Drunken Roast Chicken

As fall approaches I am slowly dragging out some of my favourite cold weather recipes. There is nothing better than coming home from work on a blustery cold day to a warm house smelling of deliciousness. This recipe was taken from "300 Slow Cooker Favorites" by Donna-Marie Pye (with some changes by moi).

No Frills happened to have a sale on President's Choice whole chickens this week so I have been stocking up. Tonight was suppose to be wish dish night (AKA Jenna is on strike, fend for yourself!) but I would be home earlier than my usual 8:20 from work, and Andre felt like chicken so I threw this in the slow cooker for dinner really quickly this afternoon.

It seems like a really fancy meal, but the beauty is that you can have it cooking in less than 15 minutes in the morning, and if you're just feeding two people (like us!) you will have dinner, and plenty for lunch the next day. If you're so inclined, you can also make some homemade chicken soup from the carcass!

Here we go!:

Drunken Roast Chicken (Slow Cooker)

1 roasting chicken (3 1/2-4 pounds)
6 cloves of garlic1 onion quartered
1 lemon (rolled on the counter while applying gentle pressure to loosen up the juices, then pricked with a fork)
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup sodium reduced (or homemade) chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine (can substitute more chicken stock)

Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. With your fingers, gently loosen skin from chicken breast to form a pocket. Insert garlic halves under the skin. Place a few cloves of garlic and the lemon into the cavity of the chicken.

With kitchen twine, tie chicken legs together and secure wings to body, leaving an extra length of twine at each end. You will use the ends to lift the chicken from the slow cooker.

Spread the onion on the bottom of the slow cooker and place the chicken breast side up on top. Sprinkle with thyme and paprika. Pour in stock and wine.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, high for 4 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted in thigh reads 170 F (77 C)

When finished cooking remove chicken and place under preheated broiler for 5-7 minutes to brown if you prefer crispy skin.


Skim fat from juices in slow cooker, transfer to pot, warm juices and add flour and water mixture to thicken for gravy.

Serve with mashed potatoes and veggies.