What I Made for Dinner :: Crockpot Chicken

 

Yes, I realize this is an unappetizing picture of a chicken carcass. I wasn't able to get a photograph of the finished dish because I wasn't home for dinner tonight. It was precisely because I wasn't going to be home for most of the day that I made dinner in the slow cooker for the rest of the family.

This recipe for Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker is from The Little Kitchen and it's probably one of the better chicken recipes I've made in the slow cooker. I'm glad there are leftovers for me in the fridge!

A few things ... 

• The recipe says to cook it on low for 4~8 hours (6 hours for a 4-pound chicken), but you can also cook it on high. I found this out by accident ... I actually forgot to turn the slow cooker on before leaving the house (had I done so, my 4.5-pound chicken would've been in the slow cooker for 7 hours). So I called Ian after he got home from school and had him plug the slow cooker in and set it to high, which means the chicken cooked for 4 hours, and it was fine.
• The chicken is good even without crisping up the skin in the broiler at the end. I forgot to mention this step to Rupert, and I think he would've enjoyed a crispier exterior. (I seem to have forgotten quite a few things while preparing this dish!)
• After quartering the lemon, there wasn't enough room in the cavity for all four pieces, so I threw the last piece into the slow cooker with the vegetables. That probably wasn't a good idea; I think it left a bitter, odd flavor on some of the carrots.
• You don't add any liquid to the slow cooker but it ends up creating some pretty delicious broth in the end. Rupert wanted to save it to make some kind of soup or sauce but I discarded it this time because I didn't know what to do with it. (It's really gelatinous after cooling to room temp, which just goes to show that the bones & cartilage really exude their essence while the chicken is cooking.)