Slow Cooker Roast Chicken is the juiciest, most forgiving and easiest whole chicken recipe I know. It’s such a great way to cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker that’s incredibly quick to prepare with beautiful flavours reminiscent of Greek food!
This roast chicken recipe can be slow cooked OR pressure cooked. You can serve up a Sunday Roast Chicken dinner any day of the week!
Slow Cooker Roast Chicken – A Gold Nugget Recipe
If you’re new to making a whole chicken in a slow cooker, this is going to be life changing.
No false promises! This crock pot whole chicken recipe is truly one of my gold nugget recipes. That elusive combination of quick and easy, incredibly forgiving, but in no way a compromise of a great classic Roast Chicken. Here’s why:
✅ The flesh of this chicken (even the breast) is so juicy, you’d swear it’s been brined;
✅ Ultra forgiving – Even if you go 2 hours over the cook time, it’s still juicy. The magic of slow cookers!
✅ It looks and tastes like a traditional oven roasted chicken – albeit (I kid you not) the breast meat is more tender and juicier;
✅ Various cooking options with exactly the same outcome. Slow cook on low (5 hours), high (3 hours), or pressure cook for 24 minutes.
✅ It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare to get it in the slow cooker, and you can prep ahead. Plus, the Lemon Sauce is effortless – just add cornflour/cornstarch into the slow cooker juices.
Crock pot whole chicken recipe ingredients
This is all you need for this recipe:
How to Cook a Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker
This Lemon Garlic slow cooker whole chicken starts with an olive oil paste that’s made with lemon, garlic, salt, pepper and dried herbs of choice (I use thyme, oregano and parsley).
For maximum flavour, I put most of the paste under the skin of the chicken. This is not hard to do – and doesn’t need to be “perfect”!!! Watch the video. 🙂 Just loosen the skin using a dessert spoon (hugs the curves, avoids piercing skin).
Then spoon the paste under the skin.
Roughly spread the paste using your hands or the spoon on the surface of the skin. Doesn’t need to be perfect, the paste will slide and naturally spread as it cooks.
Pop the used lemon inside the chicken.
Place the chicken on a rack in the slow cooker (or use balls or a ring of scrunched up foil). This keeps the underside of the chicken from being submerged in liquid which makes it cook faster.
Slow cook for 5 hours on low or 3 hours on high.
Brown the skin – When the chicken comes out of the slow cooker, it will smell gorgeous but will look thoroughly unappetising – pale and colourless. Just a quick 5 to 10 minute broil/grill fixes that – you will be amazed how quickly the skin goes from bland to crispy golden brown!!!
How long does a whole chicken take in the slow cooker?
A 2kg/4lb whole chicken will take 5 hours on low, or 3 hours on high. This will be a juicy and carvable, chicken like a traditional oven Roast Chicken.
If you want one where the meat is more tender and can basically be pulled off the bone with little effort, slow cook for 7 to 8 hours on low.
Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Option!
This Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken can also be made in a pressure cooker. It comes out exactly the same – just a heck of a lot faster! 😂 Just add 1/2 cup of water and pressure cook for 24 minutes on high. Let it depressurise naturally for 10 minutes then release the valve.
Lemon Sauce
I used to call this a gravy, but it somehow seemed odd to have a lemon flavoured gravy. So I reverted to just Lemon Sauce!
You’ll love how straight forward this is compared to usual gravies. No messing around with oily pans and cooking flour and straining. Just add cornstarch / cornflour then simmer until thickened. That’s it!
Oh the possibilities!!!
The beauty of recipes like this is that it’s easy to adapt this cooking method to make it your own. I’ve kept it straightforward because it’s an everyday roast chicken recipe.
Here are some ideas for variations:
Other dried herbs – or use fresh instead;
Add spices – or skip the herbs and use a rub instead;
Add a quartered onion and halved head of garlic (or smashed garlic cloves) under the chicken (it will make the gravy even tastier! Strain out of sauce)
Add fresh herbs and a halved head of garlic inside the chicken (you need lots of garlic to be able to taste it)
Use butter instead of oil (use more!)
