Slow Cooker Whole Chicken and Stuffing is a one-pot meal, the veggie and chicken cook all day then the stuffing mix is added to the rich and flavorful broth.
If you haven’t tried an entire chicken in the slow cooker you must! You can make this recipe or my engagement chicken for a great homemade meal!
Growing up my mom always added extra veggies to her Stove-Top stuffing. I found that I can cook veggies with a whole chicken in the slow cooker (smothered in butter), then stir in stove-top stuffing to the drippings in with the cooked veggies at the end of the cooking time.
How to make Whole Chicken and Stuffing in the slow cooker:
- Add diced onion, carrots and celery to the bottom of a 6-quart or larger slow cooker.
- Add a whole chicken (weighing about 5 pounds) over the veggies.
- Melt a stick of butter in the microwave. Pour over the chicken.
- Sprinkle over paprika, thyme, and sage.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
- Remove the chicken onto a plate.
- Keep only 1 1/2 cups of liquid in the slow cooker with the veggies (you can use the leftover broth for gravy if desired).
- Add a 6-ounce box of stove-top stuffing into the liquid and veggies.
- Serve and enjoy! You can add the chicken back in the pot for a pretty presentation, or slice and serve from the plate.
What to serve with this:
This is great alone with just the chicken and stuffing. Or you can serve it with these options:
- Mashed potatoes
- Chicken Gravy – Recipe by Crazy for Crust
- Green beans – Recipe by Dinner at the Zoo
- Cranberry Sauce
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Slow Cooker Whole Chicken with Stuffing
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 5 lbs. whole chicken
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried sage Use oregano if you don't have sage
- 1/2 tsp. paprika (this makes the chicken look less pale since it doesn't get crispy in slow cooker)
- 6 oz. box stove top stuffing I use savory herb style but you can use any kind of stove-top such as chicken, turkey or cornbread style.
Instructions:
- Clean out the inside of the chicken by removing any extra parts or packaging and discard.
- Add the carrots, onion and celery to the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the chicken.
- Pour over the melted butter and sprinkle over the thyme, sage, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or HIGH for 5-6 hours.
- Remove chicken to a platter and cover with foil. Now you'll want to remove some of the liquid from the slow cooker, leave only 1.5 cups of liquid along with the veggies. (you can use the extra liquid for gravy or another recipe). Add the box of stove-top stuffing to the veggies and 1.5 cups of liquid in the slow cooker. Replace the lid. Let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork when the time is up.
- I add the chicken back to the slow cooker with the stuffing for a pretty presentation. If I was just serving this to my family, I would slice and serve the chicken on the platter and serve the stuffing from the slow cooker.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Mashed potatoes
- Chicken Gravy
- Green Beans
- Cranberry Sauce
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
So you can just add the stuffing in the chicken and leave it for 5 hours to cook?
You cook the chicken fully first. Then remove the chicken and leave some of the juices in the pot. Add the stuffing to the pot with the juices. The stuffing will soak up the leftover juices and it cooks quickly.
Does the skin get this brown in crockpot??!! Or did you brown it up in the oven?
It’s not browned. That’s paprika.
To make the skin crispy, after the chicken is fully cooked, remove the chicken from the crockpot and transfer to a sheet pan or roasting pan. Put it in the oven to broil to make the skin crispy.
Hi Can you put stuffing in side the chicken ?
I don’t see why not, as long as it gets cooked through, it will be fine.
This is the best chicken I have ever cooked! Never thought it could be this good! Thank you for an awesome recipe . My family loved it! Followed the recipe exactly as posted..
Hi, i am not understanding your recipes as in the videos there is a lot of liquid at the end but it does not say in the recipe to add water??????
The liquid comes from the whole chicken and the butter in the recipe. You get LOTS of liquid from chicken with skin on it.
If you cook the chicken as instructed you’ll see that it produces its own liquid, no need to add water. But if you do add liquid add chicken stock, it won’t degrade the flavor, I’d add less than 1 cup.
Can you also do a turkey breast the same way
I don’t see why not.
Sounds like a great recipe, I am going to use chicken Quarters 2 0r 3 and Pepridge Farm stuffing & unions & Celery for the veggies
Thanks for sharing
I made this in the oven because I don’t have a slow cooker. I am in love with the recipe.
Do you by any chance have a pressure cooker version to this recipe?
I don’t know have a pressure cooker version. Though I do recommend using an oven bag for this recipe (in the oven)! Turns out amazing!
Very good and tender. I added stuffing to the chicken while it cooked….. Delicious
The video didn’t show removing liquid, did you just remove as much as possible using a ladle to insure you have 1.5 cups?
I remove all the loquat and only add 1.5 cups of it back into the slow cooker for the stuffing.
Could I do this with a turkey breast? If so should I adjust the time?
Yes, you may have to cook longer depending on the size.
Love this recipe! So easy and the chicken was falling off the bone when it was done. I broiled the chicken for a few minutes to crips the skin a bit; and used some of the juices to steam with vegetables. Will definitely be making it again.
Had to downsize to a 1.8 litre slow cooker so disappointed I can’t fit a whole chicken in it. Presumably i can use drums and thighs instead?
Yes! I’m sure it will work fine!
My chickie is just under 6lbs. Would 8 hours on low be sufficient?
That should work. I’d check for doneness at 8 hours.
I made it with a chicken breast and thigh. It’s AMAZING!!
This is why God created Cornish Hens!
Oh yes
Neither of my crock pots was large enough for the almost 5 # whole chicken. I took off the breasts and legs and that worked fine. I did 2 hours on high and 4 on low. Will just buy chicken breasts next time.qa
I made this for my family tonight. I’m a vegetarian, so I didn’t taste it, but they seemed to like it, and my kids are very picky! I didn’t have thyme, so I used Italian seasoning instead. It looked a bit dry to me, so I may use some broth next time.
I have a 7 qt slow cooker. This is my process. If I’m going to cook, might as well make a lot. The effort is already there. Just up the ingredients. Then freeze what’s left in proportion containers.