I recently posted a recipe for a delicious oven roasted chicken and mentioned how it's really too hot to use the oven now. However, the summer is the season of the slow cooker in our house! I've made whole chickens in the slow cooker before, but was never very impressed with how they turned out, so I tried a different method this time and was pleased with the results. Let me just say that while the chicken itself was delicious, we didn't eat it as is - I used it in another recipe, which I'll share at a later time. This is a great way to get (cheap - buy it on sale!) shredded chicken without heating up your kitchen!
Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken
1/2 cup water
1 whole chicken (mine was almost 5 lbs), giblets removed
Quartered onions, carrots, garlic cloves, etc. to stuff the cavity
1-2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
You can brine your chicken if you'd like, but I didn't have time to brine mine.
Pour water in bottom of slow cooker crock. Stuff chicken with aromatic fillers or choice. I used garlic cloves, onions, and carrots.
Combine oil, thyme, rosemary, rubbed sage, pepper, and garlic powder; rub all over chicken.
Place chicken in slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours, on high 4-6 hours, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees.
Remove from slow cooker and let rest 10 minutes before cutting or shredding.
 |
| Not the prettiest chicken I've ever made! It gets so tender, it falls apart when you take it out of the slow cooker. |
Yum… looks good! My roaster is now recovered from that unfortunate bacon incident that almost burned down my house, so I just slow-roasted two big chickens in it yesterday. We ate them whole, like your last recipe (unfortunately, I didn't give myself enough time to try brining them, but I hope to next time). Today, the leftovers are in our sliced chicken sandwiches with garden veggies. I think I will throw the rest into the crock pot with some salsa and shred it... thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteSo what did you use your shredded chicken for? BBQ chicken sandwiches? Mexi-food? Chicken salad?? Do tell! I still have almost 30 chickens in the freezer that need some purpose besides taking up precious freezer space, so please recipe away! Thanks for all the great tips!