Thursday, March 7, 2013

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

This was my first time cooking a whole chicken. Worked out surprisingly well - very easy to put together. Spiced it in the morning, put it in the fridge, then put it in the slow cooker before leaving in the afternoon. Most chickens will fit well in a 6 qt slow cooker, but I have a 4.5 qt size one so got a on-the-smaller side chicken and it worked out well.
  • 1 whole chicken, small enough to fit in your slow cooker (~4 lb)
  • 4-5 carrots, chopped in half or thirds
  • optional: celery sticks, cut in thirds
  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 t paprika
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 t thyme
  • 1/2 t garlic powder
  • 1/4 t cayenne
  • 1/4 t pepper
  1. Combine rub spices in bowl.
  2. Put onions, carrots and celery on bottom of slow cooker.
  3. Remove giblets from chicken. Rub spice mixture all over chicken, and optionally inside and under the breast skin.
  4. Place chicken on top of veggies and cover. Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours, or until meat is falling off the bone.
  5. Serve hot (with rice and greens).
  6. Use carcass to make chicken stock.

Chicken Stock

  • 1 rib celery
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 bay leaf
  • parsley
  • thyme
  • onion
  • salt
  1. Pick meat off bone and store as leftovers. Leave in bones, onion and juices.
  2. Roughly chop celery, carrot and onion. Add to crockpot along with spices.
  3. Fill with water up to 1/2" from top.
  4. Cook on low overnight (or 8-10 hours).
  5. Run through sieve to separate bone and other bits from the stock. Refrigerate or freeze.
  6. Use in split pea soup, hedgehog meatballs, wonton soup, risotto, etc.