This Slow Cooker Whole Chicken comes out tender and juicy, rubbed with a simple savory herb seasoning. Finish it under the broiler for deliciously crisp skin, and don’t forget to use the drippings in a homemade gravy that might steal the show.
Serve this chicken with garlic ranch mashed potatoes and my favorite roasted broccoli for a complete Sunday dinner your family will love.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
- Flavor: Savory and herb-seasoned with a hint of smokiness, and a flavorful gravy that adds a delicious finish.
- Why It’s the Best: Just five minutes of prep, hands-off cooking, and the drippings are turned into a homemade gravy (no flavor wasted!).
- Tools: A 6-quart slow cooker comfortably accommodates a whole chicken weighing about 4 pounds, with enough room for even cooking.
Cook Time: 4 Hrs 5 Mins (5 Min Prep!) Servings: 6 Cooking Method: Slow Cooker
Ingredient Notes
- Whole Chicken: Choose a chicken weighing about 4 pounds that fits comfortably in your slow cooker without touching the lid. Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity, and pat dry before seasoning.
- Seasoning Mix: Paprika, smoked paprika, seasoned salt, garlic powder, black pepper, parsley, and thyme create a savory, smoky roast-style flavor. Swap the seasoning mix for homemade poultry seasoning or chicken seasoning.
How to Make Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
- Coat the chicken with oil and rub with the seasoning mix.
- Set the chicken on foil balls and onion slices in the slow cooker, then cook.
- Broil, then rest the chicken while making the gravy (full recipe below).
Storing Leftover Crockpot Chicken
- Remove the meat from the bones before refrigerating the leftovers (keep these!). Keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze the chicken and gravy separately for up to 3 months. I love to store the chicken bones in the freezer as well to use in my Instant Pot chicken broth.
Set-It-and-Forget-It Chicken Dinners
Did you enjoy this Slow Cooker Whole Chicken and Gravy? Leave a comment and rating below.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken about 4 lbs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 slices onion
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- chicken broth optional
Seasoning Mix
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Instructions
- Combine all seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl.
- Brush chicken with olive oil and rub seasoning into chicken.
- Roll up balls of foil and place in the bottom of the slow cooker with 2 thick slices of onion. Place chicken on foil, breast side up so it is slightly lifted off the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 4 to 5 hours until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165℉.
- Remove the chicken and place it in a small pan. Broil for 3 to 4 minutes to crisp the skin (optional). Rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Gravy
- Remove foil and onion from slow cooker and turn onto high. If required, add broth to create about 2 cups of liquid.
- In a small bowl, combine 4 tablespoons cornstarch with 4 tablespoons water to create a slurry.
- Whisk about ⅔ of the cornstarch into the drippings/broth and let cook on high. Depending on the amount of liquid you may need to add more of the cornstarch slurry to reach desired consistency. Let cook at least 5 minutes before serving.
- Taste and season with salt & pepper.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I made this tonight. The chicken is superb. Very good. The gravy I ended up putting into a pot an cooked on the stove. Very good.
I open the skin to rub seasonings underneath and inside the cavity, so if you dont like to eat the skin, the chicken still has flavor. Also I put baby carrots one onion chunked and celery to the bottom and season them before adding the chicken on top. It is a tight fit so I pushed the veggies to the edges and breast end underneath.
I’ve done this crockpot chicken twice and it’s so juicy and tender, instead of foil in crockpot, I put baby carrots, mini potatoes, red onions and celery and set the chicken on it. So delicious your recipe is! Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome Janet! Sounds great!
The chicken literally fell off the bone. Lifted it so I could make the gravy and just went to pieces. (Good thing to me). Made gravy and added chicken to the gravy to cook in juices.
Flavors are there needed more salt to bring all together.
Great recipe, so easy, so selfish!
I meant so delish!!
Can I use butter instead of oil to brush on chicken before spices?
Sure you can!
Really convenient and tasty, but slightly dry.
This is my go to recipe for cooking chicken in the crockpot. It always comes out so good. I have made it several times and it is so juicy and tender. Have one cooking now for dinner tonight
Success! Loved the idea of putting onion (and celery) in the bottom of the crock pot to make a gravy. Though the gravy didn’t have the depth of flavor I was hoping for, I was still happy to have something to pour over the chicken and sides. This is now my go to recipe. I did have a recipe in which the chicken is roasted low and slow in the oven, sometimes this method was hit or miss – I couldn’t get the rotisserie result consistently. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I have a smaller Cornish hen to try in this recipe. Would you adjust the cooking time at all and by how much? Thanks!
Cornish hens will need to cook about 6-7 hours on low.
I was just tagged in your chicken crock pot recipe by a friend! I started looking at your recipes & I’m hooked! I love that they are easy, simple ingredients & affordable! YAYNESS!! Thank you!
So happy you found my site Fonda!!
Perfect. I used a silicone oval roasting rack (Amazon) that elevated my chicken one inch from the bottom of the cooker. Rolled up foil too messy and wasteful for me.
I’m going to try this tomorrow night! I’ll let you know how it turns out!!!!
Sounds good, Deborah, I hope you love it!
Made it again today. I added a tablespoon of olive oil to the dried spices to make a paste. Then I used a spoon to put the paste under the skin. It permeated they whole bird. Then I followed the rest of the instructions and placed it under the broiler. Crispy, tasty skin! I used the drippings as au jus over the sliced chicken and sweet potato. Everyone is satisfied!
Oh boy Aneela! That sounds so yummy!
I’ve made this a number of times. It is delicious and easy to prepare.
I can’t wait to try !!!
I’m cooking this, as I type. What I will definitely do, once the chicken is cooked is take the skin off and place all the bits on a baking pan with parchment, another parchment paper on top and then another baking pan to weight it down a bit. In the oven to make some crispy chicken skin.
frozen whole chicken i did on high and was done in 5 hours. juices was so great to make the gravy right in the slowcooker after taking meat out,
it all fell apart trying to take it out, but was perfect for my hot chicken dinners with mash n gravy YUMMMMMMMM
It was delicious.
We just made this for our Christmas dinner for two! I happened to have a bottle of Asian spice mix that was gathering dust so I used that instead of making a rub from scratch. I followed the method, cooking it on High for (oops) six hours. Although the meat was falling off the bone, my husband managed to get the chicken onto a serving platter in one piece.
It was unbelievably tender and juicy! The chicken practically melted in your mouth. My husband actually stood there picking off pieces and raving how good it was! That inspired him to make the gravy which was delicious as well.
We’re going to try slow cooking pork and beef roasts using this method and we anticipate the same yummy results!
I’m so glad you loved it!! Merry Christmas Kelly!