Crockpot Hoisin Chicken

 
I love my crockpot, but I have to be honest, I have a hard time finding good chicken recipes for it.  So often the chicken ends up really dry.  Whenever that happens I am so disappointed, but I'm not willing to give up on chicken in the crockpot.  When I saw Cookin Canuck's recipe for Hoisin Chicken in the crockpot I immediately gave it a try.  It was super juicy and the flavor was good, but I made a few tweaks to suit my family's tastes and to minimize dishes (my favorite thing).

For those of you who aren't familiar with Hoisin sauce, it is a thick, dark, sweet sauce used in Chinese cooking.  My first introduction to Hoisin sauce was as a little girl with the minced chicken lettuce wraps at Panda Inn, yum yum!  It is the star of this Crockpot Hoisin Chicken, but the soy sauce, ginger, and chili garlic sauce keep it from being too sweet.

It has been super hot here so the crockpot allows us to have a delicious homemade dinner without me standing over a hot stove or heating up our house with the oven.  This Crockpot Hoisin Chicken is also incredibly easy to make.  

Start out by spraying your crockpot with cooking spray and then putting some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom.  To be honest, I'm not sure if you need the cooking spray, but I always use it when I'm cooking with my crockpot to make for an easy clean up. 

In a large liquid measuring cup combine your sauce ingredients.  You will need soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chicken stock, a little bit of honey, some minced ginger (I used a frozen cube from Trader Joe's), and some chili garlic sauce.  We don't like things very salty so I used low-sodium soy sauce and chicken stock.  Mix all of your sauce ingredients together and then pour it over the chicken.

Put the lid on and cook on low until the chicken is cooked through.  The amount of time will depend on your crockpot and how big your chicken breasts are.  It took mine about 2 1/2 hours.  Once the chicken is cooked through, take it out of the crockpot to shred it. 

Combine some corn starch and water and then stir it into the sauce in your crockpot.  Add the shredded chicken back in, give it a good stir, and continue to cook for about 30 more minutes so that the chicken can absorb some more of that delicious flavor.  If you are nervous about dry chicken because your crockpot has let you down in the past, do not worry.  Look how juicy that chicken is!

I served mine with our favorite brown rice and quinoa blend and some steamed broccoli.  This chicken is so flavorful and delicious.  The next day I made a little salad with the leftovers, some lettuce, a little rice vinegar, some extra Hoisin, and a few peanuts.  No matter what you pair with this Hoisin chicken, it is absolutely delicious!

Crockpot Hoisin Chicken
Adapted From Cookin Canuck 
 

• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbls. honey
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp. chili garlic sauce
• 2 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tbls. cornstarch
• 2 tbls. water

1. Spray your crock pot with cooking spray and place chicken in the bottom.
2. In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup combine soy sauce, hoisin, sauce, chicken broth, honey, ginger, and chili garlic sauce.  Pour over the chicken.
3. Cook on low 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until cooked through.
4. Remove the chicken and shred it.
5. Combine the cornstarch and water and stir it into the sauce.  Put the chicken back in the crockpot and continue to cook about 30 more minutes so it has a chance to absorb the sauce.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef

My new year's resolution this year was to get back on track with my meal planning and to start trying more new recipes.  A while back another mom emailed me this recipe for Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches.   She said it was one of her family's favorite meals and it only has a few ingredients so I decided to try it out.  After checking at four different stores, I decided to give up on the Chicago style Giardiniera it calls for and just go Italian style.  Oh my goodness, I am so glad I couldn't find the Chicago style!  I don't know how it would have tasted with it, but with the Italian style it was A-MA-ZING!!!!

Alright, now that I have you excited, I'll tell you how to make it.  You will need a chuck roast, an envelope of Italian salad dressing mix (I used Good Seasons Zesty Italian), a jar of Italian style Giardiniera, a can of beef broth, and a jar of pepperoncini or banana peppers.  We aren't big on spice in this house so we used mild, you stick with how your family likes it.

Trim the fat off of your chuck roast and cut it into big chunks (about 3-4 inches).  Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray and put the beef inside.  Sprinkle the packet of salad dressing mix all over the top.

Add in half of the jar of pepperoncini peppers along with a couple of tablespoons of the juice from the jar.  Drain the liquid out of the jar of Giardiniera and dump it in.  The first time I made this I only used half of the jar and the bites with the veggies were so unbelievably flavorful that I decided to use the full jar the second time.  It was an excellent decision!  Pour in the can of broth and then give it all a little stir to get the liquid under the meat and the veggies and peppers evenly distributed.

Put on the lid and turn your slow cooker on LOW.  Cook until the meat shreds easily, about 8 1/2 - 9 hours.

Put the shredded meat back in and give it a good stir.  Recover your slow cooker and let cook for another hour or so to give the meat a chance to soak up some of that flavorful juice.

