Skip the oven this summer and make slow cooker chicken instead. Perfectly moist chicken that lasts us 4-7 meals without heating up the kitchen.
Traditionally when I think of a slow cooker, I think of thick, hearty soups like slow cooker white chicken chili.
But with a very hot summer approaching, I plan to use my slow cooker as often as possible to cook as many meals as possible, starting with classic slow cooker chicken.
One of the reasons I want to make slow cooker chicken as opposed to a traditional roasted chicken is that I need to cook dinner without heating up the house.
I also want to make slow cooker chicken to save on electricity. Using a slow cooker uses as much energy as light bulb, and when you compare 8 hours of non-stop cooking versus 1 hour in the oven, I’m not sure how much you truly save.
However, because it’s summer, my electric company charges more for energy that’s used between 2pm and 7pm. By making slow cooker chicken instead of roasted chicken in the oven, I can easily have all the chicken cooked outside of those peak hours.
Aside from keeping the house cool and saving on electricity, slow cooker chicken has other advantages too:
- Easy “set it and forget it” cooking method
- Don’t have to be home
- Don’t have to be awake
- Chicken comes out tender every time
- Makes slow cooker chicken stock easier
- Can batch cook chicken for the whole month
Ingredients
- whole chickens
- salt
- pepper
- Italian seasoning (homemade or store-bought)
- coriander
Step by Step Instructions for Tender Slow Cooker Chicken
Step 1. Remove the innards/giblets from the chicken and set aside for chicken stock. Rinse the chicken and pat dry.
Step 2. Place both chickens inside a large slow cooker and sprinkle all the seasonings on top.
Step 3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Step 4. Shred chicken with 2 forks, or with tongs and a fork.
Slow Cooker Chicken with Crispy Skin
- Many folks would say that the downside to slow cooker chicken is that you don’t get the crispy skin you’d normally get with an oven-roasted chicken, but that’s not true!
- If your oven has a broiler function in the main oven, strain some of the juices out from the crock and set them aside. Then place the whole crock in the oven with the setting on broil. Watch the chicken for a few minutes until the skin is golden in color and crispy to your liking.
- If your broiler is underneath the main oven, carefully remove the pieces of chicken from the slow cooker. You might have to use sharp kitchen shears to cut the pieces away from the whole first. Place the pieces of chicken skin side up on a cookie sheet and broil for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and dark in color!
Methods for Shredding Slow Cooker Chicken
Shredding the chicken using a regular fork and a big serving fork gives chunkier shredded chicken, but did you know you can use a mixer to shred the chicken too?
- Just place the chicken – without bones – in a mixer bowl.
- Use either the paddle or dough attachment and set your speed to low.
- Stop the mixer when it’s shredded to your liking. Be careful – the chicken can get mushy if you let it go too long.
- As you portion it out, pick out any bones that accidentally made it in the bowl.
Stretching Your Chicken for a Month
The fact that you can cook enough chicken for a whole month is my favorite reason. We use shredded chicken in all sorts of meals, and having it done in one fell swoop is a huge time saver.
- Once the chicken is shredded, I portion it out into two cup portions, since that’s what most recipes using shredded chicken call for. Each 2 cup portion goes into a freezer-safe bag, and then just to help keep the freezer organized, I keep all the bagged 2 cup portions in a larger gallon size bag together in the freezer.
- Each whole chicken will give you about 6 cups of shredded meat, which equals to about 3 meals. To stretch the actual meat from slow cooker chicken, I use some of these ideas as I’m preparing the meal, but if you want more meals, just make more chicken!
- I have a this 6 quart oval slow cooker and it fits two whole chickens without a problem. I might be able to fit more if I cut chicken into pieces first, but I haven’t tested that yet.
- Larger families might want to consider investing in more than one slow cooker, adding a bigger 7 quart slow cooker to their arsenal or just making slow cooker chicken more than once a month.
Don’t have a slow cooker? I’ve added this Instant Pot to my kitchen and it easily cooks a whole chicken, even if it’s frozen!
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Making Chicken Stock from Slow Cooker Chicken
Since I’m in the kitchen anyway, I like to prep the chickens at night just after cleaning up from dinner. I’ll set the timer to cook the chickens while I’m sleeping and it’ll automatically shut to “warm” when it’s done.
- In the morning before breakfast, I turn the slow cooker off, take the crock out and remove the lid so the chicken cools quicker. By the time we’ve eaten breakfast and cleaned up, the chicken is cool enough for me to shred.
- I like to put a colander in a large stock pot and dump everything out – chicken, liquid and bones. I’ll sort through the chicken piece by piece, placing bones back into the slow cooker crock and chicken in a bowl.
- When all the chicken is pulled off the bones, the original cooking juices go back into to the crock along with my container of vegetable scraps and make slow cooker chicken stock.
FAQs
I typically by my whole chicken from Costco. They have great prices on organic chicken. This is one reason I find a Costco membership worth it.
I’ve also seen great prices on whole chicken at ALDI. (Sometimes ALDI is cheaper than Costco.)
