Maylee at Beyond Gumbo 
And, we have a “Roasted Chicken.” Thanks crock pot. I’m not going to the store today to purchase a rotisserie chicken. Instead, I’m using my crock pot at home to roast my own chicken. Other than allowing for plenty of time to roast the chicken, this is the easiest recipe possible. The crock pot doesn’t heat up the kitchen and you can leave it alone while the chicken roasts away. Best of all, this is the juiciest chicken that you can ever hope for. It didn’t dry out at all. Unlike store purchased rotisserie chickens, this one contains less sodium and no additives. Hurray for a healthier roasted chicken.
Shopping in Bulk
My husband loves to walk the isles at Costco’s for exercise. It’s a great idea and keeps keeps him out of the heat which often hovered around 100 degrees this summer. In addition to exercise, he usually comes home with bulk paper items — very cost effective — and a bunch of other foods. On this shopping trip, he returned with whole chickens which are sold in packs of two chickens. I immediately put them in our extra freezer to cook some time in the future. Now it is time to defrost one of the chickens and roast it.
Costco’s Whole Chickens
The raw, whole chickens sold at Costco’s are notoriously large. This “young” chicken weighed 5 lb 12 oz. In contrast, back in the day, whole chickens usually weighed about 3 lb. Although it may seem that larger is better — this is not the case regarding chickens. In my opinion, a smaller chicken just makes a much better roasted chicken. These large chickens often turn out with dry, poorly flavored breast meat.
How does Costco get such large chickens? Apparently, through breeding, the company has developed these larger chickens which grow exceedingly fast. And growing chickens is big business at Costco’s. For example, they sold 137 million rotisserie chickens in 2023 according to company stats (see reference). Add in all the whole raw, young chickens and raw chicken pieces that they also sell and that’s a huge commercial chicken business. So, the folks at Costco’s are interested in maximizing growth, sales and profit. (https://www.seattletimes.com/business/hot-dogs-and-chickens-by-the-millions-just-how-big-was-costcos-2023/)
For their rotisserie chicken’s, Costco’s uses slightly smaller chickens. They are tasty and tender. However, the labels shows that sodium and other chemicals are injected under the skin. Hum. We can cook a healthier chicken at home.
The Costco packaging states that no salt (sodium) is added to their raw, whole chickens. However, they do add water, so the actual chicken probably weighs 18% less than stated on the package.
Cooking Whole Chickens
I’ve tried many ways to cook these large, whole chickens. Braising the chicken in wine or stock is one idea. Sometimes I’ll spit the chicken along the backbone, lay the chicken flat and roast the chicken in the oven.
Today, I decided to try something new: Let’s roast the chicken in the crock pot. The resulting chicken didn’t have a crisp skin; but the meat sure was tender and delicious. Success!
Novel Crock Pot Method to Cook a Whole Chicken
So, “How do you roast a whole chicken in a crock pot?” Or, can you do it? I am trying a novel approach today which was suggested in several internet recipes.
To cook this large chicken in the crock pot, a person doesn’t add any cooking liquid. Simply season the chicken with a dry spice rub, place it in the crock pot, put the lid on the crock pot and dial the time to 5 hours, high temperature.
Wow, that was simple. But, no liquid added to surround the chicken? Doesn’t the chicken burn? I was a bit nervous. However, it works. The indirect heat generated by the crock pot cooked the chicken. As the chicken cooked, juices from the chicken accumulated in the bottom of the crock pot which created steam. The steam also helped to cook the chicken. It seems a little odd not to add liquid, But, when fully cooked, the chicken was juicy and moist and the meat literally fell off the bones.
The main thing to remember is that it takes about 5 hours to cook and reach the temperature of 185 degrees. (This is the temperature which Costco recommends for cooking chickens.) This final temperature is higher than the 165 degrees which is usually recommended for roasting a chicken. Today, I wanted to follow Costco’s recomendations and thoroughly cook the chicken.
