How to Make a Whole Chicken in a Crockpot

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Learn how to make a whole chicken in a crockpot with this easy to follow tutorial. We also offer tips and tricks for turning leftover chicken into future meals!

Cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot is one of my favorite ways to make chicken. Not only is it budget-friendly, but it’s also insanely easy and can provide more than one meal for my family.

Normally, I start the roasted chicken in the morning and it’s ready for dinner that night. We will eat what we want from the chicken along with a couple of easy sides like a Buttered Carrots, a simple side salad, honey roasted carrots, Crispy Asparagus, Instant Pot Butternut Squash, or  zesty potatoes.

You may also like: Ninja Foodi Whole Chicken, Crockpot Buffalo Chicken and Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken.

How to Make a Whole Chicken in a Crockpot

Preparing the whole chicken in the crockpot is fairly easy.

1. Start by roughly chopping an onion and arrange it on the bottom of your slow cooker.
2. Remove any giblets from the chicken and place it on top of the onion.
3. Rub the chicken down with an easy homemade spice mixture.
4. Cover the crockpot and cook the whole chicken breast side up for 6-8 hours on low.
5. You can start it in the morning and it will be ready by dinner time. 

What to do with leftover crockpot whole chicken

After we eat what we want from the crockpot whole chicken, I pick off the leftover meat. This usually leaves me with 2-3 cups of chicken (depending on the size of the bird and how hungry we are that night).

I either shred or chop up the chicken and put it directly in my freezer – divided up into two containers. Enough for two more meals! Yay!

Lastly, I put the remainder of the meat and chicken bones back into my crockpot for overnight chicken stock. With that, I usually end up with 8-9 cups of broth. Definitely enough for at least one batch of soup. (Update: I have also started making chicken stock in my instant pot)

What to serve with crockpot whole roasted chicken

We love serving the whole chicken with instant pot garlic mashed potatoes and Easy Oven Roasted Zucchini and Yellow Squash.

How to Cook a Whole Chicken in a Crockpot

Aileen Clark

Make this fall-off-the-bone whole chicken recipe in your crockpot or slow cooker!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 hours hrs

Total Time 6 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 6 people

Calories 42 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  Reynolds Kitchens Premium Slow Cooker Liners, 12 Count
• ▢
  Hamilton Beach 6-Quart Slow Cooker, Programmable, Set & Forget With Temperature Probe, Transport Clips, Sealing Lid (33969A), 275 Watts, Stainless Steel

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 4-pound whole chicken
• ▢ 1 onion
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Instructions

 

• Mix together the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, and dried parsley. Set aside.
• Roughly chop the onion and arrange it on the bottom of your crockpot.
• Remove giblets from bird.
• Place bird breast side up in crockpot, on top of chopped onion.
• Rub entire bird with spice mixture.
• Cover crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 42kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 4gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 370mgSugar: 1g

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