As I write this at the clinic, I have a chicken cooking at home. I love that when I get home from work tonight, my meal will be mostly ready. All I will need to do is steam some green beans and maybe have some corn on the cob because it’s in season. I have cooked small chickens in the oven before but I always worried it wasn’t cooked all the way through. Since this is cooked in the crock pot, the juices stay inside and it doesn’t dry out while I can leave it for the length of time required and I know it will be done. The skin doesn’t get crispy but we try not to eat a lot of the skin anyway because of it’s high fat content. Try it at home with an organic or free range chicken. We got ours from the Warwick Hughs Food Market http://whfoodmarket.foodpages.ca/ The chicken itself came from Edencrest Farms: http://www.edencrestfarms.com/
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 large chicken
- Combine the dried spices in a small bowl.
- Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Remove any giblets from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. You can even put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.
- Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.
- Cook for 4 – 5 hours on high (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone. Or cook on low 8-9 hours. Don’t forget to make your home-made chicken stock from the bones! ( I throw water, salt, thyme, carrots, onions, peppercorns and celery in the pot and let it cook on low over night with the bones)
Thanks to this source for the recipe:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/