Slow Cooker Whole Roast Chicken

I was wondering the other day if it would be possible to roast a chicken in the slow cooker. I know you can cook it with stock and make a lovely pot roast chicken. How nice would it be to come home to a roast chicken dinner when you had been at work all day, without making much effort? I love trying new things so I decided to be brave and give it a try.

First I made a rub and coated the skin of the chicken. I used a mix of salt, black pepper, mixed herbs, paprika and garlic.

I chopped up some vegetables and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker, I used carrots, celery and parsnips.

I placed the chicken breast down on top of the vegetables, turned the slow cooker on high and waited for about 6 hours watching every so often to see what happened. I was amazed, it worked perfectly. At the end of the time I had a lovely roast chicken. Somehow it created juice and the vegetables were cooked perfectly as well. I will definitely do this again. The chicken was lovely and moist, less dry that if I had just roasted it normally. It must be a healthier way to cook the chicken than roasting as well.

Slow Cooker Whole Roast Chicken Recipe

This is the recipe:

Ingredients

The Rub

• 4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp mixed herbs

Other

• 1 chicken
• Two carrots
• One parsnip
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion

Method

1. Mix the rub ingredients in a small bowl and rub onto the outside of the chicken.
2. Chop up the onions, carrots, celery and parsnip and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker
3. Add the chicken, breast down to the slow cooker and cook on high for about 6 hours until it is cooked though. The timing will depend on the size of the chicken so check that the juices run clear and it is not pink.

I served with all the roast dinner trimmings and it was very nice.