Next up on my list of five fantastic crock pot dinners is Honey Sesame Chicken. When I saw this one on pinterest, I knew I’d be trying it, because I think it’s fun to make my crock pot do more than meat & potatoes. Then when I clicked through to the original website and saw that it had been pinned more than 281,000 times, I was pretty confident we’d get a winner out of this. That many pinners do not lie.
This meal is quick to put together and packed with flavor. I had all the ingredients on hand already, and as a final bonus, it only takes a few hours to cook, which is nice when it’s 2pm and you realize you have nothing planned for dinner. Try this next time that happens!
I should mention that my photo is not entirely true to form, as I forgot to do the cornstarch step at the end. It would look a little more saucy if I had remembered, AND I forgot to add the sesame seeds. But considering my condition, this is no surprise. Plus, it gave my husband one more thing to make fun of me for!
Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
From Six Sisters’ Stuff – Jump over to their post to see a more accurate photo of what this dish looks like!
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or olive oil or canola oil)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds
Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper, and place in crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic, and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours (or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours), just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water, and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut (or shred) chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.
* I always add some snap peas right before serving. Saute in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil for just a couple of minutes, so they retain their color and texture. Also, I swear by Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice. Three minutes to perfection. Enjoy the meal!
Are those mango chunks you’ve served on the side? Do you have any tips for selecting and slicing a mango? I’ve had a few bad experiences, so they intimidate me. Thanks for another dinner idea! I’m adding this to my menu for next week.
Hi Becky! It’s actually cantaloupe in the photo, but I’m a big fan of mangos too. You just have to make sure you wait to cut them until they have a fair amount of “give.” That way you’ll know for sure that it’s ripe. I was so confused about cutting them for a good while, but once I figured it out, it became really easy! It’s hard to describe in words, so check out this straightforward video: http://www.mango.org/video-showcase/126
Good luck!
Thanks, Erica! I think I’ll work up my courage to buy a mango again. And, funny story, I printed this recipe and left it on my kitchen counter. I have a babysitter here today and she read the recipe and asked where I found it. She wants to try it, too!
Delightful dinner, Erica! I’m really enjoying your site. I just found it from your facebook post. 😉 This is a very ‘erica’ website. 🙂 Take care!
-heidi (stoddard) ellsworth
This looks so yummy! I’ll be trying this tonight as I have no dinner plans yet. 🙂
Kristi
That looks so delish!!! I tend to forget recipe steps, too – but it’s usually an important one and not just sesame seeds or cornstarch. 🙂
Thanks, Karah! I do plenty of that too! 🙂
This looks so good-I’m going to give it a whirl soon. I am right there with you forgetting to do things in recipes. I made a gooey-butter cake yesterday for a church dinner-I’ve made it gobs of times-and THOUGHT I knew what was in it. Huh-I messed it up and it wasn’t nearly as good as usual, but it was still all eaten!
Sounds to me like you need to post the recipe for that gooey-butter cake! 🙂 I’ll tell my husband I’m not the only one who does this frequently!
So I had this on my list of things to try. After getting the crockpot out and then forgetting to get the food ready, I switched to this one that is quicker. After it had done the long cook I looked at the end of the recipe to see what to do and realized I forgot the onion. I planned to skip the sesame seeds on purpose. Then I went to thicken it up as my husband got home. I dumped in the mixture and the crock pot immediately foamed up and spilled over! I turned to my husband and was like, “Whoa! That was weird. Its not like I put in baking soda… Agh! I did put in baking soda!” I keep it right next to the cornstarch, the boxes are almost identical, and I absent mindedly just put it in. I added the cornstarch and luckily it still turned out great. My hubby voted it a keeper and my boys even ate it. (I did half the pepper flakes)
Thought you’d like a good laugh!