Christmas Slow Cooker Whole Chicken Recipe
Gobble, gobble. Generally we serve up turkey and ham for holiday meals, but chicken can be fancied up too! I kept the ingredients down to only five to make this really simple. Plus cooking it in the slow cooker frees up your oven for all the other delicious sides you're planning. I'm just drooling at the thought!
A couple of weeks ago, when I was lounging around and pinning recipes to my slow cooker recipe board, I stumbled on a really intriguing chicken recipe. It was "Chicken In Milk", the pinner proclaimed that it was quite possibly the best recipe of all time. How could I not try it?? I never really thought of using much milk in the slow cooker with meats, I thought maybe cooking it that long would make it funky. I'm glad I was wrong because this recipe turned out famously.
After digging in a little I found the original recipe using the milk with chicken from Jamie Oliver. That recipe calls for sage, lemon and garlic and other goodies in addition to the milk. The pin that I actually found first was based on Jamie's recipe, but made slow cooker friendly from Simple Bites called Christmas Chicken in Milk with Orange, Cinnamon & Savory.
Just the idea of cinnamon and orange sounded brilliant. I could practically smell it through my computer screen. Well, since I had a gigantic bag of cranberries begging to be used, I had an idea! The combo of oranges, cranberries and cinnamon just sounded really splendid for the holidays. The best part about the recipe I put together is the scent! Great way to make your house smell just like Christmas.
Before I jumped in head first, I wanted to look up other tips for cooking a whole roaster chicken in the slow cooker. I snagged some awesome tips from this post from The Little Kitchn. After reading, I decided to broil the chicken after it was done cooking, it was an excellent idea as it looks and tastes a whole lot better with a beautiful browned crisp to it. I would really recommend doing it although, it's really not mandatory since your chicken will technically be cooked once removed from your Crock Pot. But.. seriously, do it *wink*. I also used the idea of stuffing orange halves into the chicken for extra flavor, but mostly to keep a nice form.
I took all the best cooking ideas and minimized the ingredients to make it more simplified. Cuz, that's how I roll!
Christmas Slow Cooker Whole Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Roaster Chicken 4-5 pounds
- 2 Cups of Milk
- 2 Cups of Fresh Whole Cranberries
- 1.5 large Oranges
- 2 Whole Cinnamon Sticks
- Salt and Pepper as desired
Instructions
- Prepare whole chicken for cooking by removing neck and any organ packages that were included. Clean and pat dry with paper towel. Cut one half of a large orange into two quarters and stuff the chicken with it. Tie the wings back. Take your whole large orange and cut into slices. Add milk and place chicken breast side down in the slow cooker. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the entire exposed chicken. Pour the cranberries over the top, allowing for some to rest on the chicken. Place some of the orange slices on top and place the extras surrounding the chicken. Add cinnamon sticks over the top. Cook on low for 6 hours or until ready. Recommended to use a pop up thermometer to make sure the internal temperature is 165°F (per FoodSafety.org).
- Once chicken is cooked, carefully move the chicken to an oven safe casserole dish. Carry the cranberries and oranges over with only little juice. Discard the cinnamon sticks. Broil the chicken for about 10 minutes or until the skin is a nice crispy brown. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
What are your holiday go-to recipes? Have you ever made chicken for a special holiday get-together?
Definitely going to try this recipe! What do you serve as side dishes?
This chicken must smell amazing when it is baking. Please bring it by Weekend Bites today... folks at the party will really love it.
Hi Dawn!! Congratulations! Your Slow Cooker Chicken has been featured at Moore or Less Cooking ( Simple Supper Tuesday Linky Party) !! Nettie <3
LINK: http://mooreorlesscooking.com/2014/12/01/simple-supper-tuesday-linky-party-38/
Oh my! This looks incredible! Pinned and tweeted. We always love partying with you, I hope to see you Monday at 7 pm at our party. Happy Saturday! Lou Lou Girls
Always fun to learn a new way to use cranberries! Looks delish too. Thanks for sharing on the Project Parade link party 🙂 I'd love it if you stopped by my blog sometime when you get a chance!
Never tried doing a whole chicken in the slow cooker. This looks amazing!! Found your recipe at the Two Cup Tuesday Link Party. I am one of the hostesses of Tickle My Tastebuds and would love you to stop by and link up this recipe if you have not yet already. Here is the link
http://bit.ly/1vJVhoh
Lori
What a wonderful recipe! Pinned! Excited to try 🙂
This looks fantastic!!
That looks too beautiful! I've never cooked a whole chicken before Ill have to try it.
We are all about the turkey that is for sure for the holidays. It is the centerpiece. Im loving this recipe and can't wait to try it.
This looks very good. I bet it tastes wonderful
I love to use my slow cooker. The chicken looks so pretty and festive!
This is the best idea ever! It looks amazing.
It's so pretty and colorful! It looks delicious!
I love cooking whole chickens. It gives us so many meal options. I like to put it in the roaster pan and slow roast though. Gives the skin a nice crisp texture. No matter what I do I can't get that on my crockpot and I have a weird texture issue. If the skin is too mush, it grosses me out.
Thanks for the great recipe. I love to cook in my slow cooker. I have never made a whole chicken. I can't wait to try this.
This looks amazing! Going to try this out for the holidays.
I've never done a whole chicken in the slow cooker before. This looks amazing and so in tune with the season - the house must smell GREAT when it's cooking!
I've made chicken in pieces in the slow cooker but never a whole chicken! Weird, right? Never even occurred to me!
This looks amazing! I'm going to share it in my Foodie collection of "one pot meals", if you don't mind!
The aroma must be so good, you can't wait to get it done.
I make chicken all the time for special dinners. I have not tried it in a slow cooker yet. I will have to try this for my next chicken i cook.
Wow, bet that was a juicy bird! Never thought cooking in milk too!
This looks amazing! I always prefer anything cooked in the Slow Cooker!
I can always count on a wonderful slow cooker recipe from you. Thanks for sharing this one. I can't wait to make it!
Okay, that's probably the prettiest bird I've ever seen! My sister is usually the one to fix the turkey or chicken for our big family dinners and she's all about making them look pretty. I have to share this with her!! Great job!
Awww thanks so much Jenni! You know.. I am not very good at making meat look good.. but I was really happy with how this one turned out. Thanks again 😉
Wow that looks amazing! I love doing whole chickens in the slow cooker but mine aren't as great as this!
That looks beautiful and tasty. Great combination.
Forget Christmas! This sounds good now and anytime! I can't wait to try it.
True, I can agree with that 😉
I have made chickens in the crock pot but never with milk. Sounds tasty - I will be giving this a try. Pinned to my Chicken Board.
It was surprisingly really good! Hope you get a chance to try and thanks so much for pinning 😉
You're so good at taking photos! This looks soooo delicious I really need to make this.
Awww. I'm totally blushing. You are pretty awesome yourself girly! 😉
I make a simple cranberry dish that I loveeeee. This looks delicious. I'm definitely going to be trying it soon!
That sounds so good. I think I might be making this over the weekend.