Whole 30 Crockpot Whole Chicken

Total time4 hr 30 min

Prep time15 min

Cook time4 hr 15 min

Every ingredient here checks out clean for a whole-foods approach: a whole chicken rubbed with smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and oregano, then loaded up with a lemon, a whole head of garlic, and fresh thyme sprigs before it goes into the slow cooker. Carrots, celery, and onion line the bottom of the crock, doing double duty as an aromatic base and a natural rack that keeps the chicken up out of the collected juices while it cooks low and slow into fall-apart tender territory. A quick pass under the broiler at the end crisps up the skin into something genuinely golden, so you're not stuck with the pale, flabby skin slow cookers are notorious for. It's a dump-and-go dinner with almost no hands-on effort, which makes it an easy one to build a week of meals around. This is a great fit for a Whole30 kitchen, and the vegetables plus all those pan juices mean you've basically got dinner and homemade stock in one pot.

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Ingredients

4 servings

1 whole chicken (3.5–4.5 lb)
2 tsp smoked paprika
McCormick Smoked Paprika - 0.9 Oz McCormick Gourmet Organic Smoked Paprika,1.62 oz Spice Islands® Smoked Paprika HemisFares™ Smoked Spanish Paprika Badia Smoked Paprika
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1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp black pepper
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, top ¼ inch cut off to expose cloves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 medium yellow onion, quartered

Instructions

1
In a small bowl, combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, dried oregano, black pepper, and kosher salt. Stir in the olive oil to form a loose paste.
2
Pat the chicken completely dry with paper towels — this is the key step for getting any color on the skin later. Rub the spice paste all over the outside of the chicken and under the breast skin wherever you can loosen it. Stuff the cavity with the lemon halves, the garlic head (cut side up), and the fresh thyme sprigs.

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