Slow Cooked Honey Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, about 1.5 kg
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 T Dijon mustard
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1/4 c honey
- 2 t fresh lemon juice
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 lemon, cut into 4 parts
- 1/2 yellow onion, quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
Method
1. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Place in a slow cooker.
2. Roughly chop two sprigs of the rosemary. In a small bowl, mix together Dijon mustard, honey, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
3. Turn chicken on its end and place the remaining sprig of rosemary, the onion quarters, garlic and both lemon halves if you can fit them in the cavity of the bird. One lemon half is enough if you can’t fit both. Using a pastry brush, coat the outside of the bird with the lemon honey glaze. Place chicken breast side up. Pour any remaining glaze over the top.
4. Cook chicken on LOW for 6-8 hours or until you can grab a leg and wiggle it freely.
5. Remove chicken carefully, it will be very tender and falling off the bone. Pull the meat off the bones and serve.
Notes
If you’re around during the cooking time, pour the juices that collect in the bottom of the pot out into a container once or twice during the cooking time. Save the liquid in a container in the fridge or just collect it all at the end of the cooking time. Place the liquid into a pot on the stove, bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes, strain, and then save for later use in the freezer or fridge. If you don’t care to save the delicious broth, skip this step. I find it makes a delicious soup base.
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SJ Note 15 July 2009: Tried this tonight, entirely too lemony, so I adjusted the lemon down, and the rosemary up. The chicken was quite moist and delicious, so we'll try it again.