I have so many memories from my childhood of walking into our house after school and having all senses go on alert because of the tantalizing smells emanating from the slow cooker on the kitchen counter.
Rich, savory, mouth-watering smells that indicated that a tender, fall-a-part, delicious, flavor-packed meal was in the very near future.
As a kid, I didn’t realize that the slow cooker was actually a lifesaver for my very busy parents – I just thought it was a brilliant way to prepare a no-fail delicious meal. Now, as a busy mom myself, I appreciate the wonder and magic that is the slow cooker. We have been strict keto, dirty keto, lazy keto, and even keto adjacent since 2017 (hello 80 pounds gone!) and I love when I go back through my recipes and realize that some of my FAVORITES are keto friendly!!!
I make so many things in the slow cooker – Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Slow Cooker Turkey Spaghetti to name a couple of my favorites.
Keto Friendly, Family Friendly, Easy Weeknight Supper Friendly… Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
If you have a slow cooker and a few ingredients the possibilities are limited only by your imagination and willingness to play.
I love having cooked chicken in the refrigerator. I grab it and snack on it while I’m recipe testing, while I’m sorting seemingly endless piles of laundry, and while I’m editing and writing. Pre-cooked chicken is extraordinarily versatile – it can quickly be turned into nachos, tacos, salad, sandwiches, or just eaten cold with some fruit and veggies.
I’m a total sucker for recipes that deliver WOW results with very little effort – this is definitely one of those recipes. The chicken falls off the bone, the flavor is delicious, and it’s about as easy to prepare as a recipe could possibly be.
I make this easy slow cooker roast chicken at least once per week – it’s super versatile, delicious and just so dang easy. The leftovers make quick meals easy, and with our hectic schedules right now – that’s a true blessing.
Full of flavor, fall off the bone tender, and absolutely delicious – this chicken is sure to become a family favorite.
Slow Cooker {Roasted} Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken rinsed, dried, and with giblets and neck removed
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced
Spice Rub
- 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- 2 tsp smoked paprika regular is fine, I prefer the richness of smoked
- 3/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- {whole peppercorns optional}
- {4 sprigs fresh rosemary optional}
Instructions
- Rinse chicken under cold water - remove giblets and neck. Dry inside and out, set aside.
- Prepare the rub.
- Slice the onion
- Coat the inside and outside of the chicken with the spice rub.
- Stuff 1/2 the onion inside the chicken.
- Place the remaining 1/2 of the onion on the bottom of the slow cooker
- Put the chicken on top of the onion and top with fresh rosemary (if desired)
- Cook on low for about 5 hours.
- Carefully remove the chicken from the slow cooker
- **the juices and onions can be reserved for a yummy gravy, if desired***
This chicken is so easily manipulated to fit your favorite recipes – If you need a bit more convincing, here are a few recipes from a few of my favorite bloggers that could easily be made using this chicken.
- This Sriracha Avocado Chicken Salad by Bakeaholic Mama is the definition of mouth watering.
- Aggie’s Grilled Chicken Summer Salad with Mango is a perfect, refreshing, and delicious recipe.
- Buffalo Chicken anything is pretty much a major win with me, and I can tell y’all that making Buffalo Chicken Nachos is a breeze if you have this chicken on hand.
What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe?
sharing this with Karly’s What’s Cooking Wednesday
Yummers!
Love the sound of that spice rub!! Will definitely be trying this soon!
We also love having cooked chicken in the fridge! It makes meal planning way easier and since I also make Graham’s lunch for work every night, it aids with that process, too.
I have to say, though, that our favourite slower cooker recipe will always be chili.
This looks amazing!
Beautiful photos! I love roasting chicken in the crock pot – this looks like a terrific recipe to try, thank you! 🙂
Love the picture with all the spices! You have such talent!
This looks SO yummy! Totally pinned it!
Thank you, Emily! <3 Miss ya!
Yum! I buy a rotisserie chicken some weeks for a fast protein option. But this looks amazing and has inspired me to do my own, maybe on Sunday, to have for the week! 🙂 Thaaaanks!
The slow cooker is the only way I do a “rotisserie style” chicken anymore … it’s so simple and just so good.
This is really good and moist. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I love this! I typically get a rotisserie chicken from the deli because my oven roasted birds are… well, not so good. This I can do! I’ll be trying this recipe today.
I’m making this right now. I was looking for slow cooker roast chicken and this recipe looks the best. Thanks for sharing it!
I will try this, but I’m curious as to why the chicken is breast down. Is there a particular reason?
Hey Lauri,
I’ve made this chicken so many times, and the chicken has been breast up and breast down and the results have been identical. This time, when I photographed it, it just happened to be breast down. 🙂 Great catch!
Made this last night for supper. It was DELICIOUS! My son who is a very picky eater said “Save this recipe Mom you have to make this again!” Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe.
How many pounds are your chickens usually? Would you increase the amount of time for a bigger bird?
I’d love to know what size bird you roughly are using, as well.
Thanks girl!! It was a total blast Recipe 😀 ! I think that is the only way to go. This sounds delicious and I am going to give it a try the next time I decided to do chicken…
I’m waiting to hear your thoughts 😉 🙂
Will there be enough juices from this to have chicken stock? I want to cook a whole chicken to have my own stock and this recipe for the chicken looks great.
I’ve never made my own stock {it’s on my TO DO for 2014, but there’s about 1/2 a crockpot full of broth and liquid once you remove the chicken, so I would say yes. 🙂
I’d love to hear what you do and how it turns out if you do make stock from this recipe!
Thank you for taking time to comment!
Thank you for your prompt reply. I will definitely swing back through and let you know:).
Save the broth that’s in the crock pot, chill and remove the fat. Then when you’re done with your chicken, put the bones, leftover skin, and any celery, carrots, or onions that might have seen better days into the crockpot with water and cook over night, sometimes I’ll let it hang out in the crock pot for 24 hours if I don’t have time to deal with it right away. Then you can pour it off, chill and remove the fat from that batch too. I tend to then put all of my broth in a soup pot and cook it down to about half the amount, it makes a stronger broth and reduces the amount of storage space needed in my freezer.
Thank you so much, Jenny!
This was so unbelievably awesome! The gravy was spectacular too. Loved every bite & leftovers will be great for my buffalo chicken dip tomorrow too. Thanks!!
YUM! I love Buffalo Chicken Dip! Thank you so much for taking the time to come and comment and let me know that you tried, and best of all – LOVED, one of my recipes! That means so much!!!
Have a great Superbowl Sunday!
This is such a great receipe! I have used it often! First time I made it though my teenage son and a couple friends devoured it. I barely got a taste! His friends said that was the best chicken they had ever had! I am careful to make it when they are not around though, I like to have some too! Thank you!
Can this be made with just breast-bone in? How long and hot?
Hey Carolyn,
I know we replied via email, but I wanted to respond here, too. Yes, you can absolutely make this with bone-in breasts. Just cook low and slow, and if your slow cooker has a thermometer, even better! Happy Eating!
Rachel
I did them with the rub and the onions, slow and 6 hous. They were moist and tangy, everyone loved them. I could not believe how many I could do at once. Thank you for your input. Carolyn