Here is another absolutely amazing and simple crock pot chicken recipe. You can legitimately make this amazing chicken in under 5 minutes if you are prepared, great for a during the week meal. After you shred the chicken and put back in the broth, it just absorbs all the flavors of the garlic and onions and melts in your mouth. The garlic is not strong at all, it has a nice rich nutty taste you will love so eat away, its good for you. I got my garlic at Trader Joe’s and it was already peeled for $1.19, you can’t go wrong. Enjoy
Lemon Garlic Crockpot Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 30-40 cloves of garlic peeled
- 1 whole lemon
- 1 white onion sliced
- salt and pepper
- homemade italian seasoning blend - Equal Parts of: marjoram thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, basil
Instructions
- Line the bottom of your crock pot with your sliced onions and all of your peeled garlic
- Wash your chicken under cold water and then pat dry
- Place your chicken on top of your onions and garlic
- Cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice all over the chicken
- Season the inside and outside of your bird generously with salt, pepper, and italian blend
- Place the lemon halves inside the cavity of your chicken
- Put the lid on your crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours
- Once your chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and place on a plate, shred all chicken away from the bone and place back in the broth with the onions and garlic
- Throw away the carcass and enjoy the garlicy, oniony, and lemony chicken :)
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Mirepoix Crock-pot Chicken
Don’t throw away that chicken carcas! Use it to make chicken broth!
This is awesome. I bruised 20 cloves of garlic and then just peeled 10 more. It was really good but as a garlic lover next time I would bruise all 30 cloves (and maybe go to 40). I served mine over cauliflower rice that I had roasted and was one happy camper! My skin did not get crispy to I took it off and crisped in in a frying pan … LOL!! Thank YOU.
Oh crispy skin is the best, however you need to get it done :)
This is my go-to recipe when I need to make food in a pinch and realize I don’t have lunch prepped for the next day. Less than 5 minutes of prep time and the chicken always comes out moist and delicious. The best part is you can change the spices up each time to give it a slightly different twist – Mexican, Italian, French…you name it! Thanks George!
Ah thanks for the awesome tips :) Also, glad you love it :)
Just made this today and LOVED it! What’s especially beautiful about this is its simplicity, very few basic ingredients. I did scale back the garlic a bit because 30-40 cloves just seemed a bit much. This recipe will quickly work itself into my regular crockpot rotation along with pot roast and jambalaya. Thanks for sharing!
Ah that is so awesome Robert, thank you for letting me know. I love the garlic because the flavor milds out as it cooks
wait! Don’t throw away the carcass. use it to make bone broth. you can even freeze the bones until you are ready to make your bone broth. yum!
I do that! I save 2 carcass’ in the freezer and when I will be home all morning I will put on a big pot to cook them down for broth. usually 4-5 hrs so I get all the little bits of meat of the bones and any marrow too for extra nutrition and flavor. My hubby loves it. Especially when I use it to cook veggies or rice (I know, no rice).
Thanks for helpful tips, here is one to try-if you need to peel a ton of garlic (without smashing), take most of the paper off the head and shake the whole head in a jar for 1-2 minutes, almost all the peels will come off without damaging the cloves :)
Yes, this is a great tip for peeling garlic and it does work!
Yes it does, thanks for letting us know :)
Thank you so much for all of your kind words and suggestions. I do appreciate it :)
Definitely! Sounds delicious.
How would you adjust the cooking time/temp if I prepare this as a freeze-ahead meal?
Oh wow. I’m not sure about that. Why don’t you experiment with that and let me know?
I think that this would have been better if I had a better sense of spices and salt quantities. Also, I used fresh garlic (not pre-peeled) and to peel it quickly, I smash the clove, which may make it more intense. I love garlic, but felt like this had a little too much. I would use two heads instead of three next time, and it needed more salt. The skin was not crispy on mine like another commenter, but the meat did fall right off the bone. Overall, it is quite tasty and very easy to make. But I think it will be better next time!
Looks great and most importantly: idiot-proof. What do you serve it with? Or do you just… eat shredded chicken as the entire meal?
I did just eat all the chicken :)
I just ate shredded chicken and onions lol
This is crocking as we speak! I can’t wait to get home from work and smell this meal from the front door… one of my favorite things about crocking dinners!
Of course… I’m eager to taste this too. I have no doubts it will be amaze-balls!
