Slow Cooker Whole Chicken Recipe

What could be easier than a slow cooker whole chicken recipe? Nothing! And it’s moist and delicious!

It seems almost everyone is a huge slow cooker fan.

Even though I completely understand the draw — I mean, they are easy — I never completely jumped on the slow cooker bandwagon (mostly because I don’t feel I’m that good at it…)

But, everywhere I turn, I see recipes for EVERYTHING in a slow cooker.

You know what they say… you like what you’re good at? Well, my slow cooker food is often not my best food. When you see me post a slow cooker recipe, I’ve usually had to test it over and over again to finally get a great result. I think this might be due to the fact that once you put the ingredients in, you can’t fiddle with them and keep tasting it to adjust the seasonings, etc.

But, I am a HUGE fan of cooking a whole chicken. Whole roasted chicken is kind of my signature dinner when I’m having friends over.

During Thanksgiving, I saw recipes for turkey breasts in slow cookers… and they looked good! And I saw whole huge roasts being cooked in them.  And big big pieces of everything imaginable.

So, I figured, a whole chicken has to work, right?

RIGHT! 1000 times right! This recipe for slow cooker whole chicken is amazing! The chicken came out so moist! It won’t replace my roasted chicken when I’m in the mood for crispy skin, but for all of my recipes for chicken salad, soup, quesadillas, nachos, pulled chicken, and everything I like to make with shredded chicken or just the meat of the chicken, this is perfect!  Pesto Chicken Salad or Shredded Chicken And Cabbage Slaw would be perfect!

All you do is season the bird, put it on top of your veggies of choice in the slow cooker and leave it alone. I wish I could find the words to tell you how easy and how delicious this is and how moist and juicy the meat is…

Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you like in this recipe, but I used what my body needed at the time. Here’s what was in my slow cooker:

Chicken is something I always buy organic. Organic chicken is a great, healthy protein to give you energy, lessen the pain of some types of arthritis, and boost your system when you are particularly weak — like after surgery or childbirth. People who have some conditions that we consider “excess heat” conditions should limit the amount of chicken they eat. So, if you have an illness that gives you a bright red tongue or severe dryness in your body, check with your doctor first.

Onions are great for your immune system; they are a natural antihistamine. It sounds odd but if you have bronchitis, you can actually put sliced raw onions in your socks when you go to sleep and you will wake up feeling so much better. The onion draws the unhealthy germs right out of your body. Onion is a superhero in the food world! I used red onions in this recipe, but I have to say, I think white or yellow would be better because the beautiful color of the onions gets a bit murky in the slow cooker!

Sweet potatoes are good for your digestive system. They can be good for both constipation and diarrhea. These orange gems also help rid your body of excess water, are good for breast health, help people with diabetes and actually can help ease night blindness. In olden times, it was common in China to rub mashed sweet potatoes on poison insect bites to remove the toxins… I can’t say I’ve tried this, but if need be, I’m game!

In Chinese medicine, we use tomatoes to quench thirst and help with digestion. If a patient of mine comes in with hypertension or dehydration, I will often recommend eating tomatoes. In our country, one of the things that tomatoes are touted for is their choline content. Choline helps with sleep, memory and muscle function. So, between the Eastern and the Western ways, tomatoes are awesome!

Garlic is amazing in its antiviral and antibacterial capabilities. Garlic is actually a Chinese herb (Da Suan). It’s used to kill toxins and parasites and also to reduce swelling in the body. It’s what I call a great “A” herb: anesthetic, antibacterial, anti fungal, antioxidant, antiviral, etc….

I also added some raw Chinese Herbs to the pot. My favorite thing about using a slow cooker is that because things cook so slowly, any herbs I add get lots of time to infuse their healing capabilities into my food. I added Huang Qi (Astragalus) and Shan Yao (Chinese Yam) for energy.