Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Honey-Garlic Crock Pot Chicken

Easy peasy and tasy? Can't beat that!
They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. If that’s the case, CLEARLY Crock Pots are a busy woman’s true soul mate. Whether you are single or married, working in or out of the home, have kids or don’t have kids, we all have a lot going on. And that makes the slow cooker one of the best inventions ever. You can literally throw a few ingredients in the pot, walk away for multiple hours, and have a piping hot, delicious meal waiting for you upon your return. It’s genius!

When I ran across this recipe on Pinterest the other day, I thought it sounded good. Apparently so did lots of other people because it was “re-pinned” several times. (If pinning and re-pinning aren’t familiar terms to you, you obviously are not a Pinterest junkie and I would like to know which rock you have been living under. I’m a late adopter—just joined about 9 months ago—and I seriously don’t’ know why I didn’t jump on board sooner. Many of my blog recipes are Pinterest inspired and if I ever actually got around to crafting, there are about a million cute DIY projects on that site. But I digress.)
I made a few minor changes to the original recipe. I used low-sodium soy sauce (who needs extra salt?), added onion and bell pepper (why not throw in a few more healthy veggies?), and cut back on the amount of chicken and wet ingredients for the sauce (since I was just cooking for me and the hubs). I also omitted the dried basil (it didn’t sound necessary) and garnished the finished dish with fresh green onions (because they were in the fridge and needed to be used).  

Here’s what I came up with.
Honey-Garlic Crock Pot Chicken
Serves 2-3


Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed)
3-4 garlic cloves, coarsely  chopped
1 bell pepper, coarsely chopped (color optional, I used red)
½ white or yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup honey
¼ teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground preferred)
2-3 green onions, sliced (for garnish after cooking)


Directions:
Place chicken breasts in Crock Pot. Add chopped garlic, bell pepper, and white or yellow onion.
In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, ketchup, honey, and black pepper. Stir well and pour into Crock Pot completely coating the chicken and vegetables.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-6 hours. Chicken is done when it shreds easily with a fork.

Note:
All slow cookers cook at slightly different temperatures so if you are cooking on low, start checking the “doneness” of the chicken around 3.5-4 hours. If cooking on high, check around 2-2.5 hours. If chicken breasts are thin, they will cook faster.
Results:
Sitting in my house with the aroma of this dish wafting temptingly through the air all day was almost enough to kill me. Fortunately I fought through the hunger pangs, managed not to chew off any limbs, and survived to share this dish with you lovely people.


In the original recipe, the author cut the chicken breasts in half before cooking and then left them in “chunks.” I personally, can’t resist shredding meat once it’s been cooked in the Crock Pot, so my dish works out better spooned over a little brown rice and served with a side of steamed broccoli. You can drizzle a little of the sauce over the broccoli too…YUM!


My chicken breasts were thin and my Crock Pot cooks on the fast side so when I checked at 3.5 hours everything was completely cooked through. I turned it from low to warm and waited for the hubs to get home from work. He got to eat it fresh out of the Crock Pot and proclaimed it “Delicious!”

I had a prior engagement—a hilarious “game” of tennis with a friend after a 10-year hiatus from the sport—but when I had dinner a few hours later I thought it turned out pretty good too. It was very flavorful, it re-heated well (which is great in case you have leftovers), and it was super easy to put together. Honey-Garlic Crock Pot Chicken will definitely be making appearances on our dinner table throughout the fall and winter.

Until next time,
Ryann

1 comment:

  1. I've made this recipe several times since the original post. I've modified it a little. Instead of ketchup, I use a little chicken broth. Adding water chestnuts is fun too, if you like them. I serve it on top of whole wheat skinny spaghetti noodles tossed with a little seasame oil and it's DELISH!

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