"Greek" Crockpot Whole Chicken

This is yet another example of using what I had on hand to make dinner FAST. The chicken was on sale, so I bought it, and then had no idea what I was going to do with it!! I also had a TON of lemons because I've been making lemon, ginger, honey infusions to keep in the fridge to make throat "tea" to help us through the cold season that is so crazy once again this year- I will do a quick post on the "tea" soon, but you can find the link and info on the SLK Facebook page too if you need it sooner.

This took me less than 30 minutes to get in the crock pot, which is my kind of dinner prep time- done and done during am nap- YAY and HOORAY.

Here's what you'll need:


1 whole roasting chicken (save this recipe for when they go on sale- the one I bought was $3 and 4lbs)
2-3 lemons- sliced in wheels
8 cloves garlic, smashed, crushed, or cut in half
1/2 a red onion, sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Oregano, Basil, paprika, salt. olive oil

lightly coat the bottom of the crock pot with olive oil (I use my Misto for this, but you could just pour in a little bit and roll it around or use a paper towel for even coverage)
Add the sliced lemons (lay them flat all over the bottom of the pot)
Toss in the garlic & onion
In a small bowl mix 1-2 T olive oil and the herbs/seasoning- I eyeballed it, but it's about 2 T basil, 4 T oregano and 1-2 tsp paprika, then a fat pinch of salt, 1/2-1 tsp. Mix this into an herb paste/rub.
Rinse the chicken and pat dry.
Place on a cutting board breast side up and LOOSEN but don't remove the skin. Spread the herb mix on the chicken UNDER the skin- then if you have some left rub the top of the skin too. Leaving it on does mean a bit more calories/fat in the recipe but the chicken is so much more moist and I just remove it after cooking for that reason.
Place the chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN in the crockpot- ribs up- again, this will prevent dryness.
Pour chicken broth into crock pot, lop the yogurt on top of the chicken. Put the lid on the pot & cook on LOW for 7-8 hours....or less... (my crock pot runs HOT, I checked it at 6 hours and it was perfect, but 99% of the whole chicken recipes I see say 7-8 hours, so there must be a reason- make sure it is cooked through completely, at 6 hours mine was falling a part perfection and not dry at all).

BONUS TIP! If you have leftover chicken broth and don't think you'll "use within 7-10 days", FREEZE IT! I used my Baby Bullet baby food freezer storage trays, but you can use any freezer safe container- then just thaw & use when you need to.