise, it’s safe. 🙂
Kate, thank you for the kind reply 🙂 After I posted I was afraid it was rude of me to bring it up in the comments instead of just trying to e-mail you. I trust your judgment and am excited to try cooking a chicken this way soon!
I know this is like a year later, but just a heads up for anyone concerned about the safety… I checked out the government site that the HEB link said the info was from, and it does not actually say that you should not cook whole chickens. It does say to check your crockpot manual for the recommended sizes of meat for your particular crockpot. I know my crockpot manual has recipes for cooking whole chickens. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FACT_SHEETS/Focus_On_Slow_Cooker_Safety/index.asp
Sha–The salt-based rub just helps with the tenderness, but Mrs. Dash should be fine! 🙂
What is the reason for the salt-based rub? Want to try it but low, low sodium restriction makes this difficult. Would Mrs. Dash-like seasoning work for the rub?? I need help♪ Thanks for any ideas♪ Love your blog♥
Clara–You can (which is why most people roast themi n the oven). 🙂 To achieve a similar finished product, you'd want to use a heavy cast iron pot like Le Creuset (or a cheaper knockoff). However…any of those pots will be more expensive than a large slow cooker–I have a large Hamilton Beach slow cooker that I got for less than $30, which is way better than you'd get a heavy cast iron enamel pot for. 🙂
I want to try and make this. Can I use the oven instead of the crock pot? I do not have a normal sized crock pot. I only have a tiny tiny one.
Made this for my husband last night and he LOVED it! Said it was some of the best chicken he had ever had (and he's hard to please). Thanks for the great idea! The garlic under the skin really added a lot of flavor.
I know you have posted recipes that use fauxtisserie chicken in them (or could use it…) but I can never remember what they are. It'd be AMAZING if you had links at the end of the recipe to take you to those. It's just me and the hubby so we have leftovers!
Jennifer–Yep, I'm sure if you can fit two birds in there, it would be fine! 🙂 You might need to increase the cooking time a little, but probably not by more than an hour or so.
I've tried this twice and the whole family loves it! I am wondering though can 2 be cooked at the same time in a larger crock pot? And if so would it still just be 7-8 hours on low? We never have leftovers so I'd like to have one for that reason!
Kathleen–Yes on both counts! 🙂 You can use the rack instead of the balls and you can add veggies.
My slow cooker came with a raised rack… Can I just use that instead of the foil balls?
Also, can I add vegetables? I wasn't sure if they would burn on the bottom if I added potatoes, carrots, etc.
Thanks so much for the recipe! So excited to try it!
Made this for dinner tonight, big hit with the hubby and the kids. So easy! This was very economical, it will be a regular for us.
OMG, how dumb am I? LOL. I have a meat thermometer and checked to make sure it was over 170 before pulling it out, but it never occurred to me that it might get overdone! Shaking my head at myself LOL.
We had this with your steak fries and your worlds best rolls (half of which I turned into cinnamon rolls this a.m.). You rock! My husband told me I'm not allowed to make the cinnamon rolls very often b/c they are "too good" and he can't control himself. Thanks for replying so quickly and for just being awesome!
Mary–It probably just cooked a little too long. Every bird and every crockpot is different, so I would probably just cook it for a little bit less time next time. You can also get meat thermometers pretty inexpensively and just insert it into the thickest part of the breast. When it reads 170, you're good.
Hope that helps!
So I made this tonight, and it came out dry. Any tips on what I did wrong? I made it per the recipe. It had a great flavor, just dry.
Wow I may actually have to try this. And Kate, it's so nice to know that I'm not the only one who has an aversion to meat on the bone in the shape it was when it was alive!
Thank you sooooo much! I'm going to take it out tonight, and stick it in the crock pot tomorrow morning/afternoon-ish. I'm so excited! What's your favorite seasoning to use on the chicken?
Ashlee–Not dumb at all!! You can totally do it frozen, just be sure to rinse it before you rub spices all over it. You also won't be able to loosen the skin, but that's totally okay. Just cook it for 1-2 hours longer and you'll be good. Hope that helps!
I have what might be a really dumb question…Can I put my chicken in frozen or do I need to thaw it out first? I can't wait to try this!!
You know I knew I had seen this recipe somewhere but couldn't remember where! I currently have chicken breast thawing but think I am going to have to head to the store to get a thawed chicken to make up this dish!
I know what you mean by dealing with whole chickens… My biggest issue is remembering all that we went through when butchering them! Ugh…. But it always tastes so delicious! However we have no chickens at the no house so I don't have to think about butchering for a LONGGGGg time!!
Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! Love this simple Fauxtisserie Chicken! This will help me out a lot and gotta love the crock pot, especially with Fall. How wonderful the house will smell when you walk in from work or errends and find this all done.
Made this tonight- worked out great but it was dry. I cooked for 8 hours, will try closer to 6 next time. The chicken was beautiful when it was done and it smelled wonderful in here all day.
I love the idea of prepping for chicken recipes this way- will definitely keep trying till I get it right.