Recipe and Cooking the Chicken
Get the chicken ready by removing any giblets, organ meat and the neck if it is tucked inside the chicken cavity. Rinse and pat the chicken dry. Make sure the chicken is completely defrosted.
To help the chicken develop flavor, I made a “Cajun” spice blend and rubbed it on the chicken.
The spices included in my dry rub were dried thyme leaves, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. (I skipped the cayenne pepper as this makes it too hot for our current eating style.) Blend the spices together in a small bowl.
Salt is really optional and can be omitted for a salt-free chicken.
Rub about 1/3 of the spice blend on the back, wings and legs of the chicken.
Place a sliced onion in the bottom of the crock pot.
Transfer the chicken to the crock pot on the sliced onion flipping the chicken so the seasoned back side is facing down on top of the onions.
Then sprinkle the rest of the Cajun seasoning blend on the breast, wings and tops of the legs.
Place the lid on the crock pot, turn the heat on “high” and set the time to five hours.
I always cook on the “high” temperature setting when using a crock pot. It’s not the hurry, but my goal is to get the food out of the “danger” heat zone as fast as possible where bacteria can multiply.
One key point here — don’t take the lid off the crock pot as the chicken cooks. Resist the temptation. The hot steam and air will excape lowering the cooking temperature in the crock pot. Most crock pots have clear lids, so really no need to take off the lid.
According to one source, each time you remove the lid, the temperature is lowered and the internal temperature of the crock pot drops by 10 to 15 degrees and the cooking process is slowed by 30 minutes. (See Reference.)
After 4 hours, check the temperature of the chicken using a quick-read themometer. Crock pots vary in cooking time. It is wise to learn how your own crock pot works. I cooked my chicken an additional hour for 5 hours, total. The meat literally fell off the bones.
Use the juices which accumulate in the bottom of the crock pot to make a gravy, if you desire. Or ladle some of the broth over the chicken.
Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes before carving. Really, the meat just falls off the bones. I discovered that there was no way to carve this chicken.
Should you put the chicken in the crock pot with the breast side up or down? I tried both ways; really there wasn’t much difference. It was easier to measure the temperature using the quick-read themometer with the breast side up.
This certainly was a simple and easy way to cook a chicken. The main constraint to this method is having 5 hours to roast the chicken. I don’t like to leave my house while a crock pot is cooking; I like to keep checking to make sure that my crock pot is working properly.
Without adding any liquid, the chicken cooked slowly and gently in its own juices. It was moist and tender. Just like the store purchased rotisserie chickens, but much healthier.
Enjoy this simple method of roasting a large, young chicken!
Crock Pot Whole Roasted Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1 (5 – 6 lb) whole chicken
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1-1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Method and Steps:
- Make sure the chicken is completely defrosted. Remove giblets, organ meats and neck from the cavity of the chicken — if they are present — and use them in other recipes. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Set aside.
- Place sliced onion in bottom of crock pot.
- Combine ingredients for spice blend in a small bowl — paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme leaves, salt (optional) and black pepper.
- Spinkle about 1/3 of the spice blend over the back and legs of chicken. Place chicken in crock pot over the onion with seasoned side facing down. Sprinkle remaining spice blend over the breast of the chicken and over the wings and legs.
- Place lid on crock pot. Set temperature to “high” and time to five hours. Do not remove lid for the first four hours of cooking.
- After four hours, check temperature of chicken in thick part of breast meat using a quick-read thermometer. Chicken should be cooked to 185 degrees. If not, replace lid and cook for fifth hour.
- Remove chicken to serving platter. Let rest for 15 to 30 minutes, then carve.
- Use drippings and broth remaining in crock pot for gravy, ladle over chicken pieces and use in other recipes.
References:
So much better for you than a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket with all its sodium and chemicals, and not any more work than going out to the store! This looks incredibly tender and juicy.