Recipe video above. This is a quick and easy yet amazing way to cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker - it's a slow cooker "roast chicken"! It's so moist and juicy inside, like it’s been brined or marinated. VERY forgiving recipe!
2.5tbspolive oil(or melted butter), plus extra for drizzling
3garlic cloves, minced
1large lemon, all zest + all juice
Lemon Sauce:
1tbspcornflour/cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water
1extra 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.
Notes
1. Chicken - Remove giblets or anything else inside. If frozen, thaw completely. See below for cook times for different weights.2. Herbs - can sub with other dried herbs of choice OR use finely chopped fresh but double quantity. Can also stuff a bunch of herbs inside!3. Alternative to rack - use big sheet foil, scrunch into “rope” then form ring. Or 4 balls of foil. Aim is to elevate chicken out of liquids that it produces while cooking.4. Other Cook Methods: 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.