Crock Pot Chicken with Pan Gravy – An Easy Chicken Recipe

Crock Pot Chicken with Pan Gravy – An Easy Crock Pot Recipe. Chicken recipes come and go but this healthy Chicken Crock Pot Recipe is an easy chicken dish that anyone can make. If you have never cooked a whole chicken in a slow cooker, or as most call it a Crock Pot, give this a try. You can prepare it in the morning and forget about it until dinnertime. (you can literally get this into the crock pot in 15 minutes).

Turning the pan juices into delicious gravy is a snap. Be sure to have some crusty bread or rolls to go along with this meal.

I promise you will make this over and over again, because it is so easy and the leftovers can be made into something else for another night.

See my “Cook’s Notes” for variations and other suggestions at the bottom of the page.

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:

• 1 (5-7 lbs) oven stuffer roaster chicken
• 1 package Lipton dried Onion Mushroom soup mix, or flavor of your choice
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 cups of baby carrots or ½ of a small bag
• 5 or more garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of gravy master (optional)

Directions:

Place the carrots, garlic and the onion slices in the bottom of the crock pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut the other half of the onion in half again so it can be placed inside the bird.

Rinse the chicken and discard the giblet bag. Pat dry and add the onion to the cavity. Place the whole chicken in the crock-pot on top of the veggies.

Sprinkle the entire top of the bird with a good amount of salt and pepper then the dried soup.  Drizzle the bird with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover and cook on low for about 5-6 hours or on high for about 3 or 4 hours.

Once the bird is cooked you can carefully remove it by using a carving fork at the neck end and a spoon in the cavity at the other end.  The bird will be very tender so go easy when removing it. Transfer to a cutting board and allow the bird to cool for at least 15 minutes before carving.

While the bird is resting, remove the carrots and onions from the bottom of the slow cooker and the cavity of the bird. Place in a bowl to serve along side of the chicken and set aside.

For the gravy:

With a soup ladle, skim off any excess fat off of the top of the juice in the crock pot.  Add remaining juices to a small saucepan and place on the stove top on medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour and bring the sauce to a low simmer until the sauce thickens. I sometimes use a teaspoon of gravy master to give the gravy more color and flavor and a tablespoon or two of butter at the end too, but you don’t have to. Taste and season with salt and pepper.  Serve along side of the carved chicken.

Cook’s Notes:

You can easily vary this recipe and add some celery, leeks, or fresh herbs. As always don’t be afraid to get creative. If you don’t have any soup mix you can just sprinkle the bird with a few different seasonings you have in your pantry like, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, rosemary, thyme. Cooking is not like baking where everything has to be measured so closely. It’s more of an art and less of a science, so give it a try.