Woohoo, I hope you love it Eve
I’m VERY new to Paleo, and only first heard of it a few months ago at my gym. After months of research and recipe stockpiling, I feel like I’m ready to take on this new lifestyle! And after reading through most of the comments here, I have come to the conclusion that this recipe will be my first ever Paleo meal, and I am excited!
Thanks George, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this!
Woohoo, glad I could help. Enjoy
This looks yummy! Will make soon. I would keep the carcass and make some stock too! :) thanks for recipe!
Of course, me too :)
If i use skinless chicken breasts should i add some liquid ? thanks looks like a great crockpot dish.
No liquid needed if you are using the onions in the bottom
I made this last night and it was probably the best thing I’ve made in the slow cooker to date (although I haven’t had it long!). So easy, and so hearty. The chicken skin on top was delicious and crispy.
I only had one whole garlic, so I bruised each clove a bit as I think it helps to release the garlic flavour. I think there were only about 15 cloves, but it still had a fantastic flavour. I’m looking forward to trying it with more!
I cooked it on slow for 6 hours, and then it sat for over 5 hours on the “keep warm” setting until I got home from work. A super rich, dark, flavourful broth had formed by then, and the chicken was melting off the bones.
Also, I put the chicken breast-side down in the slow cooker, as breast meat can be dry and tasteless. This allowed it to absorb more of the flavours from the broth, and prevented it drying out (especially as I knew I’d be leaving it for quite a long time).
Can’t wait to go home and eat the left overs tonight. Thank you George!
Your so welcome
I’m making this tomorrow. Just a quick question. How big was your chicken? I have an 8 lb and was going to adjust accordingly. Also what did you have with it? Just curious
4 lbs
I just got a new slow cooker (my old one started getting cracks in it) and it says that I must always cover the food with enough water or stock so as not to cause the slow cooker to crack, I am guessing that slow cooker and crock pot are the same thing, did anyone find that not using any liquid caused problems or shortens the life of the slow cooker?
You don’t need to add liquid, I have been using my same crock pot for 3 years almost daily and very rarely add liquid to most dishes. This dish produces enough of its own liquid once the cooking starts
I have never had any problems with cracks in my crock pot from not using enough liquid. I just made this recipe for dinner, and the juices from the lemon and the chicken almost cover the chicken when it is done cooking.
Yes it sure does. Did you like it?
so excited to make this! Do I need to add any broth?? It seems like it will cook dry… ?
Thanks!
No you don’t
Made this for the lady for Valentine’s dinner a few days ago. Used 4 chicken breasts totaling 4 pounds rather than a whole chicken, also see 80 cloves of garlic instead of 40. It was perfect! The chicken just fell off the bone and melted in our mouths! Thanks for the great recipe! I’ll definitely check out your other recipes.
Awesome Josh. Thanks for letting me know :)
what could you substitute for the onions , me and my husband both have very serious problems with our stomachs after eating fresh onions.
These onions wouldn’t be fresh, they would be cooked after. Is that still a problem? If so just replace with some other veggies like pepper or zucchini
Fantastic recipe, George Bryant! I made it with four chicken breasts–about 4.5 pounds–instead of a whole chicken. I flipped the breasts every two hours. The chicken fell off the bones and melted in our mouths! My girlfriend loved it, and for anyone worried about using 40 cloves of garlic, it was barely noticeable…you could probably up the amount to 80-100 cloves. Thanks again for the recipe, George!
Your so welcome, so glad you both loved it. That sounds delish with the chicken breasts, I may have to try it
Silly question but I want to make sure I do this recipe right. I had planned on serving this meal this evening to a redeploying GB but, go figure, his flight was delayed. Can I let the chicken cool and refrigerate it until tomorrow night, then reheat in the crockpot?? If so, should I wait until tomorrow night to shred the meat?? At least my entire house seems amazing!! (THANK YOU!!)
You should be fine doing that, I have never tried it but it sounds like it would work
I am trying this with Chicken breast…I did EVERYTHING else the same, so I hope it comes out just as good :)
It should :)
I love this!
OMG, this really is the BEST chicken I have ever had. I thought everyone was just being nice which I am sure is also true, however they are definitely correct in their reviews of this chicken recipe.
I had a 5.5# chicken the smallest one they had actually. Followed the recipe and was surprised I ended up with about a a quart of stock even though I added no liquid.
I was worried about “using” up the chicken but considering it was all I could do not to eat it all while I was deboning it. I suspect it will be gone shortly.
Next its chicken stock from the carcass.
