Paleo Whole Chicken and Sweet Potatoes in the Crock Pot

I didn't lug that crock pot five thousand miles for nothing.

Yesterday I picked up a whole chicken in the market with the express purpose of roasting it in my crock pot. This will be the first time I've used it, so I have all my fingers and toes crossed that the plug adaptor does it's job properly, and that I don't hear a POP-ZZZZ while the circuit fries.

Don't worry, I have verified that the power in our apartment is compatible with the slow cooker. I'm too emotionally attached to it not to be as careful as I can.

Now I just need to find a good recipe. I got poking around online today and found this one from Bless This Food as inspiration, and figured out the rest on my own.

Here's what I've done:

1 whole chicken
1 lg white sweet potato
1 white onion*
Onion powder
Garlic flakes
Celery salt
Salt
Black pepper

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and onion into big chunks and season with as much of the above seasonings as you want. I sprinkled a bit of each (minus the onion powder) all over the top of the lot. Fold the whole pile into a foil packet which will fit into the bottom of your crock pot.

Rinse and pat dry your chicken. Combine about 1/4 tsp of each seasoning into a small bowl (you may want to use about 1/2 tsp of the salt, totally up to your tastes) and rub it all over the beastie, including inside the cavity.

*If you really like onions, you could quarter a second one and stuff it inside the cavity at this point

Plop it in the crock pot on top of the potato packet.

Let it cook on high for 4 to 5 hours. If you have a meat thermometer, or the little pop up button to tell you when it's done you could use that. I don't have one, so I'm winging it.

The juices from the chicken (and there will be a lot of juice) will drain down and cover your potato packet, and if you're like me and poked a couple of accidental holes in it while wrapping it up, they'll soak into the potatoes as well. I think this is a good thing.

How it came out:

Fantastic! I left it in for 4 hours and 45 minutes, and the whole thing fell to pieces when I tried to take it out. So tender! The sweet potatoes and onions were really flavorful. It turns out that keeping them inside the foil packet keeps them from discoloring. The two potato chunks which escaped turned black, but tasted just fine.

What I would do different next time:

More seasoning. I might even put the uncooked chicken in the fridge (with all the seasonings all over it) overnight to absorb the flavors.

What I did next:

I left all the extra juices in the crock pot, added the bones and skin back in, added water and will make soup out of it. I still have about half the meat and will chop it up along with some green onions and add those in as well. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Added bonus:

My crock pot works perfectly here. Yay!