How to Cook a Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

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Your next go-to dinner is here! 

I’ll be honest - cooking a whole chicken kind of intimidates me. That’s why I love doing it in the crockpot. (I admittedly haven’t tried it in the Instant Pot, and until I get a new lid after I melted my IP lid on a hot stovetop, I won’t be able to try!) I still love my trusty crockpot and adore making this chicken recipe, even if I've made chicken recently.

​I created this recipe after experimenting with various recipes online, so feel free to explore the interwebs to find various crockpot whole chicken recipe ideas. This is just what worked for us.

Chicken Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken {about 3-4 lb}
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bunch of celery, chopped
• 1 bag baby carrots
• 1-2 T. smoked paprika
• 1 T. garlic powder
• salt/pepper
• 2 lemons, quartered

Instructions:

1. Remove giblets from chicken.
2. Add chopped onion, celery and carrots to the bottom of the crockpot.
3. Stuff one quartered lemon inside the chicken cavity; place the chicken atop the veggies.
4. Season outside of the chicken with paprika, garlic, salt and pepper.
5. Add remaining lemon to the crockpot basin for additional flavor.
6. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is fully cooked.
7. Bonus: place veggies and chicken on a 9x13 pan once done cooking and broil on high in the oven (uncovered) for 10-15 minutes to brown the skin.

We serve this with fruit (optional) and Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi (2 bags because this was sure to be a hit with our family of 4).

To make the cauliflower gnocchi, add 1 T olive oil or butter to a large pan on medium heat. Heat gnocchi on oil until cooked though, and as it’s heating add another tablespoon olive oil to prevent sticking. Sprinkle with Parmesan. (We altered the heating instructions from what’s on the package as suggested by an awesome follower!)

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