Roast Chicken, Slow Cooker Style

I have been keen to try using my slow cooker for more than just casserole-y type dishes for a while now.  And while I can cook a mean corned beef in it, my family can only eat so much corned beef (excluding Owen, he would eat his corned meat every single day)!  So roasting a whole chook in my slow cooker was a challenge I have been meaning to try for a while.  The cooking/prep part was fine, but the 'roasting' part just didn't sit right in my mind.  To say I was skeptical would be an understatement.  I am one of those people who isn't a fan of throwing raw meat in my slow cooker, so a whole chicken was a giant leap!  I am more than happy with the outcome.  The meat was juicy and tender but still firm. I will be making this a regular dinner for my family!

 

Ingredients

• 1 1.4kg whole chicken (approx weight of a small chicken from Coles)
• 1 large lemon
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon + 1 pinch rosemary
• 45g butter
• 1 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 medium onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• salt and pepper
• twine

Method

1. Pat dry the chicken, inside and out.
2. Roughly chop the lemon and peel the garlic. 
3. Combine the rosemary, garlic cloves and lemon.  Fill the cavity of the chicken with the lemon mix. 
4. Tie the legs together and tuck the wings under the body (my chicken's wings were already tucked, thanks Coles!).
5. Using the butter, brown the chicken in a frypan on all sides.
6. Roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery.  Place these in the bottom of the slow cooker.  These veges help the chicken to cook evenly and not stick to the bottom of the slow cooker.
7. Add the browned chicken, pan juices, chicken stock and salt and pepper to the slow cooker.  Sprinkle the pinch of rosemary over the chicken.

8. Cook on low for 6 hours. 

My Notes

• My slow cooker is a 3.5L, that's why I only used a small chicken.  That chicken size fed the four of us dinner plus two lunch size leftovers! 
• I served the chicken with roast veges and blanched green beans as the skin on the chicken stays soft and I felt that it required some different textures to complete the meal.  I don't think I would serve it with 'soft' veges, such as mashed potato or potato bake.   
• After 5 hours in my slow cooker, I removed 3 cups of stock and still had a quarter of the slow cooker filled with stock.  
• I used Greens Chicken Gravy Granules for the first time as well.  The verdict:  Tasty and easy!  I didn't even need Marc to stand at the stove, stirring the gravy while I dished out dinner!