Make this Slow Cooker Whole Chicken for a super easy way to make a comforting dinner without slaving all day in the kitchen! And you’ll only need 4 ingredients to put it together.
This hearty dinner is perfect as a weeknight meal but also great for holidays and special occasion. Cooking in the slow cooker frees up your oven to cook dinner rolls or other side dishes.
Jump to:
- 💚 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 🧂 Ingredients Needed
- 🔪 Instructions
- ❔ FAQs
- 💭 Expert Tips and Tricks
- 💡 Substitutions and Variations
- 🔊 What readers are saying...
- 🥫 Storage and Reheating
- ❄️ Make Ahead Instructions
- 🍴 What To Serve With This Dish
- ✔️ More Slow Cooker Recipes You'll Love
- 📋 Recipe Card
- 💬 Reviews and Comments
💚 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Slow cooking ensures the chicken stays juicy and tender and the skin will still get brown and crispy with just a few minutes under the broiler (optional step).
Want to make a nice dinner for your family but just have no time to spend in the kitchen preparing it? If so, then this recipe is for you!
The slow cooker makes it really easy to produce fall-off-the-bone, juicy, perfectly cooked chicken. And if you think you have to sacrifice brown crispy skin to have the convenience of slow cooking, you would be wrong!
And if you love simple but tasty chicken dinners, try One Skillet Garlic Chicken with Rice or Creamy Smothered Chicken Thighs!
🧂 Ingredients Needed
- whole chicken - with very little prep, you can make an entire chicken in your crock pot.
- onion soup mix - this is a fantastic way to add delicious and complex flavor with little effort.
- olive oil - helps the seasonings stick to the chicken.
- baby carrots - provide some added nutrition with your chicken.
- minced garlic - enhances the onion soup mix!
🔪 Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine onion soup mix, garlic, and olive oil.
- Mix until well combined.
- Remove giblets from chicken.
- Spread the seasonings and oil all over the chicken.
- Place the carrots in a single layer in the slow cooker.
- Lay the chicken over top the carrots and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.
❔ FAQs
Absolutely! As long as the chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F, it's perfectly safe to cook it in your crock pot.
No, you can cook this whole chicken in the crock pot without any additional liquid. Be sure to leave the lid on to prevent the chicken from drying out.
This chicken can be cooked either way, depending on how much time in advance you prepare it! Low and slow is typically preferable and prevents drying out, but cooking chicken in the slow cooker keeps it tender and juicy regardless.
💭 Expert Tips and Tricks
- It's safer and easier to cook your chicken from a thawed state if it's frozen first.
- No need to add any water or other liquid to your slow cooker, this chicken will cook just fine without it!
- Resist the urge to lift the lid to check on the chicken as it cooks. Leaving the lid on will ensure proper cooking and moisture retention.
- You can forego the veggies and cook the chicken on some balled up aluminum foil or a slow cooker rack if you have one. Just be sure it's slightly raised from the bottom of the crock pot.
- Like gravy? Make a batch of my Easy Homemade Gravy to go with this dinner. No meat drippings required!
📌 Making a slow cooker chicken with onion soup mix is a great way to prepare a hearty meal for your family any night of the week! Juicy, tender, and loaded with flavor!
💡 Substitutions and Variations
- Other veggies can be used instead of or in addition to carrots. Try some onions or celery stalks!
- For an extra crispy skin, broil the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes after it's cooked.
- Any kid of seasonings can be substituted for this recipe. Even just some olive oil with salt and pepper will result in delicious chicken!
- You can use this recipe to make roasted chicken to slice for sandwiches and wraps, or you can shred it and make chicken salad, chicken tacos, chicken enchiladas, etc. Anywhere you would have normally used rotisserie chicken, you can use this chicken.
🔊 What readers are saying...
"This is the best whole chicken slow cooker recipe! It's the only one I use! So good!"
- Jennifer
🥫 Storage and Reheating
Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To reheat, you can easily put a few pieces of chicken in the microwave and zap them until they're warm.
❄️ Make Ahead Instructions
This is a great freezer friendly meal. Just cook, completely cool, and package in an airtight container or large zipper freezer bag. Then stick it in the fridge to thaw about 2 days before you want to use it. (If you are interested in more meals you can freeze, check out this post with over 20 freezer friendly recipes!)
🍴 What To Serve With This Dish
Serve with a side of pasta tossed with some olive oil and Parmesan cheese, and a steamed veggie, and you have a wonderful meal your family will rave over.
You can also make this onion gravy recipe to drizzle over your chicken for even more deliciously rich flavor.
Or, for a really special yet super easy side dish, try my flavorful Lemon Dill Rice!
✔️ More Slow Cooker Recipes You'll Love
- Slow Cooker Breakfast Burritos - Utilize your crock pot for a breakfast or even breakfast-for-dinner!
- Crock Pot Pizza - Did you know you can make a pizza in your slow cooker? Try this recipe for a super easy take on pizza night.
