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Do you have little time, but still want a nutritious, delicious and easy meal everyone in your family will enjoy? Chicken in a Crockpot only takes minutes to prepare and basically cooks itself.
Every Sunday at our local farmer’s market, I buy a whole chicken from the great folks at Healthy Family Farms (we also get our eggs from them). I like to make a Simple Roast Chicken every Sunday, but several weeks ago the farmer that sells the chickens asked if I had ever tried cooking a whole chicken in a slow cooker. I had not. I listened as she told me just how easy it was to prepare, but I was still in disbelief at how simple her description was. No oil? No butter? No broth? Just a few herbs, lemon and salt? Really?! I immediately went home that afternoon and with practically no effort, prepared a chicken that was about as good as any I had ever tasted. My whole family was wide-eyed as we took our first bites — the chicken was moist, tender and juicy and the consistency is almost like pulled pork because the meat literally falls off the bone.
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This recipe is embarrassingly simple and incredibly healthy, but the best part is that it essentially cooks itself. There’s almost no work involved, and I love that I can cook a whole chicken and then keep the meat in the fridge to make Mac, Chicken and Cheese Bites, Chicken, Bean and Cheese Quesadillas or Chicken and Rice Burritos throughout the week!
Not only did Kenya, our friends, my hubby and I fall in love, but guess who ate more then her fair share of chicken? That’s right, baby Chloe. She was like a little chicken eatin’ machine, putting piece after piece into her mouth.
If cooking a whole chicken in the oven has always seemed daunting to you, try this crock pot version. It’s so simple, you’ll have a hard time finding reasons not to. Check out the video if you want to see how we did it!
Chicken in a Crock Pot
Ingredients
- 1 4-pound whole chicken
- 2-3 thyme sprigs
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Stuff the chicken with the thyme and lemon halves and sprinkle the outside with salt.
- Cook on high for 3 hours (increase time to 4 hours for a 5 pound chicken).
- Using a meat thermometer, make sure the chicken is cooked to 160 degrees (the times on different slow cookers may vary).
- Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into pieces (this allows the juices to redistribute and the chicken to remain extremely juicy).
- Note: The skin on the chicken won’t be golden because this is more of a steaming method, but the meat will be outrageously moist, tender and juicy.
Also..not sure if anyone mentioned it, but you can scrunch up some tin foil into balls underneath the chicken so it creates more of a ‘crockpot baked chicken’, I also do this with chicken breasts. I just find it makes still juicy but without the ‘steam’ feel that it sitting in the bottom gives it.
How many pounds was your chicken? That’s a huge factor in the cooking time.
Made this today. Maybe its my crockpot but it took WAY more than 2 hours to cook the chicken. More like 4. I looked up other chicken in a slow cooker recipes and they said 4 hours for a 3 lb chicken on high.
Just wondering if anyone else found this with their crockpots?
It is a One 4 lb Chicken 🙂
Was that a 1-4 pound chicken or a 14 pound chicken? I’m clearly a novice. Thanks.
made this for tonights supper. it was a huge hit with the hubby & big kids (16 & 9) i pulled the meat of one breast to make your mac chicken & cheese with & OMG…the kids *loved* it! i’m on a VLCDiet so didn’t have any, but it sure smelled and looked wonderful :o) you’re the best!
up tomorrow…pizza pinwheels!
I haven’t used chicken breasts, but if I do, I would use the bone-in kind so that the breast are juicier 🙂 I’m so happy you like the recipe!
Have you ever tried doing chicken breasts using this method in the slow cooker? I wonder if it would work… I might give it a try! Next time I have a whole chicken in the house, I’m definately going to use this recipe.
i made this just this morning to take on our family picnic today. i used my nesco 3 in 1 on slow cooker mode and added some fresh rosemary(because i adore it!)to your recipe. IT CAME OUT PERFECT! thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. now im off to vote for your tv show!
I am going to make this tomorrow. We have a day trip planned to a family dairy, and this will be waiting for us when we get home! We have tons of thyme in our garden right now, so it will be great to have a recipe for it. Thanks! Already looking forward to tomorrow’s dinner!
I made this tonight with great success! I was going to be gone for 4 hours, so I cooked a 5# chicken on low for 5 hours. It was perfection when I arrived home. We had some tonight for dinner and the rest will be filler during the week. thanks for the great method.
I would suggest around 3-5 hours, but I would definitely go in around 3 -4 hours and measure its temperature and with a meat thermometer and see if its temp is at 160-165. Make sure your chicken temp is between 160-165 that is when you know the chicken is fully cooked. Make sure you put the thermometer between the breast and leg or thickest area of the chicken.
Hi! OK, so I made this tonight and my little guy ( 4 yrs) had thirds! Yes, thirds! Thank you so much :):) We had the Mac n Cheese in a rice cooker with it too, plus veges of course.
I was wondering how long would you suggest to cook the chicken on low? I want to share this with my mommy friends who work out of the home.
Thanks!
Janine
http://astore.amazon.com/weelicious-20/detail/B0007SXBUQ
We Use All-Clad , you can buy it from our store 🙂
Hi! What kind of crock pot do you use? I have been meaning to get one and this recipe is making me want to run out and buy one tomorrow!
I’m cooking this right now 🙂