Now, who likes to cook once and eat twice?  I do!  In fact, I love it.  I'm not talking about eating the exact same meal two times either, although we do that a lot.  Leftovers are a busy mama's friend.  The first night we had this Slow Cooker Italian Beef as recommended, on sandwich rolls with sliced provolone melting into all of the little nooks and crannies.  Then a couple of days later we had the leftover meat warmed up with some oven roasted potatoes and salad on the side.  It was delicious this way too.

The photo really does not do this meal justice.  Slow Cooker Italian Beef has quickly become a family favorite for us and I'm sure it will for your family too!

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats 

• 3 lb. chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 3-4 inch chunks
• 1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
• 8 oz. pepperoncini or banana pepper slices plus 1-2 tbls. juice from jar
• 16 oz. jar of Italian Mix Giardiniera, drained
• 14.5 oz. can of beef broth

1. Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and put chuck roast chunks into slow cooker.  Sprinkle meat with salad dressing mix.
2. Add in peppers, pepper juice, Giardiniera, and beef broth.
3. Stir to let broth under meat and evenly distribute vegetables and peppers.
4. Cook on low 8 1/2 to 9 hours.  Remove meat from slow cooker and shred it.
5. Return meat to slow cooker, stir, and continue to cook for another hour.
6. Serve on sandwich rolls with sliced provolone or with roasted potatoes and salad.

Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili

I love chili and I love verde chicken so this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili was a match made in heaven for me.  Even though I love chili, I don't make it very often because Jake won't eat soup (of any kind).  On top of that, Jake and Josh won't eat beans, total weirdos.  Luckily, Luke eats beans like they are going out of style.  Anyway, this chili was the perfect compromise because it is super versatile which made it something that all four of us happily ate.  I used a slotted spoon to take out some of the chicken to make tacos for Josh and Jake, Luke gobbled up the beans, and I ate it as intended.  No matter how you decide to eat this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili your taste buds will thank you!

In addition to being super delicious, this chili is very easy to make.  Other than chopping an onion and mincing a few cloves of garlic, you mostly just dump everything in and let the slow cooker do the work.  You could even buy some pre-chopped onion and those little cubes of frozen minced garlic (I love you Trader Joe's).

 
Once the chicken is cooked through you take it out and shred it.  Look how juicy that chicken is!

I wanted this to be thick like chili, not a soup, so I mixed a little bit of corn starch and water and stirred that in before I added the chicken back in.

Serve this up as is or with your favorite toppings.  For me that was shredded Monterrey jack cheese and guacamole.

Like most chili recipes, this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili is even better the next day.  I'm pretty sure it will freeze well, but it didn't last long enough for me to find out.  Next time, I think I will make a double batch.

Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili
Adapted from Budget Bytes

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups salsa verde
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. water
• Monterrey Jack cheese, Greek yogurt, or guacamole for topping

1. Put all ingredients except corn starch and water in slow cooker and cook on high for about 3 hours.
2. Remove chicken and shred it.  
3. Combine corn starch and water and stir into slow cooker.
4. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir to combine.
5. Continue to cook for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with shredded jack cheese, Greek yogurt, or guacamole.

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Crockpot Lamb & Barley Stew

We've been doing a lot of eating out of our freezer lately.  We had a boneless lamb roast in the freezer that Josh made for dinner the other night (Sundays are his night to cook) and it was delicious, but way bigger than we could finish on our own.  We had a lot of lamb leftover so we decided to make lamb and barley stew with the leftovers.

This is a recipe that my mom used to make with leftover lamb that was on the bone.  She makes it on the stove but I thought it would be perfect for the crockpot.  If you aren't a fan of lamb, this would work with leftover beef as well.

Start out by cutting up the leftover lamb into bite sized chunks.  Chop up three medium carrots, three stalks of celery, and a medium onion.

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray and put in your meat, chopped veggies, and 4 cloves of minced garlic.   Add in some pearl barley, a couple of bay leaves,  and some dried rosemary.  Pour in 4 cups of beef stock, give it all a good stir and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8.

I like to top mine with a little bit of Parmesan cheese, but that's partly because I have a small obsession with Parmesan.  I also serve it with some sourdough bread.  It is wonderful dipped into the broth while you are waiting for the stew to cool.

This is a great meal for a cold night and the hands on time is minimal.  I love using my crock pot because it is so easy and it makes the house smell wonderful all day, so break out your crock pot and get a home cooked meal on the table without a lot of work.

Lamb & Barley Stew

• leftover lamb or beef roast cut into bite sized chunks, about 1 1/2 cups of chunks
• 3 medium carrots
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 4 cups beef broth

1. Chop the carrots, celery, and onion.
2. Spray crockpot with cooking spray.
3. Add all ingredients to crockpot and stir to combine.
4. Cook on high 4 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours.
5. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve with sourdough bread if desired.

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