Recipe: Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken

After a recent post on storing your slow cooker, one reader asked why we didn’t include any ideas for using a slow cooker. So here is one from Lauren, our long time volunteer adviser and the class assistant in our New Kitchen Cooking School. I had always slow cooked chicken by submerging it in water and cooking on low for 8 to 10 hours–essentially poaching it. Then Lauren shared her method which essentially roasts the chicken. Guaranteed good results–and ridiculously simple:

Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken

Step 1: Plop Bird into Slow Cooker, Breast Side Down

Picture of Slow Cooker Chicken — Keeping the breast down helps it stay moister. The wide, shallow style slow cooker is better for roasting since it allows more air circulation around the bird, although the tall narrow style can work, too.

Step 2: Season Chicken

You can be fairly generous with the salt and especially the pepper. If you want, be creative and toss on some herbs or spices, e.g., Herbes de Provence, Italian Herbs, a Moroccan rub . . . .

Step 3: Cover and Cook on High ~ 3 Hours

Slow Cooker Chicken — Timing is where things can be a little tricky, because of differences in cookers and bird sizes. So start monitoring after two hours, until you learn the right timing for your slow cooker and usual bird size.

Step 4: Uncover and Cook on High ~ 1 More Hour

Browned Slow Cooker Chicken — Even covered, the bird browns and crisps fairly well. Now, in an unusual twist, leave the cover off another hour to brown even a little more. Be sure to leave the temperature on high.

Step 5: Baste Every 15 Minutes (optional, but really adds flavor and moistness)

Basting Chicken — Basting is what makes the chicken taste more like those succulent rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. I just baste as I pass by the chicken while doing things around the house, or while preparing the rest of the meal. IMPORTANT: Before serving, test the chicken for doneness (see Note below.)

Step 6: Use the pan juices to make a delicious sauce, e.g., with just a little grainy mustard and Herbes de Provence, maybe a little wine. Try making it in the slow cooker, but if it’s too slow, scrape everything into a small skillet or saucepan.

Fair Question: Why not use the oven? I prefer the slow cooker because of the “tolerance” and “visibility” factors. While an oven doesn’t exactly speed cook foods, the window between not quite done and overdone may be only 10 to 15 minutes. Outside that narrow window, the chicken gets tough and dry, something I’ve experienced plenty of times because I’m not one to stand guard over food. With a slow cooker that window is much longer, maybe 30 to 60 minutes. And even if I go past that window, there’s a good chance the chicken will still be pretty good. It’s hard to ruin a dish completely in a slow cooker unless you completely forget about it. At the same time, it’s easier to monitor a chicken in a slow cooker sitting on the counter than one buried in a hot oven in a heavy pot.

Note on Doneness: According to Joy of Cooking, chicken must be cooked to the point where the meat releases clear, not pink, juices when pricked to the bone with a fork. This correlates with an internal temperature of 170 (F) on an instant-read thermometer. However, for the breast meat, doneness is reached at an internal temperature of 160 (F). I usually slice between the thigh and torso of the chicken to see that the juices run clear and the meat is no longer red.

Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken

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