Butcher Box is my new favorite for high quality beef and pork. I’ve also tried their whole chicken and it’s very good! You can read my full review on Butcher Box HERE.
No, you do not need to add water since all of the liquid you need to keep the chicken moist is already in the chicken.
I cook two whole chickens (not extra large chickens) in my slow cooker for 6-8 hours on low.
Slow Cooker Meal Plan
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Skip the oven this summer and make slow cooker chicken instead. Perfectly moist chicken that lasts us 4-7 meals without heating up the kitchen.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 6-8 hours
- Total Time: 6-8 hours
- Yield: 2 whole chickens 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Slow cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 whole chickens
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp coriander
Instructions
- Remove the innards/giblets from the chicken and set aside for chicken stock. Rinse the chicken and pat dry.
- Place both chickens inside a large slow cooker and sprinkle all the seasonings on top.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Shred chicken with 2 forks, or with tongs and a fork.
Notes
I can fit two chickens in my 6 quart oval slow cooker. If your slow cooker is smaller, use just one chicken and halve the spices.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving of chicken breast
- Calories: 152
Hi!! Do you think this process would work for chicken thighs? I’m trying your 1 week $50 Aldi dinner plan – the shopping list calls for thighs so I got bone-in, but the recipes just say to use cook/chopped chicken. Don’t know the best way to do thighs to get the meat off.
Can I brown the chicken before putting in the slow cooker
I haven’t tried it, but you probably can!
Hello Tiffany, first time I saw your recipes and I will have to try them, specially the roasted chicken and the carnitas. Since I’m quite new to slow-cooking I like the idea of set it and forget it. I work all day and coming home to a fully cooked meal is a great welcome home. BTW, I just made 2 chuck roast with the dried onion soup and mushroom soup and it was a hit at home. The only change I did was searing the meat. I had a bad experience before and although the meat was fully cooked it had a raw taste ti it. Thanks for your recipes. I look forward to more slowly cooking!
Welcome to Crumbs Linda!
I didn’t notice how old this post was! Please do not post this comment or my previous one. Folks have been getting along just fine figuring out this recipe for a year now, without my two cents added in. Sorry.
I clicked on the picture of slow cooked chicken for the exact reason of the crispy looking skin. I avoid slow cooking my chicken because it always turns out badly. Maybe you could add that final step in your recipe? (Just a suggestion, not a criticism:)
No worries RMR! You can broil the chicken to get the crispy skin. 😉
I have avoided making chicken in the crockpot because of the “non crispy” skin. I am not sure why I never thought to put my crock under the broiler in my oven. Genius. Thank you!
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This chicken looks delicious and it’s perfect for meal prep!
I am worried about putting the slow cooker insert under the broiler though. Will it not break (my handbook says not to)?
I think I’ll just put the chicken on a cookie sheet and then under the broiler (I’m a worrywart and would hate to lose my insert!) 😆
Thank you for the inspiration and recipe! 😊
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Hi Tiffany! I just found your website and ordered your ebook yesterday. I was so thrilled to read that you live in GA. I’m currently in Atlanta but we’re moving to Fairburn in a few weeks.
I love this post! I hate heating the house in the summer too. I’m on the hunt for larger crockpots on Craigslist and at garage sales 🙂
Hey Tiffany: I look forward to your post in my e-mail every week. I never know what I am about to learn next.
I’m a widowed man and since my wife passed I have become quite a chef if I do say so myself. I have been cooking chicken in my crook pot, for many years now.
Recently I was at the market and I came across a fantastic deal. I bought more than half a shopping bag of beets for a dollar. I could not refuse. When I got home I thought to myself, “Good God! What have I got myself into?” Beets are hard to peel, they are a mess, they stain your hands, the walls, your clothes. Urggg! There had to be an easy way to deal with this dollar deal. I blew up two disposable, “Glad” brand gloves, sprinkled a little flour in each, slid them on my hands and proceeded to wash and peel the beets.(no red stained hands) I rinsed them and sliced half of them on my mandolin. The other half I rinsed and cut into chunks. I placed them all in the crock pot, added water to cover set for 4 hours and went on with my day. No babysitting and adding water to the pot, (They are so hard and take so long to cook) no spitting red dots all over the stove. After 4 hours they were still a little on the firm side which was great. After cooling I packaged them into single servings and placed in the freezer. I had 16 servings which need very little to finish them off and add to what ever meal I was making at the time.
I had 4 quarts sweet beet juice I also froze. I have used some to make a sweet soup. Beet juice as the base, chick peas, potato, chopped celery, fresh cilantro, salt and course black pepper. Very tasty and I believe very good for your health. Hope I have given some good tips. Art
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These are fantastic tips Art, and kudos for being so creative with handling these beets! Have you heard of beet kvass? It’s a fermented beverage based on beet juice. Couple with some berries and it’s delicious! Try searching for it and you’ll have another way to use up some of that juice!!
Couldn’t have been better timing! I put a frozen chicken into the fridge this morning so I could cook it tomorrow and I was contemplating the slow cooker since we will be in and out all day. Thanks for the great tips on all aspects of Crock chicken cooking!!
That’s great news Laura! Enjoy the chicken!