Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

Prepare the most tender and flavorful whole chicken by coating it with the best homemade dry rub and slow cooking it with nothing but an onion. So easy!

Why this recipe works:

• Once you make my One Spoon Dry Rub recipe, you’ll never want to use anything else. You most likely have everything you need in your pantry. I’ve used it to make this recipe, pork tenderloin, roasted chicken, chicken wings… Trust me – you’ll love the combination of flavors!
• This is the easiest way to make a whole chicken E-V-E-R. Just the chicken, sliced onion, and the dry rub.
• You can get multiple meals from this recipe. Eat it for dinner as is or shred the meat to use in recipes like Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas, Homemade Chicken and Dumplings, or Warm Buffalo Chicken Dip
• The meat from a slow cooker whole chicken is so tender and flavorful that it blows a rotisserie chicken out of the barn!

Here’s how to make it:

• Prepare the dry rub by mixing all of the seasonings together in a small bowl.
• Add the onion slices to the bottom of the slow cooker.
• Coat the entire chicken with the dry rub and set it breast-side-down on top of the onion slices.
• Cook a little over 2 hours on high heat, flip the chicken, then continue cooking for another couple of hours. That’s it!

Cooking Tips:

• Cook the chicken face down for the first half of the cooking time. This makes the breast meat extra juicy because all of the fat melts down into the liquid. I use this same trick when I roast a whole chicken on the grill too. No one likes dried out white meat!
• Make an extra big batch of the dry rub and store it in a mason jar for other recipes. You won’t regret it.
• Use this recipe to make a rich chicken broth! Once you remove all of the meat from the bones, toss the skin and bones back into the slow cooker, add some chopped celery and carrot (if you like) with a bay leaf, fill the crockpot to the top with water, and cook for a few hours.

Did you make this recipe? Please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think!

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

Prep15 minutes mins

Cook4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total4 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Author Krissy Allori

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Prepare the most tender and flavorful whole chicken by coating it with the best homemade dry rub and slow cooking it with nothing but an onion. So easy!

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Equipment

• Mixing Bowls
• Slow Cooker

Ingredients 

½x1x2x

• ▢ 1 whole chicken 3-4 pounds, rinsed
• ▢ 1 medium onion peel removed, thickly sliced

One Spoon Dry Rub:

• ▢ 1 tablespoon  garlic powder
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  fresh ground pepper
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  kosher salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  mustard powder
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  chili powder
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  cumin
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  dried thyme
• ▢ 1 tablespoon  brown sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons paprika

Instructions 

• Spread onion slices over the base of your slow cooker.
• Prepare dry rub by mixing together all of the seasonings in a bowl.
• Coat entire chicken with all of the spices. Add the spice rubbed chicken with the breast side down. Cook on high for 4 1/2 hours, turning chicken to breast side up half way through cooking process.
• Serve immediately for an easy dinner or shred the meat to use in soups, salads, dips, quesadillas, etc.

Notes

Cooking Tips:

• Cook the chicken face down for the first half of the cooking time. This makes the breast meat extra juicy because all of the fat melts down into the liquid. I use this same trick when I roast a whole chicken on the grill too. No one likes dried out white meat!
• Make an extra big batch of the dry rub and store it in a mason jar for other recipes. You won’t regret it.
• Use this recipe to make a rich chicken broth! Once you remove all of the meat from the bones, toss the skin and bones back into the slow cooker, add some chopped celery and carrot (if you like) with a bay leaf, fill the crockpot to the top with water, and cook for a few hours.

Nutrition

Calories: 346kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 95mg, Sodium: 1095mg, Potassium: 512mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 2196IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 123mg, Iron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this? Leave me a comment below

This recipe was originally published in February 2015 and was updated with more information and cooking tips. Don’t worry – nothing about the recipe was changed!