The Best Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

best-slow-cooker-roasted-chicken

The Best Slow Cooker Roast Chicken Ever (in my humble opinion of course!)

A few weeks back I shared a recipe for a Roasted Butternut Squash, Blue Cheese and Farro dish that I made for my girlfriends on a night that we were all trying to detox a bit from the holidays. In that post, I also promised to share the amazing slow cooker chicken that I served with it. Well, guess what? Here it is!

That day in early January was my first attempt at cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker, and luckily, it was a HUGE success. Since then, I’ve made this recipe no less than 5 times. That means that I’ve made this at least once every 2 weeks, and believe me, that’s saying something. Sure, there are a few recipes that I enjoy making time and time again, but I don’t think I’ve ever done one quite that much!

Over those weeks, I’ve tweaked it here and there, but in the end, I’ve come back to exactly how I made it that first night. (Which – because that’s the way I roll – was already slightly tweaked from the original recipe).

A couple of things I want to stress: (1) you must use garam masala (2) you must create the “paste” as instructed and not just try to do a dry rub. The beautiful flavor that you get from the garam masala on this chicken is just incredible, and the paste under and on the skin keeps it evenly distributed and perfectly moist.

Now excuse me while I go mix up my spices to make this lovely bird yet again….

 

The Best Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

Serves 4-6. Slightly adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 (3.5 – 4 lbs) whole chicken, giblets discarded

1 lemon, quartered

Directions:

Microwave oil, chili powder, garam masala, garlic, salt, and pepper in bowl, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute; let cool slightly.

Use your fingers to gently loosen skin covering breast and thighs of chicken; place half of paste under skin, directly on meat of breast and thighs. Gently press on skin to distribute paste over meat. Spread entire exterior surface of chicken with remaining paste and place chicken in slow cooker. Add quartered lemon quarters to the inside of the chicken. Cover and cook for 4-5 hours on low (or until breast registers 160 degrees and thighs register 175 degrees).

Transfer chicken to carving board and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve chicken and serve.