Crockpot Whole Chicken Recipe (2024)

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This Crockpot Whole Chicken recipe is perfect for meal prep! It’s a fall off the bone recipe is one of the staples in my weekly meal plans because it takes very little effort to pull together and provides leftover chicken for several meals, depending on the size of your chicken.

I prefer making a whole chicken at home vs buying a rotisserie chicken from the store. I am always more inclined to enjoy a recipe that I make at home because I know exactlywhat is in my food.

Where’s the recipe?

Here at My Crazy Good Life, we write recipes that anyone can use. It doesn’t matter if this is the first time you’ve cooked in your kitchen or if you’ve been cooking for years, this is an easy recipe that you can follow.

If you need more detailed instructions, recipe tips, and healthy eating plan information go ahead and start by reading the post below. If you feel comfortable following straight and to the point instructions, scroll straight down to the printable recipe for this Slow Cooker Whole Chicken recipe.

Ingredients needed

• Whole Chicken
• Olive Oil
• Seasoning Vegetables: I love using celery, carrots, onions, and root vegetables like sweet potatoes
• Chicken broth or water
• Salt and Pepper
• Optional ingredients: Fresh rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, or your other favorite fresh herbs and seasonings.

How to make this Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

You won’t believe how easy it is to make this tender chicken for meal prep. It’s as easy as adding everything to the slow cooker and walking away.

1. Place all of your chopped vegetables on the bottom of the crockpot.
2. Add broth on top of the vegetables. Adding extra liquid makes for a great (and easy) homemade chicken broth.
3. Place the whole chicken on top of the vegetables and chicken stock, breast side up.
4. Spread oil or butter over the chicken, then add salt and pepper on top to season the meat. If you’ve made a dry rub for the chicken, spread that spice mixture on now.
5. Place the lid on your Crockpot and start to cooking! Cook for 4-6 hours on low, or 2-3 hours on high. Cooking this chicken on low will make for a more tender and juicy chicken, and make the chicken easier to shred.

Recipe tips

• The cooking time is dependent on how large your chicken is and what temperature you’re cooking at. Larger chickens will require more cooking time. I used a 3 1/2 pound chicken and it was cooked after 5 1/2 hours on low.
• If you’d rather have your chicken sooner, cook on high temperature. If you’re content to wait all day, cook on low.
• Want crispy skin? If using a traditional slow cooker, you’ll want to pull the entire chicken out of the crockpot as soon as the internal temperature reaches 165º, and put it on a baking sheet or roasting pan. Place the chicken in the oven on the low broil setting for 3-7 minutes, standing at the oven door to make sure it doesn’t get burned.
• If you’d like other seasoning ideas for whole chicken, you can see more here:
  • This method uses fresh ingredients stuffed inside of the cavity of the chicken
  • This method uses fresh and dried seasonings.

How do I use my cooked Crockpot chicken in recipes?

You can use this cooked chicken in almost any recipe that calls for boneless skinless chicken breast, it’s just a matter of changing the cooking times. I use my best guess when substituting cooked chicken. Since the chicken is already cooked you don’t need to worry about raw chicken or bacteria being a concern.

In the case of recipes that have noodles or brown rice, follow the cooking times for those ingredients as your main focus. Again, we don’t have to worry about undercooking the chicken so you can basically take it out of the cooking equation altogether and just focus on the other ingredients like the vegetables, pasta, or rice, then add the cooked chicken at the end of the recipe.

Crockpot Chicken Meal Prep Recipes

Making Crockpot chicken is a great way to get ahead for a variety of meals for the week! These are some of my favorite chicken recipes that utilize this slow cooker shredded chicken.

• Chicken Salad
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Crack Chicken
• Dill Pickle Chicken Salad and Dip

Healthy Eating Plans

Crockpot chicken is a great recipe for both Weight Watchers and the 21 Day Fix. It’s a quick and healthy recipe that you can use for just about any healthy lifestyle program or meal plan. Having a low fat protein prepped and ready makes my life so much easier.

21 Day Fix/Portion Fix

Each 3/4 cup serving is equal to 1 Red container. You can use this measurement to create your own recipes for 21 Day Fix and the Ultimate Portion Fix.

Weight Watchers

The recipes calls for chicken stock. I recommend using fat free chicken stock for WW. Calculate yourself using your exact ingredients to be sure you are getting accurate points.

I calculated these points with breast meat only. If you make 6 servings of white meat with skin removed and vegetables as a side, your counts are 0 Points on the 2023 Plan | 3 Blue Plan Points | 5 Green Plan Points | 1 Purple Point.