A chill in the air this morning calls for my trusty crock, but the sunshine in the sky is telling me it’s still “summer”. This recipe ticks off both seasonal boxes…

If a recipe has lemon in it, I just know I’m going to love it. This one is no exception, and it has the added bonus of the “set and forget” crockpot, which means I get to throw everything in the morning, let the crock do all the hard work, and come home to dinner done. Maybe it’s just the 1950’s housewife in me, but who could ask for anything more? Oh yeah, an empty sink and an empty laundry bin would be nice, but who am I kidding?

This one is reallllllly easy; no searing, no mixing, honestly barely any effort on your part; a true dump and run whole chicken dinner. The hardest part will be wrestling the dang bird out of it’s plastic wrapping without covering the counter (and yourself) with chicken juice…NOT TODAY SALLYMONELLA! My advice for that, do it over the sink, and have the crockpot ready for immediate transfer.

Ingredients

• 5-6 lb. Whole Chicken
• 1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates Baja Citrus marinade
• 1 packet of McCormick Grill Mates Mojito Lime marinade
• 1 Lemon
• 1 Lime 
• 1 cup White Wine
• 1 bag of mini potatoes (I prefer the tri color, but whatever your preference is will work)
• Fresh Rosemary, leaves only from 2-3 sprigs (to taste)
• 1 tsp. Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Instructions

• Line your crockpot with a liner bag…they make cleanup almost as easy as this entire recipe!
• Dump the potatoes (WHOLE) in to the bottom of the crock pot and sprinkle rosemary and lemon pepper seasoning on top
• Rinse chicken, remove innards and pat dry with paper towels.
• Cut your lemon and lime in half and set a half of each aside. Cut the other half in half again (quarter) and squeeze each piece of fruit into chicken cavity, then place the fruit inside the bird.
• Place the chicken into the crock pot and add the cup of Wine.
• Generously sprinkle marinade mixture onto outside of chicken…you can rub in for good measure (or not if you don’t want to get your hands all gross)
• Thinly slice the leftover half of each lemon and lime and lay slices on top of the chicken.
• Cook on LOW for 8 hours, and ENJOY! (you can alternatively cook High for 4 hours, but low and slow is the way to go!)

And that’s all she wrote! Now, getting the bird out of the crock in one piece CAN be difficult…I recommend sticking a large fork in each end and moving quickly to a nearby plate. Sometimes, no matter how quick you are, it will just fall apart, ah the drawback of slow cooking….not to worry, it will still taste amazing!!

I like to add some kind of green veggie to my plate to round out this meal, but if you just leave it at chicken and potatoes, no one will mind. Make sure you spoon out some of the AHHHMAZING au jus to top your meat and potatoes, you wouldn’t want to waste it!

**If you can’t find the two flavors of McCormick Marinades that I’ve used, don’t worry! There have been times when my store doesn’t have these two specific ones in stock, so I subsitute other varieties (Zesty Herb, Garlic Herb Wine, and Tomato Garlic Basil have all been used instead and still make this chicken kicking!) **