OK, so that’s it from me! Longer than usual post, but I have a lot to say when it comes to this Slow Cooker Roast Chicken. 🙂 Hope you enjoy. And I’d really love to hear what you think if you try it – or how you make it your own! – Nagi x
Lemon Garlic Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Lemon Garlic Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lb whole chicken , patted dry (Note 1)
Rub (Note 2):
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2.5 tbsp olive oil (or melted butter), plus extra for drizzling
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 large lemon , all zest + all juice
Lemon Sauce:
- 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water
- 1 extra lemon , just in case
Instructions
- Rub – Mix Rub ingredients. should be fairly thick and sludgy. Adjust with extra oil if too thick.
- Loosen Skin: Use upside spoon to loosen skin of chicken (see video). Spoon most of the Rub under the skin, leaving about 1 tbsp mostly oil for the skin. Use hands or spoon on skin to spread the paste – doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Stuff used lemon inside the chicken.
- Put rack inside slow cooker (Note 3), place chicken on top. Spread with remaining sludge, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Slow cook 5 hours on low or 3 hours on high, or until juices run clear or internal temperature is 75C / 165F using a meat thermometer. (Note 4 for other cook methods)
- Brown skin: Remove chicken from slow cooker, drizzle with a bit of extra oil. Grill/broil on medium high for 5 to 10 minutes to brown the skin (~25cm /10″ from heat source). Or oven 240C/450F for 10 min.
- Spoon over pan juices, then serve with Lemon Sauce! (No need to rest chicken)
Lemon Sauce:
- Pour all slow cooker liquid into a saucepan, add cornflour / water mixture. Mix.
- Bring to simmer over medium high and cook until liquid thickens to thin syrup (depends how much liquid you have, usually 3 min or so). Adjust salt and pepper to taste, add more lemon if desired (the extra lemon). Pour into jug.
Recipe Notes:
Pressure cook – Add ½ cup water and pressure cook for 24 minutes on high (depressure naturally 10 min before releasing valve).
Oven – Follow directions in this juicy Roast Chicken recipe. 5. Slow Cooker Cook Times:
1-1.5kg / 2-3 lb – 4.5 hrs on low
1.75-2.25kg / 3.5-4.5 lb – 5 hrs on low
2.5kg / 5lb – 6 hrs on low
For almost “all apart” meat, add 1 to 2 hours onto the cook times. Flesh is still juicy! Pressure Cooker: 6 minutes per 500g/1lb of chicken. 5. Prep Ahead / Storage: Prepare chicken with rub under and on skin. Refrigerate up to 48 hours then slow cook per recipe. Cooked chicken keeps for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. 6. Nutrition per serving assumes all sauce is consumed.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published August 2014. Updated January 2019 – recipe improved, everything completely rewritten, new photos, new video. Most importantly, Life of Dozer section added! 😂 Just in case anyone is after the original recipe, here it is.
More whole chicken recipes
Life of Dozer
He was captivated by the video for this slow cooker chicken…. 😂😂😂
Made this tonight. Juicy AF.
Switched the herbs & garlic for harissa, sumac, paprika, cumin and ginger.. Finished in the air fryer as our oven is crapola. Amazeballs!
This recipe was quick, simple and easy just as Nagi promised.
I only made some minor additions to this one (outside of adding in onion/garlic to the pot as Nagi suggested):
The recipe reminded me of prepping my turkey so I added some bacon on the top to add juice/flavour and also provide some extra crisp when it was broiled.
Instead of putting the used lemon inside the chicken, I cut it into smaller chunks and placed it in the crock pot. The juice of the bird infused it, in addition to softening it. I fine chopped it and added it as a garnish on the chicken before I added the sauce.
For the lemon sauce- I felt it needed a bit more lemon juice so did use the 2nd lemon and some more salt to make it perfect for us.
I also had a small piece of Chorzio left over and as Nagi said in another recipe, once you crisp Chorizo you will be hooked (which we are) so I put a sprinkle on top of the meal!
