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! You simply can’t go wrong with slow cooker comfort food classics like slow cooker brisket, slow cooker beef bourguignon and a whole chicken. This is an all time favorite recipe in my house, along with my famous baked chicken wings.
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.
I’m excited to make this! I only found a 4 pound chicken. How much time do you recommend?
I’d do 2.5-3 hours!
I have this in my crockpot right now for dinner tonight :^) .. I have made this a thousand times by now im sure lol I usually cook it weekly to every other week… i never knew till I found your recipe that I could cook a whole chicken in the crockpot! and I love crockpot cooking… I barely use my oven anymore…thank you so much for sharing your recipe… I really do enjoy this one as its one of my favs along with the Chicken Alfredo bake which i also make my own alfredo sauce for…. it’s so delicious…. thank you again… have a wonderful weekend and thanksgiving holiday that’s just around the corner! :^)
Fantastic chicken!
It’s so juicy and tender. Never fails!!
I just put whole bunch of chopped potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker. That way you get the great tasting melt-in-your-mouth potatoes for the side as well without any work!! All that seasoning and the chicken juice flavours the potatoes beautifully!!
Thanks for the great and easy recipe!
I didn’t have carrots or potatoes to put in the bottom of the crock pot. So I cut an apple in half and used that instead. Did the trick. Came out great!
Hi! Can you use a frozen chicken for this? If so how long?
Thank you!
I don’t recommend using a frozen chicken as it can be a food safety issue because it takes a lot longer for the frozen chicken to come to a safe temperature.
I made this tonight, but skipped the paprika since I didn’t have it. Afterwards, while the chicken broiled, I thickened the liquid in the crock with corn starch. I stripped the chicken and poured the gravy over. This was DELICIOUS. Even my picky 6 year old has seconds. Thank you for a new favorite recipe.
If you have an Instant Pot, that metal rack thingie that comes with the instant pot works great on the bottom of the crockpot!
I don’t have an InstaPot but ordered just the rack for my oval slow cooker on Amazon. It’s a great fit and worked well here.
Sounds wonderful. I happen to have a 3 1/2 lb organic chicken. How long would you recommend cooking it on high?
I’d do 2 1/2-3 hours!
Love love this recipe. A go to that I always use. Super easy
Love this recipe! My daughter requests it every time she is home from college, saying she wishes her cafeteria made it this way. I use a kitchen torch after cooking to give that beautiful brown effect. Never fails to be be juicy and fall apart tender!
Absolutely LOVE your slow cooker roast chicken. 😋
Instead of foil I used whole peeled carrots and leeks. Pretty darn good
I made this crock pot whole chicken and it was delicious. You are absoutely correct when you said you’d never buy another store bought rotisserie. I did one thing different though…instead of the foil ring, I had some mason jar bands that I used, I know it’s a little tiny bit more cleanup, but I’m currently adjusting my kitchen waste and recycling.
Thank you for that tip! I was just wondering what I could use instead of foil for the same reason as you mentioned! I’ll be making this for guest in a couple of days and I’m loving all the positive remarks!
great tip, thank you!!
this really is a great recipe and i’ve made it dozens of times… I actually just got done putting it in my crockpot for later on this evening… i did a bit different this time and just used ms dash lemon pepper seasoning all over the chicken inside and out tried to even get under the skin some and then also used ms dash onion and garlic seasoning blend again all over the chicken inside out… I stopped doing the foil ring only because i’m over seeing scuff marks on my crockpot and it’s hard to remove off the crockpot… i’m not one to let food or pots, pansm or crockpot’s sit either… as soon as i’m done cooking everything is getting washed and cleaned up so not sure why bit of scuff marks are appearing and hard to remove…. so what i did was always spray down my crockpot but once after placing seasoned chicken in crockpot i added a bit of water then i melted half stick salted butter and poured inside the chicken, tried to get under skin even and on top of chicken too cant wait till its done thanks for sharing your recipe … I love the chicken alfredo bake recipe too omg its delicious!! thank you have a great day :^)
Try rubbing a bit of baking soda on a damp cloth on the scratches.
How much time would you add for a 6 1/2lb chicken?? Anxious to try this!
I’d add one more hour!
I’ve made this a dozen times and each time it is a winner. Once I made it with a frozen (thawed) Butterball turkey breast/roast, and another time with four large bone-in chicken breasts. Perfect for the slow cooker. The juices make a yummy gravy. Thanks for the recipe and the spices are just perfect.
No water in the bottom?
You don’t need to put water in the bottom!
I have made this and will make it again. So delicious and lots of juices to make gravy. Mmmmmmmmm
Can I cook this on low for 8 hours?
I don’t recommend cooking it on low as it can be a food safety issue if the chicken does not come up to the correct temperature in the right amount of time.
I do the 8 hour but use the chicken in another recipe, like chicken stew or chicken enchiladas, so that it “cooks” some more.
I’ve cooked chicken in low for 8 hours and turns out the same. Delicious
Made this for dinner tonight, So easy and delicious !
Is the tin foil necessary? Will my chicken burn? Or can I just put a crock pot liner in there and put my chicken directly in that?
We’re just looking to elevate the chicken off the bottom of the pot so it doesn’t stick and also isn’t sitting directly in the juices as it cooks. You can use a liner, but you may want to add something else to the bottom to elevate it, a lot of people use some chunks of potato, onion or carrot instead of foil.
To elevate the chicken, I set it on 3 canning jar rings…
We’re at the same campfire on this one. I did the same thing only using 2.