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.
Tracy Richards says
I haven’t tried it yet, but want to. How do you get the skin nice and brown and crisp? Thanks. Tracy
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Tracy, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. This recipe is fantastic, but will not give you a brown crispy skin the way chicken roasted in the oven might.
Brooke says
I broil mine for 5-10 minutes after I take it out! Skin is perfect! I use a foil lined pan so I don’t use any extra dishes!
Steve J says
This was excellent. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Craig Smith says
Hi Tori…..I did this the other day. Was absolutely lovely. I did the 4 hr on high.
Would U consider a date. Lol ?
Manchester England…..God loves a persistent Man. Hahax
Ariella says
I believe she is married Craig.
Stephanie says
Can youn use a whole chicken cut up and just rub the individual pieces?
Tori Avey says
Yes you can!
Susanne says
This turned out SO good and was very easy!
Liz says
Hi! Thanks for the recipe gonna get started on it soon so it’s ready for dinner.
But I’m wondering if you cook it with carrots or potatoes? Other recipes have but I don’t wanna wing it (first time using a a slow cooker! Bought the whole chicken just for that!) But I can see in your pics that they were on a baking tray, threw me off 😛
Tori Avey says
I always roast the veggies separately. Not sure the cook time will be adequate for cooking through larger chunks of vegetables, though it might be. I just haven’t tested it myself.
Jack Weld says
Chopping the veggies would reduce the cook time, so maybe that would help? Thinner slices for firmer things (potatoes, carrots) and at-will thickness for thinner things (celerey, onion) should do it.
I’ll test that now. ??
Stacy says
I added sliced red potatoes and everything cooked perfectly! I am going to add baby carrots next time and see how it goes .
Dan Drummond says
Thanks for the recipe, Tori! I added some baby carrots and potatoes cut in 1″ pieces. Cooked it on low for two hours, then high for three more hours. It came out perfect! The chicken fell off of the bone, the vegetables were perfect, and I had tons of broth
honda4fun says
I have put chunks of carrots under spareribs with sauerkraut and they came out excellent. They also had the same cooking time on low as this chicken recipe.
Jim says
Hello, all! This is for those of us who have to leave the house for 10 hours. I’m ditching my traditional slow cooker for another with a timer and a temperature probe. Although, for food safety reasons, you don’t want to delay start your cooking, the timer and probe provide ways to determine when food is done. My new cooker will switch to a, “keep warm,” mode. This will keep the food at a safe temperature without a severe risk of overcooking. I’m going to try this chicken recipe first, and provide you a report. – Jim
Terri D says
So how did 10 hours work out?
Marjorie Silverman says
I have tried this recipe and never got sick. It is the most delicious chicken I have ever tasted. Afterwards, it leaves a soup that I love. I make rice and add the little pieces of left over chicken and add the rice. I could eat it for a week. I live alone. I love this recipe. I think about it all the time. I’m about to make it again.
Hannah says
Hi Tori, I really want to try your recipe for Friday night but I will be out of the house for 10 hours. Is it possible to cook on low for this length of time?
Tori Avey says
Hi Hannah – I’m afraid that 10 hours on low would likely be too long for this recipe, and would render the chicken overly cooked and far too soft. However I haven’t tried it, so I’m not certain.
Dave says
Just use a Christmas light timer
Sharon says
I haven’t tried this. Yet! But I certainly plan to. I messed up my former cooker. So I just this day got a new one. It came to my door just a couple of hours ago. It’s a 3 1/2 qt Cuisinart. I was just looking through the cookbook that came with it. It said due to health safety never cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker. But I seem to remember either doing it or someone doing it. Are they just saying that for their protection? Or is that a problem?
Tori Avey says
Hi Sharon – I don’t want to disagree with your slow cooker’s food safety instructions. What I can say is that I have never personally had a food safety problem cooking a chicken in a slow cooker. It would ultimately be your call, though. Sorry I can’t give you a more definitive answer!
TCF says
I have cooked a whole chicken like this several times. You should not cook a stuffed chicken – it would be overcooked by the time the stuffing was safe to eat. At any rate, you can always stick a thermometer in and make sure it gets to at least 160 at thickest part. My slow cooker definitely cooks the whole chicken adequately
Shannon says
Sharon – I have used a whole chicken in my slow cooker MANY, MANY times and never had any problems.
Biily Bob Grohl says
This sounds like a great recipe! I have had a number of crockpot chicken massacrees. Praying to Arlo this turns out well.
