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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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…. 😂😂😂
Hi Nagi this looks great but how do you think it would if i brushed soy sauce or maggi seasoning on the skin either before it goes in slow cooker or just before putting under the grill?
Hi Tanz,Ii don’t find it needs it – it may make it a little too salty so go sparingly if you do 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi! May I know how many litre is your slow cooker, please? I am deciding on which slow cooker to buy to make this recipe. Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! This is the exact one I have – https://www.bigw.com.au/product/breville-the-flavour-maker/p/8210896/?store=145&gclid=CjwKCAiAudD_BRBXEiwAudakX77LD6UbZ2EloAnIX-_4KFUMLkYwGA5D1nRNon75s_cZCJgoMJG7OBoCYdoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
5L basic slow cooker. I just have never needed all the fancy extras 🙂 N x
Thank you! 😊
I made this for Christmas lunch and it was SUPERB. Followed your recipe exactly. Low maintenance with exceptional results. Gonna always roast chicken this way. Thanks Nagi, this is a real keeper.
Made this today for family Christmas dinner. I had a 6-8am support shift, so I simply spent half an hour prepping everything on the same day. I didn’t realise I could have prepped ahead! It worked so beautifully. Needed to use sturdy rubber gloves to transfer it from pot to oven tray to brown the skin. The sauce/gravy was just beautiful, and the whole thing was super well received. Drumsticks dry out a touch in the oven, but the rest was so juicy and so tasty. Will defs make again.
Hi Nagi, this roast looks scrumptious. Going to try it. But I’ve a question. I didn’t see you adding any water into the slow cooker. Do I just start the slow cooker without water?
Nope, you don’t need to add water. The slow cooker essentially steams the meat using its own moisture. If you’re a little worried about lack of moisture, use onions sliced about 2cm thick (I cutthe top and bottom off, then cut in half, that’s it) as the rack instead of foil. This will stop the chicken sticking, will create plenty of pan juice and will flavour the sauce/gravy. You can also cut the top off a whole head of garlic and put that under the chook with the onions. It will give a great flavour to the gravy. Simply take/strain out the onions and garlic before adding the juice to a pan to reduce into gravy. We ate the onions (i forgot to use garlic today but would have eaten it too).
Hi Nagi, I want to make this for Christmas but using some of the flavours that you used for your roast chicken recipe. Would I just sub the dried herbs for a teaspoon each of dried rosemary and dried sage? Or would you suggest a different combination/amount? Many thanks, Karen.
Wow this was amazing! This is the only way I will cook a whole chicken now. I tried this for a big family dinner and everyone raved about it. I was skeptical about browning up in time in the oven but I was very happy when it came out all perfect and crispy at the end.
Hi Nagi!
Can I cook this in the Instant Pot? Should I still place a rack at the bottom and cook at 6 mins per 500g?
I love your recipes! Have tried many and all of them have been fab! Thank you!
Hi Joanne, yes you can, pressure cooker instructions are in the recipe notes 🙂 N x
So juicy, oh man I´m telling you and mega easy to make, the only thing I just can´t master is when I take the chicken out of the slow cooker it always comes apart, legs fall off and sometimes the wings too, so mine was not as pretty as yours but let me explain how good it was, my 7 year old moans when I tell her we got chicken for tea, she pretends she doesn´t like it but she had no choice, she ended up going for seconds and she actually wanted to taste the gravy and ended up filling her yorkshire pudding up with it and dipped all the chicken in it and asked me to make this again and how I managed to make something so nice and I told her the truth of course, courtesy of chef Nagi 🙂 I wanted to make asparagus soup for starter and had a look for it on your website but couldn´t find one, I think it would be an excellent idea if you would magic a recepi up, I can already visualize your pictures from it (hint hint) Thanks from me and Freya (the 7 year old fusspot) x
Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Can I use chicken breasts ?
Thank you for this awesome dish
I have a question can I use chicken breast? I have about 1 kg of it in the fridge.
Another amazing recipe, Nagi! I cannot believe that the breast was actually tender! 😮 thank you so much.
10 out of 10. Absolutely delicious! Restaurant quality!
I would love to know what you typically serve with this. Sounds yum!
Hi Corrie, usually roast potatoes or roast veg but a side salad would also be great! N x
Omg amazing!!!!! This is a keeper . Delicious. Juicy. Easy. I followed the recipe exactly.
Wow!!! I am converted! Despite being a 38yr old, mum of two boys, fairly proficient cook (and having worked in a reputable roast chicken place in my teens), up until yesterday I had never roasted a chicken in my life! The fear of drying it out, the need for basting regularly, plus the “I stuff that lemon there?!” put me off…. but not anymore!
This was an incredibly easy recipe and the results were amazing!
My youngest declared it was the best meal I have ever made!! He also loved the sauce and he is not a gravy kid!
And hubby who doesn’t normally like roast chickens went back for seconds!
Thank you Nagi for all your delicious recipes, I’ve been using a few recently but was moved to thank you properly after this one… 🙂 You are so generous!
Made this dish on the weekend but with unexpected visitors arriving didn’t get to eat it. I used the cooked chook and sauce the next day in a pie. The taste was sensational.
Can you add vegetables- like potatoes and carrots to the bottom instead of a rack or foil? That way you can have a whole meal done in one dish. Would you need to adjust the time?
You can, the veggies come out kinda like stew though. So if you don’t mind your veggies squishy like stew then go right ahead! I use halved onions and whole garlic as the rack anyway, they add awesome flavour to the gravy and plenty of moisture
Im making this right now, its on its 4th hour in the slow cooker and I just cant wait for dinner it smells SO GOOD! Making some roasted potato and steamed bok choy on the side. Thankyou Nagi once again for making me look awesome in the kitchen! 🙂
Wahoo! That’s great Nag! N x
Nagi, this recipe is THE BEST! First time I’ve ever used the slow cooker for this type of recipe. My son in London (who has cooked many RecipeTin dishes) tried this first and kept telling me I had to give it a go. Hubby peeked at it about half an hour in and said I don’t think it’ll work…. imagine how much he enjoyed his chicken dinner that night! It was sensational…lots of ‘gravy’ and tender juicy meat. Followed recipe exactly and browned under the griller for 5 mins. My go to roast chicken recipe from now on. Thank you once more for another keeper!
Would this work if I spatchcocked a small chicken? I have an InstantPot Gem multicooker (no pressure cooking) and it has a rack.
Thanks
Yes 100%!! Enjoy! N x