Slow-cooker roast chicken dinner

This recipe for slow-cooker roast chicken dinner is mainly hands-off. The chicken cooks by itself with the vegetables in the slow-cooker, and all you have to do is pop it into the oven or air-fryer to brown. You end up with the juiciest and most tender chicken ever and perfectly cooked vegetables – with minimum effort on your part. What’s more, you can thicken the cooking juices for a really tasty gravy!

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A one-pot roast dinner – yes really!

Did you know that you can make a complete roast chicken dinner, complete with tasty vegetables and a deliciously thick gravy, in your slow-cooker?

I have to say that when I decided to make a roast chicken dinner in my slow-cooker (or crockpot) I was a bit sceptical. I thought I’d end up with a chicken stew! But I have to say that cooking a roast chicken dinner in the slow-cooker is one of the best things I have ever done. I can’t believe how well it turned out.

The chicken was moist and tender, and once I’d browned it in my air-fryer oven for 10 minutes I was hard-pressed to see any difference between this easy slow-cooker roast chicken and a chicken that was roasted entirely in the oven.

The vegetables were soft and perfectly cooked. And the gravy was packed full of flavour thanks to the chicken juices and the spices I rubbed onto the chicken before cooking it. All I had to do was thicken the gravy while the chicken was browning.

Normally a boiled chicken looks very white and unappealing, so to give it a bit of colour (and lots of flavour) I rubbed it with a mixture of salt, garlic granules and paprika before putting it in the slow-cooker. If you prefer, you could also rub a packet of cup-of-soup mix onto the chicken for extra flavour. I like mushroom flavour, but you can use the flavour of your choice.

I put the vegetables in with the chicken, turned the temperature setting to low, and left the slow-cooker to work its magic for 6 hours. What I ended up with was a delicious and complete meal – all in one pot.

I actually made this meal twice in 2 days, because the first time I accidentally tore the skin on the breast of the chicken, so the photos didn’t come out too well. Hubby was delighted – and I didn’t mind because I had lots of leftover chicken to make my favourite chicken and mushroom pie, which I’ve packed into the freezer for another easy meal.

Why you’ll love this slow-cooker roast chicken dinner

I’m sure this is going to become one of your favourite recipes.

• There’s hardly any work involved. Just prep the vegetables and put them in the slow-cooker with the chicken and let the slow-cooker do all the work.
• Because it’s all made in one pot there is hardly any cleaning up to do afterwards.
• You don’t need any oil, so it’s a relatively healthy way of cooking chicken.
• There are no pans of vegetables boiling away on the stove, so you use less electricity.
• The gravy virtually makes itself – all you have to do is thicken it.
• You won’t believe how tender and juicy the chicken is.
• You get a complete roast dinner, all cooked in one pot.

I have to admit, I cheated a little bit and used store-bought Yorkshire puddings. If you want to make your own you can use this recipe for homemade Yorkshire puddings.

I also made my own pork sausage stuffing balls and popped them into the air-fryer for 10 minutes to cook, but you could just as easily bake them on a baking sheet in the oven.

What you will need

Equipment

Of course, you will need a slow-cooker. This particular model has a timer, which is handy if you want to go out and have the slow-cooker switch itself off once the time is up. My model doesn’t have a timer, so I have to remember to set an alarm to remind me to switch it off.

I use an air-fryer oven but you can use the normal air-fryer with a basket, or even a conventional oven.

Ingredients

**You can get full instructions for making this slow-cooker roast chicken dinner on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

These measurements are not precise. This is more of a method than an actual recipe.

You will need a chicken. It doesn’t matter what size chicken you get, as long as it fits into your slow cooker. The cooking time will remain the same, so get a chicken that will be large enough to feed your family. You can buy either fresh or frozen chicken. If you have frozen chicken, let it defrost overnight in the refrigerator.

For coating the chicken you will need:

• salt – this is to your own taste obviously, but I like to use about half a teaspoon of salt
• paprika – this not only adds colour to the chicken but also imparts a delicious flavour.
• garlic granules – not garlic salt (this will make the dish too salty). You could use garlic powder instead.
• dried soup powder (not pictured) – this not only adds more flavour to the chicken, but also to the gravy. I used a packet of Heinz mushroom flavoured cup-of-soup but you can use your own favourite flavour. If you can’t get cup-of-soup then you could use 2 tablespoons of any dried soup powder.

The stock is made by dissolving a chicken stock cube in one cup of boiling water and adding a tablespoon of tomato puree (or tomato paste).

And finally a mixture of vegetables. Here are my suggestions – you will need about 1 to one and a half cups of mixed vegetables per person.

• Potatoes (left whole or quartered depending on size)
• Onions (quartered and separated into petals)
• Carrots (thickly sliced)
• Green beans (topped and tailed)
• Celery (cut into 1″ pieces)
• Parsnips (core removed and sliced)
• Swedes (cut into largish cubes)
• Cabbage (coarsely shredded)
• Mushrooms (I used baby mushrooms)

If you want to use more delicate vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli you should add them halfway through the cooking process to ensure that they don’t overcook.

I would recommend adding shredded cabbage and onions for the following reasons:

• You can scoop some of the cabbage and onions out of the stock and serve them together as a side dish. They taste soooooo good together!
• The remainder of the cabbage and onions are blended into the stock to make the most delicious gravy. If you are not a fan of cabbage, I promise this doesn’t make the gravy taste like cabbage at all.

How to make slow-cooker roast chicken

Note – the chicken should have an internal temperature of 73C / 165F. If you don’t have a thermometer, pierce the chicken on the thickest part (either the thigh or the breast) and make sure that the juices are running clear.

Note – only the skin on top of the chicken will brown, so if you want brown skin on the bottom, turn the chicken over for another 10 minutes or so.

Make the gravy

Make the gravy while the chicken is browning in the oven.

• Turn off the slow-cooker.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to a serving dish and keep them warm. I like to leave a potato and some of the cabbage and onions in the stock for thickening and flavouring.
• Use a stick-blender to blend the stock until it is smooth. Alternatively, pour the stock through a fine sieve to remove any bits.
• If the vegetables haven’t thickened the gravy sufficiently, you can thicken it in one of these ways:
  1. Make a slurry with one tablespoon of cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons of water and then mix it into the juices in the slow cooker. Set the slow-cooker to high and leave it for about 10 minutes while the chicken is browning.
  2. Mix in one or two tablespoons of instant chicken gravy granules – depending on how thick you like your gravy, and also on how much liquid is still in the slow-cooker. Set the slow-cooker to high and leave it for about 10 minutes while the chicken is browning.

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Freezing and storage

Any leftover chicken can be shredded and frozen in a plastic container for 3 months.

Leftover chicken can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

What to do with leftover roast chicken

Leftover chicken makes delicious sandwiches, or you can use it to make one of these recipes:

• Chicken a la king
• Chicken and mushroom quiche
• Cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta bake

Save for later

If you’d like to make this slow-cooker roast chicken dinner, why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily. Just click on the image below.

Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

Other slow-cooker recipes

If this recipe isn’t quite what you are looking for, why not take a look at some of my other slow-cooker recipes:

• Slow-cooker beef trinchado
• Slow-cooker beef silverside
• Slow-cooker oxtail stew
• Slow-cooker beef and kidney stew
• Slow-cooker pork casserole with honey and mustard

The recipe

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