Awesome thank you Anthony. Enjoy your stock :)
Hey so I’m making this now. My chicken is probably a little over 5lbs. Currently I have it set on high and plan to keep it there for the first hour. Then I’ll turn it down to low for the remainder of the cooking time. Do you recommend? Or Should I still cook it on low for six hours; do I need to give it a little bit more time?
From past experiences, I’ve noticed that when I put a whole lemon into a recipe it comes out tasting bitter. So I avoid doing that altogether. How do I avoid that from happening? Same for this recipe. I left the lemon out, but included the juice.
You don’t ever need to put it on high for chicken, 6 hours of low and you will get perfectly cooked chicken even if it is 5 lbs. You just have to not take the lid off at all while cooking. As far as lemon goes, I always use the whole lemon and have never had it bitter so I do not know.
I made this recipe and it also came out very bitter; I think it was probably because I did not remove the seeds from the juice. I am trying it again today and I’ll be more careful with the seeds.
Oh no Alex, I hope it works
how much of the homemade seasoning should be added?
I purposely leave that blank for your taste liking Stephanie. I tend to use enough to cover the bird inside and out
Loved this chicken recipe! We’re on GAPS – so I didn’t throw away the carcass;) I stuck it in with the few onions, lemon, and garlic that were left at the bottom of the crock added water, apple cider vinegar, and let it cook for 24 hours… Then turned it into stock for chicken soup! It was the best chicken broth ever! THANK YOU! – my kids even liked the soup;)
Your so welcome, I do the same thing with my carcasses. This sounds amazing :)
Ok, so I’m new to paleo and crossfit. Had to start changing some things after a 5 year battle with cancer. Your blog has been so great for me, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. BTW, this chicken was amazing. Thanks again.
Justin I hope you won that battle and so glad my site has helped. Please keep up the awesome work
YUM – finally got around to making this. It’s every bit as easy and delicious as it looks! We’ll be making this one again and again.
Woohoo so glad you loved it :)
New to cooking and I want to try this!
Can you be more specific about cooking on “low”? I don’t have a crock pot and was going to do this in the oven. Can you suggest an approximate temperature for the oven?
Thanks!
The best thing I can recommend is google how to roast a whole chicken in the oven and follow my recipe
Just curious, but do you separate actual garlic cloves and onions from the chicken after you take the chicken meat out from the crock pot (to serve and eat)?
I don’t, I eat all the garlic and onions with the chicken
May I use chicken parts? Legs, thighs, breasts?
You sure can
Can I use chicken parts??
So I’ve drooled over this one so many times I was sure I had the recipe down… Well, not so much! But except for the lemon, and the fact that I stuffed that little tummy with as many of the garlic cloves as I could, I was true to the recipe.
I also took heed of another commenter and portion out leftovers before I served our meal. :D Yep, you really could just sit and eat until this was all gone. Another fabulously deliciously easy meal, Sir. Thank you!
I am so glad you like it. Thanks so much for all the kind words
Tried this one the day before yesterday – Used a 5# whole organic chicken (best I could find) and the same pack of 40 cloves from TJ. Cooked on low for 6 hours, and then it had to warm for an additional 3-4 until I got home. This was, without a doubt, the most delicious chicken I have EVER tasted in my entire life. Even the broth was incredible! This is guaranteed to be come a house favorite with the family! Thanks again for these wonderfully easy and tasty recipes!
You are so welcome kind sir, I am glad that you are enjoying them
I bet you could re-use the carcass and make amazing chicken broth with this!
You sure can. ;)
I made this the other day after trying your bbq pulled pork recipe which was insanely good. This is also INSANELY good – I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t have portioned it out I could have just eaten the whole thing in one quite easily.
I love your recipes and this is a really great site you’ve got here so thank you very much!
Big love from the UK!
Thank you so much Kate, I am so glad you enjoyed :)
How long do you keep the shredded chicken back in the broth??
I’ve left it in there for a few hours but it can stay as long as you want
No need to add any water to create the broth?
No need
30-40 cloves of garlic????
Yeppers. Lots and lots of garlic
Sounds really tasty – always looking for ideas on cooking whole birds. Just an idea – you should save that carcass and make broth out of it for a delicious soup base! So good and easy to make in the crock pot – just cover with water, add veggies (anything that is a little past is prime would work) and a couple tbsp of vinegar and let it crock overnight or all day, fish out all the solids and any foam and it's done…good stuff!
You are most welcome :)
Made this today. It was awesome! Whole family loved it. Thanks!