Roasted Chicken - Deliciousness

One of my favorite go to recipes is the Roasted Chicken (recipe below). I like this recipe because it is simple, easy to prepare, and feeds the whole family with plenty of leftovers for relatively cheap (I can get 3 roaster chickens for $10 at the local wholesale dealer, they are normally about $5-7 a piece in grocery stores).  When I first started making this recipe, I was turned off by the appearance of the chicken.  Since there is nothing but spices and onions, it doesn't leave much in terms of coloring in a crockpot, however the taste is something delicious!  I was getting tired of pulling yellow chickens out of the crockpot (it looked like boiled chicken) so I tried to do my recipe different ways.

I discovered the easiest way to change the color of the chicken in the crock pot was to break the cardinal rule of crockpot cooking... opening the lid and basting the juices back over the chicken.  When I did this, it gave the chicken a brown looking appearance (although the taste remained the delicious same) which added to the appeal at dinner time.

So many people have asked me, don't you need to add liquid to cook the chicken? The answer is a resounding NO. The chicken, while cooking, makes so much of its own liquid that the lower portion of the chicken tends to get a boiled appearance and texture unless you position the onions directly under the chicken.

I tend to buy roaster chickens that have the "done button" that pops up when the chicken is cooked through.  I do this because each chicken I buy varies in size, shape, and weight (we cant always have the perfect 5lb chicken).  So I closely start monitoring the chicken (every 15 minutes) after 5 hours.  I do this so I don't overcook the chicken, some people don't mind the chicken a little on the more done side, our family prefers a regularly done chicken.  I find that a 5lb chicken in the crock pot takes a perfect 5 hours to cook (sometimes a tad bit more - but that's a rare occurrence).

Anyhoo, after the chicken is all done, I pull it out of the crockpot (be careful, the cavity of the chicken holds juices too, so don't spill any one yourself) and place it on a platter.  The good thing about cooking the chicken in the crockpot is you don't really need to carve it, it just falls apart with a fork (which makes cleaning it from the bone super easy).  I tend to serve with some yummy greens like broccoli or asparagus, and mashed potatoes.

Delicious!

Whole Roast Chicken

1 Roasting Chicken

2 tsp salt

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup chopped onion

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper