Easy Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

With many of you doing Whole 30s, The 21 Day Sugar Detox and Chris Kresser’s 30 Day Paleo Reset this month, I wanted to provide a recipe for a really easy slow cooker roast chicken. Although, we love to get in the kitchen and cook up a storm, these easy go-to recipes are what keep us on track with our healthy eating habits day to day!

I am sharing a recipe for a roast chicken stuffed with apples and oranges, but you can really use this method to prepare a chicken in your slow cooker using which ever herbs and spices that you prefer! Classic herb, cilantro-lime or lemon-garlic would all taste fabulous.

We enjoyed this chicken with some Paleo “pea-not” sauce. Is that way too dorky? I am trying to decide what to name this sauce. I have been working on this sauce all week. It has been delicious, but I want  to get the balance of the flavors just right before I share it with you. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to post the recipe next week because this sauce is a delicious way to spice up a lettuce wrap or a stir-fry!

After the chicken is cooked, I let it cool slightly and I pull it apart while it is warm. It is much easier this way. I immediately toss the bones and skin back into the slow cooker to make broth. If you want to eat the skin, I’d recommend broiling it in the oven first to get it crispy. Skin out of the slow cooker gets a weird rubbery texture.

Plus, skin makes for a gelatinous broth. So, I put the skin and bones back into the slow cooker. I cover it with filtered water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar and then cook it on low for 8 hours. This way you have chicken broth to make soup with later in the week too!

Easy Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

Equipment
Slow Cooker (I used this one)

Ingredients

3 to 4 lb. roasting chicken
1 tablespoon ghee, melted (homemade or I recommend this brand)
1/4 teaspoon allspice
zest of 1 small orange (use the same orange that you will quarter and stuff in the cavity)
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 small apple, chopped
1 small orange, quartered

1. Remove the giblets, if there are any. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken.
2. Rub the chicken with the ghee and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Rub with all spice, orange zest and garlic cloves.
3. Stuff the cavity with the chopped apple and quartered orange.
4. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.
5. Place the chicken in the slow cooker, breast side down. You don’t need any cooking liquid, it will make its own.
6. Cook on low for 6 hours.