Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken Recipe
I recently realized that I didn’t need a rotisserie to make this Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken. As you can tell from the title, I only needed a slow cooker!
Few things in life feel as homey and wonderful as coming home to a house that smells like dinner is ready and waiting. Better still is when it actually IS ready and waiting.
For as long as I can remember, I have loved rotisserie chicken. The tenderness of the meat outdoes anything I’ve ever been able to bake in an oven or fry in a skillet. But since I don’t have a rotisserie, I’ve always purchased my birdies at Whole Foods (the only place I’ve ever been able to find a clean rotisserie chicken!).
When I wrote my first cookbook, (amazon affiliate link) I started learning a bit more about cooking meats in a slow cooker. I experimented with several and quickly realized that a rotisserie style chicken was completely doable in a slow cooker. And the best part (in my humble opinion), is that you also get some gravy and chicken stock out of the deal. Not too shabby for one little bird!
This particular clean eating slow cooker rotisserie chicken recipe is super simple. It takes about 5-10 minutes to get the bird ready, then you just plop it in the slow cooker, turn it on and forget about it for the next 8 to 10 hours. So your slow cooker will cook dinner for you all day long and provide you with a very tender bird at the end of your work day. Not a bad deal all the way around. And if you really want a complete dinner ready to go, add a few veggies to the crock. Things like carrots, onions and celery do well here.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY THESE CLEAN EATING RECIPES:
- Clean Eating Whole Roasted Chicken
- Clean Eating Chicken Stock/Broth
- How To Get Your Money’s Worth Out Of A Whole Chicken
SLOW COOKER ROTISSERIE CHICKEN RECIPE:
Slow Cooker Rosemary Rotisserie Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 lb. chicken give or take (Do NOT use a frozen chicken!)
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 tbsp. chopped, fresh rosemary
- 1 medium lemon (sliced, 1/4 inch thick slices – optional)
Instructions
- If your chicken came with the gizzards, remove them from the cavity of the chicken. (I don’t use them, but if you do, pack them away for another use in the future).
- Mix your spices together in a small bowl and using your hands, coat the whole outside of the chicken with your spices.
- Slide your hand between the skin and the meat, separating the skin from the flesh. Spread any remaining spices under the skin and then slide as many lemons slices as you can under the skin as well.
- If you have any lemon slices left over, stuff them in the cavity of the chicken.
- Place the entire bird in a slow cooker (between 4 and 6 quarts works best). No oil or water is needed. Cook on low for 8 hours. If you want to cook some vegetables with this, simply put them in the slow cooker first and place your chicken on top of them. With veggies, you will need closer to 10 hours. Every slow cooker is different. It’s important to know how your slow cooker cooks.
- IMPORTANT: You absolutely MUST check the temperature of your chicken before removing it from the slow cooker. It should be at least 180 F.
I love BBQ (rotisserie) chicken, too! I don’t have a slow cooker, but have been thinking for awhile that I should get one…I agree…there is nothing better than coming home when dinner is cooked, ready and waiting!
This sounds absolutely amazing! I have a couple chickens in the freezer. Going downstairs in 2 seconds to bring one upstairs to that. Dinner tomorrow!!! Thank you so much for the share! You rock!!!
Just be sure you defrost the chicken first! This won’t work with a frozen chicken.
This sounds absolutely fantastic! But, how is it that the chicken cooks without liquid? I’d be afraid to leave my slow cooker on in the house all day while I was gone with a chicken without liquid. But, I’m not very experienced with the slow cooker whatsoever.
Thanks!
Juices come out of the chicken as it cooks. My next recipe is for the gravy I made with that liquid. If you are very nervous about it, try it on a weekend day when you can be home and keep an eye on it.
If you really want it to be a little crispier on the outside like a true rotisserie, try balling up some aluminum foil and placing it in the bottom of your slow cooker. It will allow the drippings to run off giving the bird that perfect combination of cripy skin and juicy insides!
This sounds delicious.
About the veggies… Would you just cut up potatoes, carrots, etc and put them underneath? Will they soak up too much grease from the chicken?
They do soak up some of the grease, yes. And yes, you would just put them under the chicken on the bottom of the slow cooker
I have this cooking right now… Perfect for this 18 degree Sunday here in Chicago. Thanks for sharing. I love your website 🙂
Thank you. I look forward to trying this. My slow cooker gets a lot of use during the work week and soccer practice days.
Love crock pot recipes! Can’t wait to try this one!!!! Thanks!
Wow!! This looks good and easy. Love the little crockpot warmer o. Facebook too~
Thanks for the recipe. Can’t wait to try it out!
I just tried this chicken this evening, and found my chicken breast turned out tough and skin wasn’t brown. We had a bed of veggies (which turned out great!), and had the chicken propped up on an old-tuna fish can (w/out the label). We did have it in the slow cooker for 9 hrs on low, and then I turned the slow cooker ‘off’ (didn’t unplug), and the lid off, so it could cool off.
Any thoughts of what could be improved- w/ tender chicken breast and a more ‘golden skin’?
I’m thinking I had it in the slow cooker too long? Perhaps my slow-cooker runs too hot?
Does the ‘balls of foil’ work differently than the tuna can?
Thanks for your suggestions! Oh yeah- next step- going to try the bone broth- perhaps w/ the perpetual bone broth recipe posted the other day! (looking forward to that)
I would guess you cooked it too long, although I’ve done it for 8 hours and it was just fine. How big was the chicken? I’ve also never propped up the chicken on a can. I just lay it in there. How big is your slow cooker?
To brown the skin, you can just put the bird under a broiler for a couple of minutes. It won’t get brown or crunchy in the slow cooker. It’s too moist in there for that.
It’s possible your slow cooker burns hot, but I would imagine it’s just how it was done. Plus, if the cooker is too big for the amount of food, that can cause issues too.
A note on the perpetual bone broth: After day 4, it started smelling sour. Not sure what happened there, but will have to ask the person who did that post. It was very strange.
silly question~would a crock pot work for this, or do you need a traditional slow cooker?
Crock-Pot® is a registered trademark. Slow cooker, is the name of the actual appliance. So you can have a Hamilton beach slow cooker, or a Crock-Pot® slow cooker. Either way, it’s a slow cooker.
This is simply Amazing. I am so thankful for your recipes and ideas!
Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs ever!
I have been looking for a recipe with Rosemary. Cant wait to try it! Thx
Would you have another herb you would recommend in place of rosemary?
Laurel – You can use any herbs you like. Tarragon is good on chicken, or you can just use garlic and onion powder. Some folks like to add a little paprika too. There are no hard and fast rules for this.
This chicken feel apart when I tried to take it out of the slow cooker. I was thrilled with that however, it was extremely bitter tasting! What did I do wrong?
Julie – Bitter? That’s odd. Did you change or add any spices? Was the chicken fresh? What temp did you cook at?
Wow! This was awesome… I didn’t have fresh rosemary and decided to go with Montreal Steak Spice… OMG! Hubby loved it!! And so, so easy!
Lori – Fantastic!
Was looking online for a lemon garlic whole chicken slow cooker recipe – going to make this in the morning. Thank you!
Julie – I read that rosemary can turn bitter when cooked too long. I’m going to add a couple sprigs on top towards the end.
Could I make this with chicken breasts?
Chelsea – Sure!!
Would I simply just sub the chicken breasts for the whole chicken or would I need to add some broth? How many breasts?
Chelsea – How big of a slow cooker do you have? How many quarts?