cooking a whole chicken in a slow cooker????

[mckenzie]

I can do that, can't I? Do i need to prepare it in any way? Any tips gratefully received.

TIA

yep, just sling it in, i put a bit of water in the bottom but you dont need to, you can sling it in dry.

yes, i make it a little bed of celery & carrots and a bit of onion and then pop it in with a stock cube crumbled on top

i always finish it in the oven or it looks a bit washed out

thanks very much both of you. So, no water for yours Lulumaam huh? Just the stock cube?
And how long would you give it? on low?

no water and it makes plenty of chicken gravy, which bakes a good base for gravy itself or for soup
i do it on low for 6 hours IIRC and then 30 mins on the oven with potatoes

thank you.

Bed of onions here and a mixture of spices and herbs rubbed into the skin. Unless of course, I have to leave the house in one minute or be late for work in which case it goes in as it is!
It's lovely. Doesn't have the crispiness of roast chicken but is lovely and tender and there's a lovely smell in the house when I get back in.

I make it a bed of whatever veg is lying around - usually a leek that has seen better days - then once it's cooked I drain the juice off (and use it for something later) then discard the skin and tear the meat off the bones. It comes off very easily and is nice and moist. Half of that goes into a spinach and bacon salad, and the other half gets put in something the following day (or eaten with mayo for breakfast - am low-carbing). No idea how long I usually cook it for though, sorry.

Am about to try a leg of lamb like this - can anyone advise on that?

I browned it off to colour it then put any left over veg - carrot, leek, shallot etc - small amount of water (about 1.5cm) with bayleaf and balck peppercorn, rolled up some foil into cylinders so that the chicken wasn't resting on the bottom of the dish. It was yummy , falling off the bone and moist.

well i was running very late so ended up just dumping it in the slow cooker with nothing else at all.
It was delicious!!! What a mess though as it literally fell apart as i was taking it out of the cooker. It really was so so moist though (I put it in breast side down).

I will try it with the veg etc though another time.

Thanks again everyone.

yeah, even the bones go soggy, which is a bit blurgh !

I was wondering the same thing about cooking chickens in a slo cooker. First time i tried it, yesterday, I added two slice of bacon on top and the smoky flavour kind of steams out over the top which is nice. Agree it looks a bit pale without an oven blast though.

I have been known to just sling it in on it's own before now! Always breast side up though as it's easier to lift the meat off.
The 'pure' stock is lovely in chicken noodle soup as well, mmmmm