John says
5 star : I have tried the recipe with a 5 pound chicken and it was falling off the bone tender and delicious. I would like to know, if my slow cooker did it perfectly and I wanted to take longer for convenience reasons how long should I estimate it to cook on low? I won’t be home to chck it so it is important to be pretty accurate.
Veronica johnson says
Seven hours on low, if not sure put in oven until desired done
Donna says
What temp?? High or low for 4 hrs.
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Donna, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! This recipe can be cooked on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours.
Yosefa says
Can I alter this at all to cook for 20hrs on low? Like add some water? I’m always looking for an alternative to cholent 🙂
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Yosefa, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! I would not recommend cooking this recipe for that long, as I have not experimented with adding additional liquid or increasing the cook time.
Magpie says
Why not put a plug timer on your cooker
Terri says
I am not a very big herb user and trouble with onions so what I did was put whole carrots under the whole chicken (bought from an organic farm here in Nebraska). Only put salt, pepper and paprika on the outside… and wow… your method is awesome… thanks for giving me the basics… hardly any liquid on the bottom from the chicken… was wonderful this summer in the 100 degrees days when I wanted poultry for a meal…and not grilled… was able to work outside on the ranch here and not worry about the slow cooker and supper…
Linda says
Loved this recipie! I didn’t have the herbs and I didn’t add the cayenne pepper, we don’t do hot, spicy. I added organic mushroom soup to the juices and it made a wonderful gravy! My family loved it! Thanks
Nats says
This came out great! I will surely be doing this one again. It was very much like a Rotisserie, in fact, the skin on my chicken was even crisp on some spots! I did do a few modifications based on some reviews I read, which included; Prepping ahead – rubbing the chicken with the seasoning, stuffing it and refrigerating it over night, using aluminum balls to prop the chicken up out of any excess water (I did this because I had read some other reviews which said that they only set the chicken on the onion and their chicken may have been injected with extra water so it resulted in excess water, thus the chicken sat stewing in the water), I also added additional seasonings, I stuffed the onion in the chicken rather than putting it on the bottom of the crockpot and cut the smoked paprika in half. Totally a great recipe…I am in SC and its almost July, so mother natures Heat is on, its nice not to have to use the stove. I am serving this with a light potato salad and a corn, onion, red pepper and grilled asparagus medley. 🙂 I appreciate you Tori!
Amanda says
This recipe is AMAZING and so easy to prep!!! I didn’t have fresh rosemary so I just poured a tablespoon of dried rosemary inside the chicken and it worked out just fine. I also didn’t have thyme so I used sage. The chicken was so juicy and delicious. I’m going to keep a whole chicken in my freezer for the next time I get a craving!! Yum! Thank you Tori!!
Mary says
Thank you for the info on substituting dried rosemary! Thank goodness for easy substitutions!
Jessica says
My fiancee is so picky that I don’t typically cook for him. There are so many things he refuses to eat, that he knows he’s on his own when it comes to food. I just made this, took the chicken out of the slow cooker, he tried it and he loves it! I’m shocked! Very happy but shocked! Thank you so much for this recipe. I will definitely be back to try out more recipes!
Karen says
Had way too much liquid on the bottom. Made it twice, first time used a Empire Kosher Chicken, send time a Trader Joes Free Range one. Both were about 4 lbs. Did not add any water or liquid at all either time. I’m using a 4 quart oval Cuisinart Crock Pot which is fairly new. Cooked them both for 4 hours on high.
Chicken tasted a bit stewed, not roasted. Used some foil balls on the bottom of the bird along with a cut up large onion.
What am I doing wrong?
Tori Avey says
Hi Karen– chickens naturally have liquid in them, the fat melts as it cooks producing a layer of liquid at the bottom of the cooker. This also happens when you roast a chicken, but the majority of the liquid evaporates out of the roasting pan. Here, because the cooker is covered, not much evaporates. Also depending on what kind of chicken you buy it may have been injected with salt water, meaning it will contain even more liquid. That said, this chicken recipe is less “roasted” and more “stewed.” I won’t taste like a dry-roasted chicken, but it should taste tender and tasty nonetheless. I’m not sure why the foil balls were added, it should cook up fine without them.
Kim Taylor says
You cooked it on high. Regardless of what the recipe says about cooking it on either low or high, it is always better to slow cook it on low. More of the “liquid” will remain in the meat if you use the low setting, at least that has been my experience.