Kelly from The Nourishing Home is brilliant when it comes to beautiful, nourishing food, so I am thrilled to be welcoming her to The Prairie Homestead today as she shares her mouth-watering recipe for rotisserie-style chicken you can make in your crockpot!
Hi, this is Kelly from The Nourishing Home. It’s a joy to visit with y’all today and share a simple and delicious slow cooker meal your whole family will love! And the best part is the leftovers can be used to make a whole host of quick-n-easy, family-friendly dinners!
This simple slow cooker rotisserie style chicken is one of my favorite quick weeknight dinners, which is why it frequently appears in my free weekly meal plans. It’s such a huge time-saver since you can toss everything into your slow cooker and go about your busy day knowing that a delicious and nutritious dinner will be waiting for you and your family when the dinner bell rings.
How to Make Rotisserie Style Chicken in Your Slow Cooker
The secret to making rotisserie style chicken in your Crockpot is to use low heat and elevate the bird using root vegetables. The result is a moist and tender chicken with flavorful meat that’s nearly falling off the bone! Plus, you’ll have a ready-made garlic-infused root veggies side dish too – it doesn’t get easier than that!
Step One: Create a tasty base for your bird
Evenly layer the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker with baby potatoes, chopped carrots and peeled garlic cloves.
Step Two: Dress your bird
Clean the bird and remove the giblets (save them for making stock). Stuff the bird with additional garlic cloves and fresh thyme. Then season the bird and place it centered over the root veggies. Cover and cook on low. (See full recipe below.)
Step Three: Dinner is served! Not once, but twice!
One five-pound whole chicken generally provides about six cups of shredded chicken meat. This means the average family of four can enjoy not one, but two meals or more meals from just one roasted bird! (See my favorite quick-n-easy dinner ideas for leftover roast chicken below.)
Plus, once you’ve picked the carcass clean, the bones can be used to make a savory and nutritious slow cooker bone broth that can be used to create even more quick, nutritious meals!
Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken
Recipe courtesy of The Nourishing Home
Ingredients
- One 5 to 6 pound whole chicken
- 2 pounds baby potatoes
- 2 large carrots
- 1 head garlic
- 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
Savory Seasoning Mix
- 2 tsp sea salt (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
Method
- Remove the giblets and neck; reserve for making stock. Thoroughly rinse the bird in cool running water, trim away any excess skin; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine all of the seasoning mix ingredients; set aside.
- Cut the carrots into 3 inch pieces. Smash and peel all of the cloves in one head of garlic.
- In a six-quart slow cooker, evenly distribute the baby potatoes, carrot chunks and half of the garlic cloves along the bottom.
- Sprinkle the seasoning mixture evenly over the top of the chicken. Then stuff with the remaining garlic cloves, along with a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Use kitchen twine to tie the legs together, if desired.
- Place the bird breast side up on top of the root veggies. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours until cooked through. Chicken is finished when an instant read thermometer registers 165 degrees.
- To crisp the skin, carefully transfer the bird to a broiler pan. Set oven to broil and position the bird about 12 inches from the heat source. Broil for approximately 4-5 minutes, just until skin browns and crisps. Delicious and easy! (Remember to save the chicken bones to make easy and healthy homemade slow cooker bone broth.)
Leftover Roast Chicken = Dinner in a Snap!
Dinner couldn’t be easier when you have leftover roast chicken on hand. Here are a few of my favorite ways to create even more quick-n-easy weeknight dinners. Three cheers for simple healthy meals!
- Roasted Chicken Chili – Create a delicious fall-inspired one-pot meal using leftover roast chicken, fresh veggies and the perfect blend of chili seasonings.
- Easy Chicken Pot Pie – Whether you have leftover roast chicken or turkey on hand, you can’t go wrong with this incredibly easy & tasty pot pie using flaky homemade biscuits.
- Chicken & Veggie Pasta – Toss some leftover roasted chicken into Jill’s delicious roasted veggies pasta dish for a nutritious meal with hearty fall flavors!
- Chicken & Veggie Quesadillas – Enjoy some kids-in-the-kitchen fun creating one of the easiest dinners that even picky veggie-phobes love!
- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches – Add your favorite BBQ sauce to leftover shredded chicken for a delicious and quick weeknight meal.
- Chicken Enchiladas – Combine leftover roast chicken and your favorite homemade enchilada sauce to create an easy and tasty chicken enchilada casserole.