This one is saved and will be a regular, especially with the warmer /spring weather at our door step!
Delicious! Used Hoyt’s Italian Herb Mix instead of the listed herbs as it doesn’t have Thyme which I dislike. Used 2 smallish lemons but they were very juicy so my rub was thin. Still went easily under the skin and slathered all over top. Thanks to Nagi’s detailed instructions the nearly 3kg chook was cooked in 33 minutes in the pressure cooker + on keep warm for the stated 10 minutes before opening the valve. Then cooked 10 minutes each side on 230 Celsius in a 25 litre airfryer. Skin was crisp and golden, the meat was so juicy and the flavour fantastic. So happy to have such a great and easy roast chook recipe. Thanks Nagi!
Love this recipe for roast chicken! It was SO easy and turned out beautifully! I made it exactly as written. Am looking forward to trying it with different herb combinations. Thanks so much, Nagi!
I found this because I was looking for a slow-cook recipe for a rooster we just downsized. But then I saw the pressure cooker option and got excited. And then I realized that lemons are acidic and shouldn’t be in aluminum pressure cookers. So, after cooking the rooster in the pressure cooker with everything else, I used some of the juices from the bottom and made the lemon glaze for serving. Turned out pretty good.
Delicious. Did stuffing instead of lemon in the cavity. Will definitely make again.
Made this for dinner tonight. Slow cook on high for three hours. Chicken was so juicy. Unfortunately I found the flavour rather bland. I used fresh herbs over dry, so wonder if this would make a difference? Also, despite being under the grill p, didn’t colour very much and the skin over the breast burst.
Might try it once more and make a few adjustments.
If you use fresh herbs in place of dried, you need to increase the amount used. Dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh herbs.
Perfection! Perfection! Absolutely Scrumptious Roast Chicken!
Oh dear! I’ve forgotten to put the lemon inside the chicken! 🤦🏻♀️ I hope it still turns out okay.
Lemon garlic slow cooker roast chicken. Absolutely perfect! Compliments all around thé table this evening. Magic🌻
I’ve tried this recipe without the lemon and it was great!
The only issue I’ve had, is the first time I tried the recipe… A short while after adding the foil balls and the chicken and switching it on, I heard a few loud snapping sounds. It appears my ceramic insert cracked. I now believe that this method may cause some slow cookers inserts to crack. Just wanted to put that out there as a public service announcement.
Sorry to be a Debbie downer, Nagi. Aside from that, it was a really great recipe :).
I always use metal egg rings in the bottom of my slow cooker when I do a pork roast to elevate it above the stock. I made this roast chicken in the pressure cooker so haven’t tried but think they would work.
I do not have a way to broil so when you say “broil/grill” how do you mean grill? My oven is a very old Wolf and the broiler is a narrow shelf self contained above the oven with a large griddle on top.
You can use the oven too, 240c/450f for 10 mins
Easy and absolutely delicious. The chicken was juicy and tender. I could drink the lemon sauce. Nagi never disappoints!
Another great recipe! Every recipe I have tried from RecipeTin eats has been perfect! Thank you Nagi. 🙏😊
I’ve had this recipe in my repertoire for over 20yrs now. So many friends have said you can’t roast chicken in a slow cooker. LOL. Everyone of them has loved it when I’ve made it for them though.
This is the best chicken I have ever had! So full of flavour. My first recipe tin eats try, can’t wait to have a go at Nagi’s other recipes!!!
Where has this recipe been my whole life??? So easy, so tasty. Total game changer.
Absolutely sensational.
Juicy, tender, flavoursome chicken.
Everyone loved it.
Another keeper!
Thanks Nagi.
I didn’t have a rack so I added some parnips, onion and carrots at the bottom. Chicken turned out soo tender. The breast meat was bland despite pouring all the marinade under the skin (I threw it in the slow cooker breast side up) but the gravy saved the day!!
I just made this and the Purple Rice for my family’s Valentine’s Day dinner. What a perfect pairing! The chicken is so delicious and juicy and not overly lemony. I will be making this again!