Autumn Spiced Slow Cooker Chicken with Apples and Onions

This simple slow cooker chicken is coated in savory spices and served with sweet apples and onions for the perfect fall meal.
This post is sponsored by Petaluma Poultry – Home of ROCKY® and ROSIE® Chicken.

Like many people, my introduction to poultry was in the form of the boneless, skinless chicken breast. Now, I have nothing against these chicken breasts. They still serve a purpose in my kitchen. Since I started this blog over eight years ago and got much more adventurous in my cooking, things have changed.

I’ve become more open to the versatility and the full flavor of other parts of the chicken.

I also didn’t mess around with graduating up to bone-in, skin-on parts. Nope. I jumped right into using the whole bird.

It’s much less intimidating than you might expect. There are really few things simpler than cooking a whole bird. Other than taking out the small innards packet that comes inside and giving it a good massage of oil and spices, there is little else to do than sit back and let the heat work.

Then, you have all that meat to eat and use in other recipes throughout the week. And the leftover bones can be used to make homemade chicken stock. Another super simple, hands-off process.

The best way to cook a whole bird this time of year? The slow cooker.

That’s because we still have those hot days that pop up and keep us from wanting to turn on the oven, but schedules are hectic with the change of seasons, going back to school and all the other duties we have on our plates.

Simple dinners are where it’s at.

I’m partnering with Petaluma Poultry  over the next few months to share my love of cooking with the whole bird for simple and delicious meals. If you remember from my bone-in chicken breast post in May, their chickens are raised around Sonoma County and three varieties are available — ROCKY® The Free Range Chicken, ROSIE® The Original Organic Chicken and SONOMA RED® Pasture Raised Chicken. For me, the brand serves as a good example of how poultry companies can make positive changes to provide a more humanely raised and high-quality product. 

This time they sent me some ROCKY® Free Range whole chickens. I decided a good ol’ fashioned fall recipe was in order.

So I rubbed the bird down with a mix of savory spices that includes cinnamon and nutmeg along with an earthly twist from fresh rosemary. Then I popped it in the slow cooker on top of onions and added apples.

The result is tender, juicy chicken served with slow cooked apples and onions on the side. If you have some chicken leftover it is excellent shredded to use for tacos or stuff it into a big baked sweet potato.

A few things about slow cookers. First, they are all a bit different. If you are new to using yours, I’d suggest you make a recipe like this in it on a day when you are around or when you can at least check on it every few hours. The slow cooker’s size, it’s age and the size of your bird can all influence how quickly the chicken will cook.

At 6 hours on low, my chicken was super tender. Almost fall-apart tender, which is what I wanted. Your best bet is to use a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast and ensure it is at least 165 degrees F before serving. I let mine go closer to 180 because it stays juicy with all the liquid in the cooker and gets super easy to shred.

Also, you’ll want to add the apples after you are a few hours into the cooking process. They will need 3 to 4 hours to become fork tender. If you put them in first thing, they’ll pretty much turn to mush and disappear. This adds nice flavor, but doesn’t do much for having anything to serve with the chicken.

Alright, now that we are on the same page, let’s get to the recipe. Put this one on your list because not only is it a great way to ring in fall. It’s also an easy way to get your feet wet working with a whole bird.

What you’ll need:

1 ½ teaspoons fine ground sea salt
1 teaspoon mild chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1, 4 ½ to 5 lb. whole chicken
2 white onions, peeled and cut into 12 wedges
2 Fuji apples, cored and cut into 16 wedges
Rosemary stems for garnish

How to make it:

In a small dish, stir together the salt, chili powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and rosemary. Add the olive oil and stir until a thin paste forms.

Remove any inner packets or parts inside the chicken (they are great for making stock), and place the chicken on a large plate or tray. Rub the seasoning paste over the whole bird until it is evenly coated.

Arrange the onion wedges in the bottom of a 5-quart (or larger) slow cooker. Place the chicken on top of the onions. Put on the lid and cook on low for 3 hours.* After about 3 hours, arrange the apples around the chicken. Let cook for about 3 more hours, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and arrange on a platter with the apples and onions. Garnish with rosemary and serve.

*Recipe note: I use an older slow cooker with a temperature dial for low and high. If you have a newer cooker with an electronic control, the low setting may only allow you to select 8 to 10 hours and it may take your chicken this long to cook. Simply check its progress around the 6-hour mark to see where it stands and continue to cook if necessary.