For many families, rotisserie chickens are a grocery store staple that makes it easy to assemble well-rounded meals in a snap. That said, very few Americans have access to a rotisserie, a rotating roaster that bastes the meat in its own drippings as it turns.
To make a chicken with the same sticky skin and tenderness at home, we employ the help of a slow cooker. The long cooking time in the appliance’s steady warmth softens the meat to an almost silky texture. You won’t get the same crispy edges as a rotisserie chicken, but adding a robust seasoning blend both under the chicken skin and on top of it ensures a juicy roast with a great backbone of sweet and savory flavor. And don’t skip the carrots and onions slow-cooked in the chicken drippings until they’re meltingly tender—they’re the best!
Serve your slow-cooker rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and peas for a classic roast dinner, then shred the leftover chicken to make any number of other rotisserie chicken recipes.
Ingredients for Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken
- Seasoning blend: Besides carving the meat at the end, the most time-intensive part of this slow-cooker rotisserie chicken recipe is measuring out the elements of the sweet and savory spice blend. The mixture is a comprehensive blend that starts with a base of seasoned salt, poultry seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder. Paprika helps burnish the chicken an amber color, while the addition of brown sugar helps the chicken to brown. A little lemon-pepper seasoning balances the sweet and smoky flavors with a tart edge.
- Chicken: The star of this recipe is, of course, a whole, bone-in chicken rubbed with spices and slow-cooked to juicy tenderness in the steady heat of a slow cooker. Aim to buy a broiler or fryer chicken that weighs about 4 pounds. Larger than that, and you may have trouble fitting the bird into the slow cooker without crowding it. Make sure to remove any giblets from the cavity of your chicken before adding it to the slow cooker.
- Carrots and onions: Chopped vegetables line the bottom of the slow cooker and cook to nearly melting tenderness in the chicken drippings.
- Cornstarch: Tossing the vegetables in a little cornstarch helps thicken the chicken drippings slightly into a velvety pouring texture.
Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let's Eat! 