Lisa Leake’s Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe from the
100 Days of Real Food Cookbook
As my regular readers know, I strive to cook natural, nutritious foods for my family. The vast majority of my recipes are “from scratch” with ingredients my great grandmother would recognize (not sure if she was familiar with Middle Eastern za’atar, but that’s a subject for another blog…). I’m blessed that I am able to spend a great deal of time in the kitchen, but not everybody has that luxury. For the average American family cutting out processed foods can be quite difficult, especially with the time restraints of a 40-hour work week, school and extra curricular commitments, etc. My friend Lisa Leake, the powerhouse blogger behind the site 100 Days of Real Food, challenged herself to live unprocessed for… you guessed it… 100 days! Her new cookbook,100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love, is the result of her journey. The book is perfect for anyone hoping to leave processed foods behind. Between tips on how to get your family involved, how to shop at farmer’s markets, meal plans, and how to determine what unprocessed really means, Lisa covers it all.
I enjoyed Lisa’s book and learned a lot from it. I especially love her tips for eating out, how to avoid ordering unhealthy foods when dining out, travel snacks, etc. Her simple recipe for cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker was a revelation. My family loves chicken and slow cooker recipes are always welcome– I love the ease of “set it and forget it.” This recipe is almost completely hands off. Just spice rub the chicken, place it over a bed of onions in the slow cooker, and by the time dinner rolls around your main course is already taken care of. I changed things up from the original recipe ever so slightly, adding some smoked paprika and stuffing the chicken with garlic cloves, lemon wedges and some fresh rosemary I had on hand. I also added a couple of bay leaves to the slow cooker. It’s a really flexible method, you can add fresh herbs and your favorite spices to enhance the flavor of the chicken. The key is not adding liquid to the cooker– as the chicken cooks the fat renders, creating its own cooking liquid. I served this chicken with my Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes for a truly warm and comforting meal, perfect for serving on a cold fall night. This cooking method is definitely going into our regular rotation. Enjoy!
And don’t forget to check out the 100 Days of Real Food cookbook. It makes a terrific holiday gift for families who want to start the path to an unprocessed life.
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Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 whole onion peeled and cut into large pieces
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 lemon wedges
- 4 cloves garlic
- l large whole chicken about 4 pounds
NOTES
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the paprika, smoked paprika, salt, onion powder, dried thyme, garlic powder, cayenne and black pepper. Set aside.
- Place the onion pieces in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Remove any giblets from the chicken and stuff it with rosemary, garlic and lemon wedges (or whatever herbs and aromatics you like).
- Rub the outside of the chicken with the spice mixture. If you like you can also rub some of the spices on the inside of the cavity and beneath the skin covering the breasts.
- Place the spice rubbed chicken, breast side down, on top of the onion pieces and cover the slow cooker. You won't need to add any extra liquid.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours, or until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
- Remove from the slow cooker and serve.
Donna G says
I’m going to try this recipe soon. It looks so easy and wonderful. But I was just wondering why you have to turn the chicken over in the crockpot (breast side down).
Laney says
Excellent, thank you. I just wondered how you did that! Will make it soon,
Laney says
Looks wonderful, but since this will be a first for me, here’s a question. How do you remove a whole chicken from the slow cooker without it falling apart? Thank you.
Tori Avey says
Laney– if you cook it until it’s super tender, as written, the chicken may very well fall apart when you pull it out. You can use tongs and a spatula to keep it together as much as possible, but this is not necessarily a “pretty” recipe for presenting. I was able to get this one out whole for the photograph with pure luck and good balance on a large spatula, with tongs to guide me, so you might try that. Good luck! 🙂
Arleen says
Use the crock pot bag, Remove some of the liquid and very carefully, lift the bag out place in a bowl and tear off the bag and remove chicken.
Malka Sabghir says
Hi Tori,
Just wondering if this will work well with a cut up chicken (thighs and polkies) ? If so should I vary the cooking time for an hour or so less. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes and Shabbat Shalom!
Tori Avey says
I think it should work fine, but I can’t give you specific instructions on cooking time as I’ve never tried myself, so best if you keep an eye on it yourself. Enjoy!
Marcia Minsky says
Was just wondering. There are only two of us, and I want to try this with game hens. Each weighs 22oz, or 2.75lbs total. Can this be done in the crockpot with them instead of one larger chicken?
Tori Avey says
Hi Marcia, I think it should be fine but keep an eye on it as it may cook faster than the large chicken… if it overcooks you’ll have it all falling apart to bits!
Nathalie Goyette says
Had a 2-pack of small chickens to cook and didn’t want to heat up the house (still a tad on the warm side down here in Australia) so the crockpot it was going to be ! Found your recipe and it worked wonderfully…juicy, flavourful, fall-off-the-bone chicken for dinner and plenty of leftovers to whip up another meal with ! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Tori Avey says
Fabulous Nathalie!
Rachel says
Tori, I just sent in a comment for this recipe but forgot to give it 5 stars! I highly recommend it to anyone who isn’t a vegetarian!!!
Tori Avey says
Rachel that is so great, thank you for writing (and rating!). 🙂
Rachel says
Thank you so much for this recipe! My school day on Mondays and Wednesdays ends at 6:45. I get really cranky when I get home from class that late and have to start preparing and cooking a meal. Today was different, because I came home and this unbelievably succulent, aromatic, falling-apart chicken was already waiting for me! It was so moist that I didn’t even have to carve it…the meat all just fell right off the bones! I will make this again without a doubt. I have always been so thrilled with your recipes!!
