This slow cooker whole chicken is a rotisserie style seasoned chicken made with the help of the crock pot. It’s a super easy dinner option and the leftover chicken can be used in countless other dishes!
I love rotisserie chicken, but it can be pricey and is often filled with sodium and sometimes even preservatives and other questionable ingredients. This slow cooker roasted chicken has just a few minutes of prep time, you can set it in the morning and come home to have dinner waiting for you!
For the longest time, every time I went to Costco I’d pick up one of their rotisserie chickens for a cheap and easy meal. Then one day I read the ingredient list, and there are some additives in those chickens that I’d rather not feed my family. This slow cooker whole chicken is SO easy to make, and you can have a fresh cooked rotisserie style chicken any time you want with more natural ingredients!
Can you cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker?
Yes you can! The first step is to choose your chicken, I like to use organic whenever possible. You want to make sure that your chicken will fit inside your crock pot, I use my larger oval crock pot for this task which is big enough to accommodate almost any sized chicken. If you’re using a smaller round slow cooker, opt for a smaller bird.
The chicken gets coated in a simple spice blend, then placed in the slow cooker atop a ring of foil. The foil acts as a rack to keep the chicken from steaming in its own juices as it cooks.
Is it safe to cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker?
It is safe to cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker, but it’s typically recommended that you cook the chicken on high heat for at least one hour for food safety purposes. This recipe calls for cooking the chicken on high heat for the entire cook time.
How long will it take to cook a chicken in a slow cooker?
It typically takes 3-4 hours to cook a chicken on high heat in the slow cooker, and 8 hours to cook on low heat. As mentioned above, if you plan to cook your chicken on the lower heat setting, be sure to let it cook at high for one hour before you switch to low to make sure the chicken is at the correct temperature for food safety purposes.
At the end of your cook time, you’ll have a juicy and flavorful bird!
At this point, your slow cooker chicken is just missing one thing: that golden brown skin normally associated with rotisserie chicken. I transfer my chicken to a baking pan and broil it for about 5 minutes to get that beautiful golden brown skin that everybody loves.
When I cook a 5 pound chicken for my family, we typically end up with plenty of leftovers which I use to create dinner for the next night.
Once you try this slow cooker whole chicken, you’ll never want to go back to store bought rotisserie chicken again!
Ideas for your leftover chicken
- Chicken Taco Soup
- Chicken Ranch Tacos
- Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip
- Chicken Taquitos
Slow cooker whole chicken video
Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 5 lb whole chicken neck and giblets removed
- cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika.
- Coat a large slow cooker with cooking spray. Roll a piece heavy duty aluminum foil into a ring shape to fit into the slow cooker as a rack.
- Place the chicken on top of the foil ring. Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or until thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers at 165 degrees or higher.
- Transfer the chicken to a sheet pan or baking dish and broil in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until chicken skin is brown and crispy. Serve.
Notes
- Nutritional facts assume calorie and fat counts for skin. If you're looking to cut calories, remove the skin before eating.
Donna Jackson says
I have been cooking my whole Chicken for years this way. It’s so moist n awesome. Love it n thanks for this recipe. 😃
Amanda says
Is it possible to stuff the chicken and coook
It in the slow cooker?
Sara says
It would definitely require a different cook time, I haven’t tried it this way so I can’t say for sure!
Karen says
Hi Sara how long do you cook a 6lb on high 5 hours?
Sara says
That should be fine!
Never using the oven again! says
Loved using the crockpot and I will never use the oven again! I used a 5.5 pound chicken, rubbed it with olive oil, seasoned it with Emeril’s Essense. I also added about two cups of chicken broth, carrots, celery, a cut-up apple for the cavity, and added some minced onion. The vegetables are not added for eating, just for flavoring. I then cooked in my crockpot on high for the first hour and a half for safety purposes then turned to low for the next 6-1/2 hours. When finished, I carefully put it in a brownie pan which I had sprayed with non-stick spray (legs and wings fell off, but I didn’t care). I broiled it for a few minutes to crisp the skin. While broiling, I strained the juices from the crockpot and brought the juices to a boil. While heating that, I mixed together a few tablespoons of cornstarch with water, whisked it slowly into the boiling juices, and made gravy. This gravy was simply outstanding!!! The flavor and tenderness of the chicken were excellent. This was so easy – no more worrying about cooking it in the oven and drying it out.
Linda says
I forgot to mention that I used a trivet from my pressure cooker instead of the foil as it was the perfect size for my crockpot.
