There is 10 minutes of prep work for my Easy Slow Cooker Whole Chicken and it can make up to 3 meals! After it is prepped just place everything in your slow cooker (you can add in potatoes and veggies for a one pot meal) and that’s it! You will have a moist and juicy chicken in 8 hours (or 4 on high). You can check out my video to see how easy it is to prep it and how I get under the skin.
Easy Slow Cooker Whole Chicken Tips
- Gather all of your ingredients so you have them all ready when your hands are messy
- Get under the skin if you want flavor in your chicken. I cut a little slit in the chicken skin and rub the garlic and the salt under the skin.
- If you do not have herbs de Provence you can use paprika as an alternative flavor and just add fresh herbs around the top.
- If you do not want to prep it in the morning you can do this the night before and place it in the refrigerator and then just set it to cook when you are ready in morning.
- You can add sweet potatoes and butternut squash for a fall feel to this.
The chicken is so moist and tender that it almost falls apart as I am trying to take it out of the slow cooker. We eat the chicken plain the night of with simple veggies and potatoes or rice. I love eating the carrots and our baby does as well. My older children do not like cooked carrots so to keep it simple they have raw carrots that night. Other times I toss in some veggies they do like such as broccoli and cauliflower.
When we are done eating that night I take the rest of the chicken off the bones to save for later meals. Additionally, I strain some of the juices for soup.
Depending on the size of your family you can get more or less from this but on average it will make 3 meals. From this 4 1/2 lb chicken, I was able to get 2 additional meals. The second meal was two large chicken quesadillas with a side salad or veggies and the third was a soup, which yielded about 4 servings. I have included a full list of leftover ideas and ingredients as well as loose directions for the soup below.
Leftover Meal Ideas for Slow Cooker Chicken
- Use in salads for lunch or dinner
- Make Chicken Salad
- Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps or Thai Chicken Noodles using this delicious, easy and healthy peanut sauce
- Chicken Quesadillas with a side veggie or salad – my children told me this was their favorite way for eating the chicken
- Enchiladas – I suggest this recipe
- Chicken Taquitos from Two Peas in their Pod
- Make Nachos – I add it to this recipe
- Warm it up with Stir fry Veggies and Teriyaki sauce and serve over rice
- Eating Well also has a great line up here!
- A taco wrap with avocado, cheese and spinach
- Make a simple soup – you can do this on the stove but I put it back in my slow cooker one afternoon before school pick-up so I did not have to wait for it to cook on the stove
Ingredients for soup:
- 1 1/2 cups leftover diced chicken
- a handful of baby carrots (about 1 cup chopped)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup rice
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1/2 cup leftover chicken juices
- 1 tsp salt
Directions for Soup:
- Chop Carrots and Chicken
- Place all ingredients in slow cooker
- Cook on low in slow cooker for 3 -4 hours
I am always looking for more ways to make meals from leftover chicken so please leave a comment with your favorite second meal!
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb whole chicken
- 1 tbsp seasoning salt (divided)
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp herbs de provence (thyme, rosemary, marjoram, savory and lavender) or your favorite mix of dried herbs or paprika works as well if you have none of the above
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 cup baby carrots or chopped regular carrots
- fresh herbs - sage, thyme & rosemary I use a handful
Instructions
- Set out and measure all of your ingredients
- Cut the onion in quarters
- Place chicken on a cutting board or set of paper towels (something that is easy to clean the raw juices)
- Take out bag of giblets
- Pat chicken dry with paper towels
- Cut a 2 slits in the chicken chicken skin and rub 5 of the garlic cloves under the skin (spread throughout the chicken)
- Drizzle and rub the chicken with the olive oil (try to get some under the skin)
- Rub 1/2 of the salt under the skin
- Sprinkle with remaining salt and dried herbs
- Place half of the onion, remaining 5 garlic cloves and a bunch of dried herbs in the cavity of the chicken
- Place the chicken in the slow cooker with remaining, onion, herbs and the carrots
- Set to low for 8 hours
Notes
- We use this as one main meal for our family and then use the leftovers for 2 other meals - see leftover ideas above.
- Check out my video for a visual on how I prepare my chicken
- Tips!
- Gather all of your ingredients so you have them all ready when your hands are messy
- Get under the skin if you want flavor in your chicken. I cut a little slit in the chicken skin and rub the garlic and the salt under the skin.
- If you do not have herbs de Provence you can use paprika as an alternative flavor and just add fresh herbs around the top.
- If you do not want to prep it in the morning you can do this the night before and place it in the refrigerator and then just set it to cook when you are ready in morning.
