Slow-Cooker Lemon Balsamic Rosemary Chicken with Glazed Potatoes
Today’s recipe is for a Slow-Cooker adaptation of a favourite chicken recipe. After a few minutes of assembly, Lemon, Balsamic Rosemary Chicken with Glazed Potatoes is made in the Crock Pot and will be waiting for you when you get home from a hectic day.
I’ve said before that I really didn’t ever use my crock pot when I was working six days a week at our shop; I am starting to find ways to use it now. Go figure. It seems like I’m much busier now that I am home, working on this site, gardening, cooking, photographing food, and being the general dogsbody, errand-runner of the family. I tend to go, nonstop, all day long.
So, those things have made me consider the time-saving uses of a slow-cooker. That said, I want pretty food, too. And I always had this idea that crock-pot food was just a jumbled mess of stuff in a pot. In my quest for both pretty and convenient, I started looking at various crock-pot recipes; one thing that I found was in order to have your food look pretty coming from a crock-pot, the layering of the food was really important. I’m sure this isn’t anything new to those of you who regularly use your crock pots, but it was a revelation to me.
Resting meats on a bed of something else, raising it slightly above the cooking liquid, resulted in prettier food. How simple! For instance, with my Slow-Cooker Beef Brisket, the brisket is on a layer of mushrooms and onions, with the “sauce” poured over the top of the meat to flavour it also. It turned out beautifully!
Of course, one thing leads to another, and I decided to try a whole chicken in a Slow-Cooker. The recipe I adapted uses lemons, so with my first experiment with this in a crock pot, I rested the chicken on the halved lemons. While the chicken was delicious, the “sauce” was a bit bitter. So, I went back to the drawing board.
This version is the third incarnation of the dish; both Mr. Saucy and I deem it a success! I decided to use potatoes under the chicken. The potatoes hold the whole chicken above the cooking liquid, and at the same time, cook the potatoes in a glaze of lemon and balsamic vinegar and rosemary, with the juices of the chicken cooking on top of them giving them even more flavour.
I put the potatoes in, whole, so they would retain their shape, then I cut them in half to serve. We mashed them with a fork and poured the cooking liquid over them when we ate it; they were absolutely fabulous!
I marinated my chicken in the liquid for about an hour. By marinating the chicken for a bit, I wanted to impart to the chicken skin some of the caramel colouring of the balsamic vinegar; it worked, but it isn’t an essential step. Since the marinade is cooked along with the chicken, it isn’t necessary to make two batches, if you choose to marinate yours. Next time, I may try putting the chicken in the marinade overnight and see what it does.
I also put my cooked chicken under the broiler for about 3 minutes; this also is not an essential step. The skin was actually kind of crispy, since it wasn’t in contact with the cooking liquid. The chicken self-basted as it “steamed” over the potatoes.
This recipe adapted to a slow-cooker is a keeper for our household; I hope you’ll try it in yours! You won’t regret it. It’s beautiful, mostly hands-off, and ever so tasty!
P~
- 5 whole potatoes (I used russets that were about baseball-sized)
- 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil (I used grape seed, but canola would work)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- zest from two lemons, zested lemons cut in wedges and reserved
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 lemon, to stuff the bird (optional)
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, to stuff in the bird (optional)
- ½ tablespoon turbinado sugar (or brown sugar) to top the chicken
- If you plan to marinate the chicken overnight, or for a few hours, whisk together in a bowl all of the ingredients except for the water, potatoes, chicken and the last ½ tablespoon of sugar (this would be the balsamic vinegar, oil, lemon juice, brown sugar, lemon zest, rosemary, salt and pepper).
- Pour over the chicken in a ziplock bag and refrigerate.
- When you are ready to cook the chicken, place the potatoes in the bottom of the slow-cooker, arranged to hold the chicken atop them.
- Place the chicken on top of the potatoes (I tied the legs to help keep the chicken from falling apart - optional).
- Pour the marinade liquid over the top of the chicken.
- Add the water to the marinade under the chicken.
- Sprinkle the top of the uncooked chicken with ground black pepper and the final ½ tablespoon of sugar (this makes a really wonderful "glaze" on the top skin).
- Put the lid of the crock pot on.
- Turn the slow cooker on high and cook for about 4 hours.
- OR turn the slow cooker on low and cook for about 8 hours.
- (Optional step: Once the chicken is done, remove from the top of the potatoes and place on a baking sheet and put under the broiler for about 2-4 minutes to crisp the skin.)
- Remove the potatoes from the cooking liquid to a serving platter and cut in half or quarters. Place the chicken in the center of the serving platter, and scatter the reserved lemon wedges, to be squeezed on individual portions of chicken, as desired.
Yum, this looks delicious! I’ve never done a chicken in the slow cooker before but this one’s definitely worth trying out!
Honestly? Before I tried to figure out how to do this, I hadn’t either. While the first two attempts were edible, this one is a winner! I hope you WILL try it, Addie! P~
If you plan to marinate the chicken overnight, or for a few hours, whisk together in a bowl all of the ingredients except for the potatoes, chicken and the last ½ tablespoon of sugar (this would be the balsamic vinegar, oil, lemon juice, brown sugar, lemon zest, rosemary, salt and pepper).
Pour over the chicken in a ziplock bag and refrigerate.
– I added the water…. please revise exception with inclusion of water. It is an ingredient.
Otherwise, it turned out wonderfully!
Thank you Roderick. I have made that revision and I am sorry it confused you. I’m happy you liked it and I thank you for commenting. P~
Is it possible to use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken? If so, how many should I use and how long should I cook for? Thanks!
Thanks for the question, Katie. I don’t see any reason why you can’t use chicken breasts. Bone-in breasts would take about 4-5 hours cooked on low. P~
Do you zest the lemon with a file type tool or just use wedges from the lemon
Michael, I zested the lemons with a micro-plane, then I saved the wedges for use at the end. P~
The flavors were good but 8 hours on low overcooked the chicken severely. When I went to take it out of the crock pot it fell apart and the white meat was extremely dry. Maybe this happened because I have a new crock pot and the wattage/power is higher than older models? I’ll try it again but with at least 2 hours shaved off the total cooking time.
I’m happy you liked the flavors, Leah. You may be right about the crock pot…I need a new one! I’ll get one and repost the times. I’m sorry that happened for you, but I do hope you’ll try it again. P~
Hello, I am trying this recipe for the first time for our Easter dinner tomorrow . We usually have a bunch of unhealthy food. This year will be different! I am bringing the lemon rosemary chicken and a spinach salad. I added 1 garlic clove to the marinate. Let you know how it goes. Thanks for sharing! Happy Easter!
Happy Easter to you, too, Becky! P~
This was a wonderful recipe! I substituted 2 long yellow sweet potatoes for the regular potatoes & the contrast of sweet & sour was TO DIE FOR! Thanks so much for sharing this!
I am so happy you liked it, Godiva! Thank you for letting me know…and I love the sweet potato idea! Brilliant. P~
This was a fantastic recipe. Tried it last night for the first time and it was perfection. Thank you so much.
Barbara+Lynn, I’m really happy you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment; that means so much. P~
This is easy, fast and family friendly, even with peas and celery added. If you’ve found this you really must try it. I made the mistake of mixing everything up and then cooking it until done…didn’t seem to matter it was still a huge hit. I’m making it again tonight.
AndrevS, I am so happy you liked it! Thanks for commenting! P~
Getting ready to make this today since I’m hungry and it sounds delicious… and I got a whole chicken at the store last night just for kicks
Fabulous! I hope you love it, Joseph. P~