Yay!  I picked up my first locally raised pastured chicken of the season this weekend.  If you’ve ever watched Food, inc. or read Nourishing Traditions, you know why this is important to me.  If you haven’t checked out these two resources, you should!

Cooking these birds in the CrockPot produces tender, moist, fall off the bone chicken.  This is my favorite recipe for whole chicken.  It also makes the best stock, so save your bones!  You can read how to make chicken stock here.

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp White Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

• 1-2 Onions, chopped (optional)
• 6-8 Yellow Potatoes (optional)

Instructions:

1.  Combine spices in a small bowl.

2.  If necessary, remove giblets from inside of chicken.  Rinse inside and outside of chicken and pat dry with paper towels.

3.  Massage chicken with spice mixture.

4.  Place onions and potatoes in the bottom of the CrockPot and lay the chicken on top.  I usually put some onions inside the chicken too.

5.  Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours or until chicken is falling off the bone.

The original recipe found at food.com recommends rubbing the spices on the chicken the night before you plan to cook it.  I am never that organized and I think it is awesome without that step.

UPDATE:  Be sure to check out this post on How to Have Crispy Skin in the Crockpot.  I haven’t tried it on this particular recipe but I’m sure it would work.

Here are some of my favorite crockpot whole chicken recipes for the crockpot:

• Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken in the CrockPot Recipe
• Mojo Chicken in the CrockPot
• Orange, Honey and Cumin Roasted Chicken (OK, so this one isn’t a crockpot recipe, but next time I make it it’s going to be in the crockpot!)

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