roasting chicken in crockpot?

[memory maker]

can this be done? I am wanting to roast a chicken, but it is just way too hot to heat my kitchen up for that long with my oven. Can you do it in a crockpot? If so, how long? any pointers?

[saratc]

Yes, you can roast the chicken in the crockpot. It doesn't brown like in the oven, but it's very good. You have to prop up the bird though or it will cook in it's own juice and become very mushy. Basically, you salt, pepper, and spice the chicken as usual. Then you ball up tin foil loosely and place several balls at the bottom of your crockpot. You carefully place the chicken on the foil so that it is propped up. As it cooks, the juice falls to the bottom and doesn't touch the bird. I usually cook it all day on low, but the chicken gets fall-off-the-bone soft by that point and it's difficult to lift it out of the crockpot without it falling apart. I think 5 to 6 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high should be long enough.

I've tried to figure out other contraptions to prop the chicken with so I don't have to use foil but haven't thought of anything good yet that will fit in my crockpot.

[RAF]

We also do chicken crockpot recipes frequently. I put thickly sliced potatoes underneath the chicken in the crockpot.

[krankedyann]

I skip the tin foil and use potatoes and carrots or other veggies to prop the chicken up, too. Solves two problems at once- aluminum exposure issues and what to have for a side dish! LOL

[Feb2003]

hmmm, I don't put anything in the bottom and our's is always fantastic

I follow these directions from Windy Meadows Chicken using a frozen chicken:
http://www.windymeadowschicken.com/hook.htm

I love that I can just pull the chicken out of the freezer that morning and it'll be delicious by dinner! (My pastured chickens don't have anything int he cavity.)

The resulting juice in the bottom is always thick with gelatin and delicious!

HTH

[tempestjewel]

Originally Posted by krankedyann

I skip the tin foil and use potatoes and carrots or other veggies to prop the chicken up, too. Solves two problems at once- aluminum exposure issues and what to have for a side dish! LOL

We do this too!

I cook mine on high for about 4 hours. Usually comes out very juicy and yummy!

[welldone]

This thread, plus the freshly butchered pastured chicken I bought yesterday, inspired me. There is currently a roasted chicken crockpot dinner cooking in my kitchen.

If only the chicken would brown in the crockpot! Then it would be perfect! But I'm just glad to have less heat in the kitchen today. Certainly don't need more of that...

I'm just kind of giddy over the fact that my dinner tonight was running around our CSA farm this weekend. Kind of cool.

[Feb2003]

It might heat up the kitchen, but you could baste the bird with butter and brown in the oven on 400 or something after it's been cooked in the crock pot. Or you could use a blowtorch

[krankedyann]

LOL! I like the blowtorch idea! Alton Brown would be thrilled!

[Deir]

I put sliced onions in the bottom. MMMMMMM.. I love chicken this way and so so do my kids.

[memory maker]

thanks for the great ideas! dh will be disappointed that the skin doesnt crisp though...well actually I will be too! gotta love some crispy chicken skin!

[saratc]

Skin crisps pretty quickly on broil. After the chicken's done in the crockpot, you can just lift the top, stick the whole insert in the oven and broil for a few minutes. Just don't forget about it! You won't get the whole bird crispy, but at least you'll have a bit of crispy, chewy skin at the top.

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by Feb2003

hmmm, I don't put anything in the bottom and our's is always fantastic

I follow these directions from Windy Meadows Chicken using a frozen chicken:
http://www.windymeadowschicken.com/hook.htm

I love that I can just pull the chicken out of the freezer that morning and it'll be delicious by dinner! (My pastured chickens don't have anything int he cavity.)

The resulting juice in the bottom is always thick with gelatin and delicious!

HTH

How long do you cook the frozen bird? On low? I read the link but they just said to put it on low & go about your business.

[alsoSarah]

Can anyone speak to the food-safety issues around the length of time that a frozen chicken would spend in the food-temp "danger zone" when cooking in a crockpot?

alsoSarah
(professional kitchen veteran and queen of safe-food-handling-paranoia)

[Feb2003]

7-8 hours on low

I've never worried about the food safety...we've used frozen pastured chicken from our farmer's farm and haven't gotten sick yet (done the frozen chick in the crock pot about 4 times)

We love crispy skin, too! I run just the skin under the broiler...mmmm, chicken "chips!" This can be done later for a snack or while you carve it up so it's eaten with the meat (pull of skin, put under broiler, cut chicken, pull out skin, YUM!) but watch that skin!!! Don't let that deliciousness burn! Sea salt it to taste when it comes out and is still sizzlin'.

[MomToKandE]

Originally Posted by alsoSarah

Can anyone speak to the food-safety issues around the length of time that a frozen chicken would spend in the food-temp "danger zone" when cooking in a crockpot?

alsoSarah
(professional kitchen veteran and queen of safe-food-handling-paranoia)

I'm no expert but wouldn't the whole thing end up heated to a temp that would kill anything that grew during the "danger zone" time? I'm hoping the answer is yes because I like the idea of being able to cook from frozen. I've done frozen chicken breasts before with no problem but obviously they have a lot less mass then a whole bird.

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by MomToKandE

I'm no expert but wouldn't the whole thing end up heated to a temp that would kill anything that grew during the "danger zone" time? I'm hoping the answer is yes because I like the idea of being able to cook from frozen. I've done frozen chicken breasts before with no problem but obviously they have a lot less mass then a whole bird.

That's my bet. I'm pretty lax about the meat thawing guidelines. I take beef or chicken out of the freezer & leave it on the counter until it's thawed, usually 2-4 hours, then I cook it & we have NEVER gotten sick, we actually all have really strong guts (for whatever reason) & don't get stomach bugs.

[Feb2003]

lax here, too :

[Periwinkle]

Originally Posted by MomToKandE

I'm no expert but wouldn't the whole thing end up heated to a temp that would kill anything that grew during the "danger zone" time? I'm hoping the answer is yes because I like the idea of being able to cook from frozen. I've done frozen chicken breasts before with no problem but obviously they have a lot less mass then a whole bird.

The answer is yes. It could be crawling with salmonella (or staph or listeria or campylobacter) but as long as the entire chicken internal temp is 165, then anything would be killed. As always make sure you have a good thermometer placed correctly deep inside the meat (but not too close to the bone).

Peri
(fellow food safety freak yet far too lazy to worry about dead microbes )

p.s. so glad I found this thread. I just posted a thread asking for crockpot recipes. 1 down!

[Feb2003]

Oh, and I just realized that maybe I should mention that my slow cooker is higher than it is wide so the chicken is in there vertically...maybe that's why not much of my bird is in the yummy juice it exudes