Slow Cooker Rotisserie Style Chicken
- Category: Main Dish- Chicken
Ingredients
- One 5 to 6 pound whole chicken
- 2 pounds baby potatoes
- 2 large carrots
- 1 head garlic
- 4–5 sprigs fresh thyme
- Savory Seasoning Mix
- 2 tsp sea salt (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
Instructions
- Remove the giblets and neck; reserve for making stock. Thoroughly rinse the bird in cool running water, trim away any excess skin; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine all of the seasoning mix ingredients; set aside.
- Cut the carrots into 3 inch pieces. Smash and peel all of the cloves in one head of garlic.
- In a six-quart slow cooker, evenly distribute the baby potatoes, carrot chunks and half of the garlic cloves along the bottom.
- Sprinkle the seasoning mixture evenly over the top of the chicken. Then stuff with the remaining garlic cloves, along with a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Use kitchen twine to tie the legs together, if desired.
- Place the bird breast side up on top of the root veggies. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours until cooked through. Chicken is finished when an instant read thermometer registers 165 degrees.
- To crisp the skin, carefully transfer the bird to a broiler pan. Set oven to broil and position the bird about 12 inches from the heat source. Broil for approximately 4-5 minutes, just until skin browns and crisps. Delicious and easy! (Remember to save the chicken bones to make easy and healthy homemade slow cooker bone broth.)
Meet Kelly
Kelly Smith recently released her first published cookbook, Everyday Grain-Free Baking and is the author of the popular gluten-free lifestyle blog, The Nourishing Home. After struggling with several autoimmune-related health issues, Kelly turned to an unprocessed, gluten-free, grain-free diet for relief. As a result, she discovered improved health and wellness, and is now on a mission to transform everyday familiar favorites into nourishing gluten-free meals the whole family will love, whether they’re gluten-free or not. Discover Kelly’s delicious family-friendly recipes and free weekly meal plans at The Nourishing Home and follow her delicious culinary adventures on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
This looks amazing! Thanks for sharing ? Question: you don’t add any liquid to the slow cooker? And the meat stays moist? Thank you!
That’s correct. Do not add liquid. You will be amazed at how the moisture from the bird and veggies alone create a delicious and moist meat. Enjoy!
Thanks for the reply! We raise meat chickens, so I’m excited to try this recipe out! Yum!
This sounds like my kind of recipe–simple and delicious–but I have a question about the vegetables. Other recipes I’ve tried using potatoes, etc., to prop up the chicken have left the veggies swimming in what I thought was a major pool of chicken fat. Not so? Or, if so, any remedies for that?
Thank you for your efforts on this site! I plan to spend many a merry moment exploring your recipes!
That’s a great question. I don’t add onion because it creates too much moisture which results in that puddle of fat you mentioned. Another good idea is to trim off any excess fat from the bird. But I’ve found that using just root veggies really helped create a nice moist bird without soggy veggies. And yes, please do come over for a visit! I’m always excited to meet new friends! Blessings to you! 🙂
Delish! I like to add a few parsnips also.
Perfect choice! Thanks for sharing! Enjoy! Happy New Year! 🙂
Making this for dinner on Monday! Can’t wait. Thanks again, Kelly for a wonderful meal for my family.
You are so welcome! Enjoy! Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note!
Beautiful dish! I wonder if it’ll taste the same when cooked in turbo broiler? Anyways, thanks for sharing Kelly!
My pleasure, Kimberly. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out. Of course, be sure to adjust the cooking time. 🙂
Are the left over dinner ideas Whole30 recipes too?
What is in the savory seasoning mix
Can’t wait to not only try this recipe but to get some chickens!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Have you done this with frozen chicken?
Your recipe calls for a 5-lb to 6-lb chicken. I buy pastured chickens from farmers and they’re usually 3-1/2 or 4 lbs. How should I adjust the cooking time when using this method with a smaller bird?
Um Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken is a favorite in our house and I need ways to cook it. I love how easy this sounds and this looks like something my family will love! have you actually with baby potatoes, chopped carrots and peeled garlic clove?That’s a great idea! I hope you love the recipe.
Very easy and tasty!! Even made it easier by using national rotisserie chicken seasoning from the Amish grocery store.
Thanks!
Since I don’t have a rotisserie oven so I will be able to cook rotisserie style chicken suing my slow cooker. It was really very helpful to me.
I made this yesterday and it was everything you said it would be! So flavorful, tender. Definitely will be making this often. I used a Perdue roaster about 6 1/2lbs and I made no changes to your recipe. Thank you for sharing this recipe!