Fern says
I prepared this recipe today along with the spicy roasted sweet potatoes like the ones in your picture above. Both were fantastic! My chicken didn’t look like yours as it fell apart when I put it on the platter! And the potatoes! What can I say….these will be made again and again. I only had 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes, but since it’s only the 2 of us thought that would be enough. I also only used one onion, but forgot what I was doing and put the recipe amounts of the spices and oil, but wow! still fantastic. Thank you for sharing both recipes.
Tori Avey says
You’re welcome Fern! Very happy it worked out for you. Yes, the longer the chicken cooks the more prone it is to falling apart. We actually sort of prefer it that way, super tender.
matt613 says
Made the chicken for Shabbat. Very good taste but the chicken fell apart and was not browned.
Tori Avey says
Hi Matt, if you’ll read the previous comments you’ll see that the chicken cannot brown in a slow cooker because it is moist heat, not dry. The brown you see in the photos comes from the spice blend. You could potentially broil the chicken for a few minutes to brown the skin a bit after it finishes cooking, but you run the risk of blackening the skin as well as drying out the breast meat. The chicken should be quite tender, but if it was falling apart it probably cooked too long. You can try cooking it for a shorter time period next time. Each slow cooker varies in terms of heat and time required, so go with whatever time cooks the chicken as desired in your particular cooker.
Judith says
Can you skin the chicken first to reduce the fat?
Tori Avey says
Judith, if you do that you run the risk of a very dry chicken. I’d recommend cooking it with the skin on and removing the skin before serving for better flavor and more moist meat.
Nancy says
I removed all the skin prior to putting in crock pot – IT WAS WONDERFUL AND MOIST……..It is a lot of work though removing the skin so possibly it would be just as good buying chicken parts skinless but NOT boneless. Best to leave bones in to add extra flavor. Nice having a whole chicken though.
ANN SCHNEIDERschneids@worldonline.co.za says
Hi Torey, My chicken did not brown in the slow cooker which was very disappointing! Also, the smoked paprika – a teaspoon was much too much!! Thanks very much for all your other recipes. I enjoy receiving them.
Tori Avey says
Hi Ann, the chicken cannot brown in a slow cooker because it is moist heat, not dry. The brown you see in the photos comes from the spice blend. You could potentially broil the chicken for a few minutes to brown the skin a bit after it finishes cooking, but you run the risk of blackening the skin as well as drying out the breast meat. Sorry you felt the smoked paprika was overpowering, we love the flavor it adds. You might prefer Lisa’s original spice blend which calls only for regular paprika and not smoked.
Amy K. says
OMG, I tried this one yesterday and it was DELICIOUS! Even my husband commented on it, beyond his usual “Good dinner, Dear!”
It was meltingly falling off the bone, and the spice mixture was excellent (I might use a bit less of the smoked paprika next time). I didn’t have fresh rosemary but the dried was a fine substitute.
Carmela says
No, no water added. It all came from the chicken, and I ended up with a spicy soup and a cooked chicken. I guess they had injected the chicken with a lot of water,
Tori Avey says
Very strange Carmela! Some chickens are injected with salt water. Liquid shouldn’t cover more than a quarter of the chicken. Next time, try an organic free range chicken and see if that makes a difference.
Carmela says
The chicken is cooking for about 4 hours now, and there is so much liquid it almost covering it. I bought a fresh chicken, and I did not expect to get so much water. Any advice?
Thanks
Tori Avey says
Hi Carmela– you didn’t add any liquid, did you? It should only render a little fat at the bottom unless you happened to get a very, very fatty chicken…
barbara says
The liquid usually is from condensation on the lid which drips into the ceramic carafe. If there is a large temperature difference between the air temperature and cooking temperature, there will be more liquid.
Some of the crock pots have plastic lids which allow more heat transfer than the glass topped ones.
Save the liquid for broth in other recipes.
jackie says
Chicken came out GREAT! Substituted tangerines instead of lemon since I didn’t have any. Great taste! Another winner recipe!
Tori Avey says
Fabulous! So happy to hear that Jackie. 🙂
Mary Ann says
I find that the newer “slow” cookers cook a lot hotter than the older ones that first were made. I have both but only the newer one is the the larger size. I assume you are using a newer version??
Tori Avey says
Yes I bought mine about 4 years ago, so definitely newer. 🙂
Nechama says
Tori, sounds simply delicious. Can one prepare the chicken this way but cook on low overnite for the seudah by day (total of 20 hrs)? Can one also use potatoes with the onions? Now that it’s colder, we like hot chicken for the Shabbat afternoon meal.
Tori Avey says
Nechama, does your cooker automatically switch to warm function after you input the cooking time? I would not cook this longer than 7 hours on low as the breast meat will become dry. If you can switch it to warming function after 7 hours, it should be good… the warm setting on my cooker keeps food warm enough to avoid spoilage but cool enough so that it won’t continue cooking, hopefully yours is the same. I have not tried cooking potatoes with it, it will probably work but the cooking liquid is pretty heavily spiced, so I can’t guarantee the flavor outcome. I hesitate to recommend changes that I have not tried myself. If you try it will you please report back and let us know how it went? I will do the same.
Amy says
if I’m using a Nesco Roaster Oven, how many degrees would I cook it at? It doesn’t have “low” or “high”. Any suggestions?
Tori Avey says
Hi Amy, I’ve never used a Nesco Roaster Oven so unfortunately I can’t give you any advice here. Perhaps another reader will have a suggestion.
Eva from Sydney says
Hi Tori!
And how you cook the vegis?
Tori Avey says
Hi Eva, there is a link in the blog above to the recipe, here it is again: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2014/10/spicy-roasted-sweet-potatoes/