Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken Trial: Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Soy-free

I didn’t grow up on rotisserie chicken, though my husband did. I just don’t like picking all the meat off the bones. Seems to be too much work. This Christmas was the first time I ever cooked a full bird. It went well (apart from the fact that I left the bag of giblets inside the bird while it cooked). So, when I saw a sale on fryer chickens, I decided to try out a recipe I’d seen on Our Best Bites to make rotisserie chicken in a crockpot (though I’m using a seasoning blend from their cookbook)

The Changes

This recipe is naturally Joseph-safe, so I didn’t make any changes

The Method

Crumple three sheets of aluminum foil into 3 two-inch balls. Place them at the bottom of your slow cooker. This is to keep the chicken above the juices as it cooks.

If you’re using a frozen chicken, make sure it’s thawed. Rinse it inside and out in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Remove and discard any chicken parts left in the cavity (I actually didn’t find any before or after cooking in my chicken, but yours may differ).  Separate the skin from the meatof the entire chicken (I did both front and back, legs and breast). Be gentle, or you’ll end up tearing the skin like I did. Sprinkle rosemary liberally under the skin.

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves over the chicken skin. Rub it in to the skin, then sprinkle liberally with seasoning salt. I rubbed that in too for good measure. Stuff the lemon in the cavity of the chicken, then place in the crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Mine ended up in there for closer to 8 hours (due to my husband not being home when the chicken was ready), and the meat was really dry. To check if it’s done, a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast should read 160 degrees F. And I’m sorry that I forgot to take a picture of the finished project until we were halfway through dinner. So there’s no pretty picture of a roasted bird. It wouldn’t have been super pretty anyway, because the drumsticks and wings fell off inside the crockpot. It was nice to be able to just use our forks to pull off the amount of meat that we wanted at the table though.

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken

Original recipe from Our Best Bites

Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Soy-free

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (mine was under 3 pounds, though they suggest 3 1/2 pound – 4 pounds)
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1-2 teaspoons rosemary (I didn’t measure this)
• 1 lemon

Crumple 3 sheets of aluminum into 3 two-inch balls. Place the balls at the bottom of the crockpot.

Rise the chicken inside and out with cold water, then pat dry with paper towels. Separate the skin from the meat and liberally sprinkle under the skin with rosemary. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves over the skin and rub in. Sprinkle with seasoning salt and rub that in too.

Stuff the lemon halves into the cavity and place the chicken in the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F.

Makes 4-6 servings

What I Thought

As I mentioned above, I overcooked the meat and it ended up dry. I loved how tender the meat was though. Joseph ate like he couldn’t get enough of it, though my daughter ignored it. My husband and I both liked the taste. I would have preferred the meat itself to have more of a lemony flavor (I don’t like eating the skin) so next time I’d squeeze some juices under the skin. The rosemary wasn’t particularly strong either – I’m not sure if that’s because I used dried rosemary, or if I just needed to crush it before sprinkling it under the skin. Ah well, I’d do it again.

Shared on Allergy Friendly Friday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, and Gluten-Free Wednesdays