How to Cook a Whole Chicken in Your Crockpot

One of my favorite ways to save money on groceries is to buy whole fryer chickens when they’re on sale, freeze them until I’m ready to use them, and then defrost and cook them in the crockpot. It’s such an easy, delicious meal for those busy weekdays. (Don’t have a crockpot? Don’t worry. I have a hack for you at the end of this post.)

Like this idea, but think that you’d waste a lot of chicken because your family wouldn’t eat a whole chicken in one meal? Then this series is for you! At the bottom of this post, I’ll add links of recipes we love that use the crockpot whole chicken; so save or pin this post so you can refer back to it as I add more recipes.

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When my husband and I began discussing the idea of me staying home with our children full time, we began watching our spending more closely. In order to reduce our monthly grocery budget, I began researching ways to make food go further. This was also around the same time that I began choosing more whole-food recipes and leaving behind the boxed, processed “convenience” foods. (Honestly, I find my crockpot recipes are more convenient than the boxed stuff because you do a little prep work the night before or the morning of, and you can come home from work with a healthy dinner ready to go! Who doesn’t love that?)

This recipe fits both categories – cheap and healthy! However, today will only be day one of my chicken recipes. Check back each day this week to see how I make this one chicken feed my family over and over again (therefore saving us even more money!). For ease of navigation, I’ll add each recipe’s link to the bottom of this post, so feel free to pin this post and keep checking back here to find the newest recipe.

So here’s what you’ll need:

Crockpot
Meat Thermometer (my crockpot has one attached)
Whole fryer chicken (make sure it will fit in your crockpot)
Your favorite all-purpose seasoning (I used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning)
1 Onion

Here’s how easy it is to cook:

1.) Cut the onion in half. Place it in the crockpot with the cut side up.

2.) Make sure the chicken is completely defrosted if it was frozen. Remove any innards. I do rinse off my chicken before seasoning and cooking, but that is optional. Season both sides thoroughly. (If you want to be more detailed, you can inject some of the seasoning, but I no longer do that and I still find it tastes great. I’m all about simplicity and efficiency.).

3.) Place the seasoned chicken on the onion halves. I place my chicken on its back so that my crockpot’s temperature sensor can be put into the breast of the chicken.

4.) Cover and cook until the breast reaches a temperature of 165-170 degrees. I cook my chicken on high and set the sensor to 170 degrees, so my crockpot turns to “warm” instead of “cook” once the chicken reaches that temperature. There may be liquid at the bottom of the pot with the onions – that is totally normal. We will use that for homemade chicken stock, which I’ll teach you how to make in my next post.

That’s it! You’re done!

Once the chicken is cooked, you can remove it from the crockpot and clean the meat from the bone. For dinner that night, we usually each have a piece of chicken with a large serving of steamed vegetables (broccoli is a favorite here) and a buttered roll or a slice of French bread. If you can remove the meat from the bone before serving your family members, do so (yes, even the chicken leg). This way you can keep all of the bones for your stock. So there’s easy meal #1 from our whole chicken! Check back tomorrow to find out how to make your own healthy chicken stock/broth from the leftovers of this meal. Enjoy!

No Crockpot? No Worries! The “Whole Chicken” Hack

P.S. Those of you who scrolled down for the hack to this recipe? Simple: Buy a whole rotisserie chicken at your grocery store’s deli counter. You’ll pay a little more, but you’ll still be able to use it in most of the same ways we will with these next few recipes.

Crockpot Whole Chicken Recipes

Recipe 2: Homemade Chicken Stock
Recipe 3: Chicken Caesar Wraps
Recipe 4: Chicken Quesadillas and Lettuce Wraps
Recipe 5: Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Recipe 6: Homemade Chicken Alfredo
Recipe 7: Chicken Pesto Sandwiches
Recipe 8: Homemade Chicken Nachos
Recipe #9: Easy Chicken Pesto Pasta
Recipe #10: Homemade Chicken Fried Rice