Jesse T says
Wow. Was skeptical at first but gave it a chance. I added a few extra seasonings and basted twice throughout cooking and I basted while broiling. I broiled for 6 minutes and it came out extra moist with crispy golden skin. I did also include some chicken stock in the inner cavity at the beginning. It really did he’ll cook flavor throughout. Would defiantly do again but maybe with some onions and carrots on the inside of the chicken
Cheri says
Aluminum has also been implicated as a health concern, so I would definitely go for stainless steel or vegetables on the bottom. I am glad I saw your crockpot-roasted chicken recipe. Thank you SO much. Trying it soon !
Dawn says
I made this for dinner and my family did enjoy it. I have a rubber type of trivet that is made for slow cookers/instant pot cooking to raise the chicken off the bottom of the pot. The chicken was falling off the bone as I moved it to a plate. Lots of juice from the chicken and used it like a gravy. The only thing I always have an issue with is the chicken was dry, I’m not sure if my crock pot runs too hot or I need to reduce the cooking time to three hours. Yes I would make this dish again.
Enika Devine says
Made this for the first time yesterday and it was a hit! Even my very picky mother said it was delicious!! I took the advice of other cooks and put my veggies in the slow cooker bottom instead of the foil ring. They turned out fantastic as well!! Thankyou so much for this recipe. We will be eating this again and again!
Clay says
Excellent!! Foil ring worked perfect to keep chicken elevated and out of it juices. Broiling it at the end gave the skin a perfect golden brown finish!! Chicken was super moist as well. Love it!!
BJ and becca says
So I made this chicken I used veggie to raise the chicken up a little bit wow so much juice from the chicken it is so good and all the spices I put in the butter and made a past to go over the chicken and in the chicken skin oh amazing thank you
Lin DeVona says
Cooking it now…I used 3 canning jar ring lids to set the chicken on….
ajackson says
Instead of aluminum foil, can you put veggies (like potatoes, carrots, onions) at the bottom?
Sara says
Yes that’s fine!
Tia says
Hi, Sara! How sweet is this? I don’t want to alter the recipe, but my other half doesn’t like sweet things, so I wonder if he’d barely tell? Thanks!!
Sara says
It’s not sweet, the brown sugar just helps to get the skin golden brown at the end during the broiling!
Tina M says
Who knew a whole chicken in the crock pot could be so good ?!?! The drippings make the best gravy!
Maia Everhart says
I rub olive oil over the whole chicken and coat it liberally all over and inside with Lowry seasoned salt and paprika and it gives it a nice color and helps the skin crisp up a little bit without having to boil it! So good!
Bridget says
This might help someone like me without enough foil on hand. I used 4 or 5 small METAL cookie cutters with the sharp side up to not scratch my crockpot. Just tall enough to keep the chicken off the bottom!! I also use the disposable liners so I’m looking forward to drippings for gravy and an easy cleanup!
Kim says
Excellent idea! I just like the idea of not using more resources than necessary and this will keep just a bit more aluminum foil from ending up in a landfill. I am using your cookie cutter trick right now (and honestly, now that my kids are grown and I have no grandkids, I will likely use the cookie cutters more often for this purpose than their intended one!).
Manny says
Confused what a ring of aluminum foil is. Do you mean cover the bottom of the crockpot with foil? Thanks in advance, looks great.
Sara says
You take a piece of foil, roll it up and fold it into a donut shape. Place it in the bottom of the crockpot and set the chicken on top. It is shown in the video above the recipe card!
Julie Allen says
This chicken is so tender and yummy !! No reason to buy one cooked at grocery any more. Great for leftovers too.
Ann Marie Kahler says
Can you make a gravy with the juices from the slow cooker? there was no mention of that.
Sara says
You could if you have enough drippings!
Linda says
Best & easiest roast chicken recipe ever. Make regularly!
Heather says
Excellent and super easy recipe! Thank you
Laura Lyon says
How long would I roast in the slowcooker on low? I am also putting two small young chickens in a large crockpot.
thank you
Sara says
This recipe was designed to cook on high heat because it’s a food safety issue to cook a whole chicken on low heat. You should cook it for a minimum of an hour on high heat before you switch to low.
Christine says
This turned out great! I didn’t stick under the broiler, but was so juicy and good!
Jason says
Did this tonight in a Crockpot. Chicken is incredibly tender. I let the whole frozen chicken defrost in the fridge for 3 days. It was a 6.5 lbs. followed the instructions. The only thing that went wrong was transferring the bird to a baking sheet. The thighs fell right off. Tips on transferring for broil?
The only thing I would add is to cut the marrow bones at the end of the night and simmer again in the broth for another 2-3 hours to get great chicken bone broth.
Sara says
I use two large spatulas to lift it from the slow cooker!