Crockpot Glazed Chicken ‘n Vegetables
When you have that craving for Chinese food, but don’t want the excess sugar and sodium contained in many restaurant dishes, here’s a simple dinner that promises to satisfy. Slow cooking allows the slightly sweet garlicky sauce to infuse into the chicken forming a beautiful glaze. Adding lots of colorful veggies also gives this yummy dish an added nutritional punch.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon 100% all natural apricot preserves such as Polaner or Dalfour
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned brown rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1- inch piece fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
- 1 medium yellow squash sliced and cut into quarters
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 8 chicken thighs can remove skin if desired
- 1/2 cup garden peas frozen peas have a more pleasing color and texture than canned
- 1/2 cup snow peas trimmed
Garnish
- 2 green onions sliced
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- Hot cooked rice or noodles
Instructions
- Sauce: in a small bowl, combine all ingredients.
- Arrange vegetables on bottom of crockpot. Place chicken on top of vegetables. Pour sauce over vegetables and chicken.
- Cover; cook on High for 1 hour and Low for about 4 hours. Or cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, stir in garden peas and snow peas. Chicken is cooked when internal temperature of the thigh reaches 170 degrees F. and juices run clear when pricked with a fork. As crockpots vary, adjust cooking time as needed.
- OPTIONAL: due to the nature of crockpot cooking, the sauce will be thin. If a thicker glaze is desired, (as shown in photo), add sauce to a 2-quart pot. Boil for about 5 minutes, or until sauce has reduced to a syrupy glaze and coats the back of a spoon. Pour sauce back into crockpot and toss with chicken and vegetables.
- Place rice or noodles on a serving platter; top with chicken and vegetables. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Notes
Make Ahead and Storage Tips: this dish may be cooked up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat on Low setting of crockpot for about 45 minutes or until heated through. To save time, reheat chicken and veggies in a large casserole dish coated with olive oil spray. Cover; reheat at 325 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until heated through. This dish may also be assembled in the crockpot up to 1 day ahead prior to cooking. Cover and refrigerate. Cooked chicken and veggies may be frozen for up to 4 months.
As garden peas and snow peas cook very quickly, it’s better if you can add them during the last 30 minutes of cooking. However, if you are going to be out all day, just stir them in when you get home. By the time you’re ready for dinner, they will be cooked through.
Be creative with your veggies! Edamame, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, water chestnuts…the list of delicious combinations is endless!
Any chicken parts will work in this dish such as drumsticks, wings and breasts.
Suggested rice choices would be basmati or jasmine. This dish would also be wonderful served with udon or soba noodles.
Some of my favorite slow cooker chicken dishes you might like are Crockpot Chicken Fajita Soup and Crockpot "Rotisserie" Chicken 'n Vegetables