A question about doing a whole chicken in a slow cooker...

[HeadFairy]

I've read a few people saying don't cook a whole chicken on low in a slow cooker because it doesn't get hot enough to kill any bacteria. I've got a chicken currently in ours, it was on high for an hour, and then I turned it on low for an hour while I was doing the school run. I've just stuck a poultry thermometer in it and the internal temperature is a shade over 83 degrees on low. Does that mean it's ok to leave it on low? I don't want to over cook it and have dry chicken, but like wise I don't want to die of campylobacter poisoning!

OMG, just tasted it... bloody gorgeous. I hope I'm not going to die

I always do it and don't have a thermometer. Can't see the problem when it's clearly cooked through?

I always cook mine in the slow cooker and I've not died yet

Oh good, I'd read a few posts on here saying you need to cook it on high, but cooking it on low for the majority of time is hopefully ok.

How do you cook a chicken in the slow cooker? Do you had water or stock or something. Sounds lovely and want to try myself!

*add

Lovethebubbles...

I followed a recipe on here:

Stuff a quartered lemon and a clove of garlic in to the cavity of a chicken
add a glug of oil and 2 tbsp of butter to a frying pan and brown the chicken all over. When it's done put chicken in slow cooker.
with the butter/oil that's left in the pan, add 3 cloves finely sliced garlic and cook for 2 mins. The recipe at this point said add vermouth, but I didn't have any so I put a large glass of white wine in and let it reduce down a bit.
I then poured that liquid over the chicken, seasoned, added some thyme and turned on the slow cooker.

I always cook ours in SC, But I do chuck it in the main oven with the roasties and the veg, So it gets a lovely crispy skin.

I'm quite tempted to do that too jeanette... I've turned it off now as I reckon it's cooked beautifully, but we don't want to eat just yet. I might give it half an hour in the oven to crisp up.

Thanks for the recipe

That looks like a great recipe, how long do you cook it for and on what setting?

I just put my chicken in the slow cooker with a couple of carrots, a chopped onion and a couple of sticks of celery. No liquid. I cook it on low for between 6 and 8 hours depending on how big it is. It is really soft and juicy. The flavoured juice that comes out of it makes a fantastic gravy.

I just put the chicken in with nothing else and leave it on low all day, mainly if we go out. No crunchy skin , but lovely butter-soft meat and juices . Been doibg it for years and we're all still in rude health!!

Buggeret, all in I did 4 hours on low and 2 hours on high. The cold leftovers are the best I've ever tasted. I'm never doing a chicken in any other way!

Just wondering, how do you make gravy from the juices?

I just put the chicken in with nothing else and cook on auto (2 hrs high then automatically turns to low) for the whole day, usually 6 to 8 hours.