- Crock Pot Pumpkin Cake - Don't forget dessert! Your slow cooker can be used to make all kinds of courses, including this sweet and yummy pumpkin cake.
- Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese - This recipe from Stay Snatched makes delicious mac and cheese from uncooked noodles for a super tasty side dish!
Crock Pot Whole Chicken
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📋 Recipe Card
Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces baby carrots (optional)
- 1 chicken (4-5 pounds)
Instructions
- Combine the onion soup mix, garlic, and olive oil in a small bowl.1 envelope onion soup mix, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Remove the giblets (if needed), then rub the olive oil mixture all over the chicken.1 chicken
- Place the carrots as the first layer in the slow cooker (optional-see recipe notes for alternatives).8 ounces baby carrots
- Place the chicken on top of the carrots, breast side up.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low 7-8 hours (chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F).
- Optional: Broil for 4-5 minutes to get skin brown and crispy.
Notes
- You don't need to add any water or other liquid to cook the chicken in the crock pot. Resist the urge to lift the lid! Your slow cooker will do its job best if you leave it alone.
- If you don't have baby carrots, you can use wedges of onion, or trimmed celery stalks, or even balled up aluminum foil. If your slow cooker has a rack, you can use that. The idea is to elevate the chicken from the bottom of the slow cooker.
- I typically place the chicken in the slow cooker breast side up, but once I accidentally cooked it breast side down and it was still delicious.
- If you don't have a packet of onion soup, you can just rub it with oil or butter and then some seasoned salt, or taco seasoning, or even just salt and pepper.
- If your chicken is frozen, thaw it first for safety:
- Remove the frozen chicken from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator on a tray or a plate to catch any leaks.
- Allow the chicken to thaw in the refrigerator for approximately 24 hours for a 4-5 pound chicken, longer for larger chickens.
- To thaw a chicken more quickly, fill a large bowl or sink with cold water and submerge the chicken in its packaging. Change the water every 30 minutes to ensure that it stays cold. A 5 pound chicken will take approximately 3 hours to thaw using the cold water method.
- It's important to note that you should never thaw a whole chicken at room temperature or in warm water, as this will increase the risk of foodborne illness.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
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Happy cooking!
Summer
If you like flavor, BEWARE. I followed the recipe exactly for a 5lb bird. The texture was good, but the flavor was... well, practically non-existant. SO bland. The French onion mix didn't shine through at all. It barely tasted salted. Next time I will try to double the mix to see if maybe that'll help. Tonight, I wound up adding my own seasonings before completely crisping the skin, so luckily dinner wasn't completely disappointing.
Kristin King
I'm glad you were able to salvage your chicken, and I'm sorry you didn't like this recipe. I have honestly made this recipe many times and it has always been very flavorful, so I am rather stumped as to why this didn't work for you from a flavor perspective. What brand of onion mix did you use? I typically use Lipton.
Sarah
Just noticed the recipe was posted may 31st 2023 and all the rave "reviews" were made the same day within minutes of each other... great. Followed the recipe exactly and wasted a $15 organic chicken. Thanks publisher
Kristin King
Oh gosh Sarah, I'm sorry this did not turn out for you. However, while recipe post was updated and republished in 2023, it was originally published several years ago, and there are positive comments going back to 2019. I have tested this recipe multiple times and make it for my own family at least a few times a year. I am sorry that I don't know exactly what happened that caused you to have such bad results, but I do know that this is a good recipe as I have made it many times myself.
Sara Welch
Enjoyed this for dinner last night and it was a hit all around the table! Turned out perfectly tender, juicy and delicious; easily, a new favorite recipe!
Beth
A few things I love about this recipe:
The spices are perfect.
There's no foil.
There are not enough whole chicken recipes for the slow cooker. I really love this one.
Ned
So delicious and fresh! I love this! I can use it for a quick busy weeknight meal. Thank you!
Dannii
The best way to cook a chicken. So quick and easy.
Tavo
Hey there, author of the Slow Cooker Whole Chicken post! I wanted to drop by and let you know how much I loved your recipe. The simplicity of using a slow cooker to achieve such tender and flavorful results is truly amazing. The chicken came out perfectly juicy, and the flavors were infused beautifully. Your clear instructions made the whole process a breeze, even for a novice like me. This dish has become a family favorite, and I can't wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing your culinary expertise with us!
Kristin King
You are welcome!
DEBBIE
Finally someone gave an option of NOT USING ALUMINUM FOIL WHICH IS TOXIC . tHANK YOU. Can;t wait to do my chicken The dang thing takes time to thaw. Yum lots of meals and then the finale, BONE BROTH.!!!!
Kristin
Oh yes, I always try to avoid aluminum foil now. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!
D
I cook my chicken with the breast facing down many times, so all the juices get to the turkey breasts. The breasts end up moist and have a lot of flavor.
Kristin King
Great tip! Thanks for sharing!