This Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe makes a delicious and easy meal in your crockpot. Serve it up with a side of rice for a complete meal.
Summer is here and for many of us the weather is HOT!! We had 100 degree heat index warnings in Minnesota this week.
While we may have air conditioners cooling our houses, there is no reason to fight them by heating up the oven – and that’s where easy-to-make slow cooker meals come in!
I love using my crockpot all year round, but the summer is when I give it the most use.
I especially like simple recipes with both meat and veggies to make a complete meal. Everything in one dish makes things so easy (and delicious!)
This Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe is a perfect example. It’s way tastier than something you would order from the local Chinese take-out place and since you’re making it yourself you can control all the ingredients that go in to control salt, fats and ingredient quality.
Serve this meal with some freshly cooked brown rice and you’re good to go.
Even better – the leftovers heat up wonderfully, so you’ll have a second night of dinner without heating up the house.
You might want to consider using a slow cooker liner for this dish. We all know how hard it can be to clean up after anything made with honey or sugar – they can get sticky! You can find them here.
Once you are done cooking and serving, just pull the liner of the pot and throw away. You’ll be left with a totally clean slow cooker with nothing to wash!
Another great idea for work lunches is this Crock-Pot Lunch Crock Food Warmer. You can leave the warming base at work and use the removable food container to transport your lunch from home.
The warming base will keep your food warm or heat your foods over time. It’s a good way to avoid standing in line to use the office microwave (which is usually pretty filthy inside anyway!)
🧾 Ingredients Needed
1 pound boneless chicken breast
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon of ground ginger
¼ cup chicken broth (we used low-sodium)
⅓ cup of low sodium soy sauce (or use Liquid Aminos as a gluten-free alternative)
½ teaspoon of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of honey (can also use brown sugar)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons ketchup
¼ teaspoon of sesame oil
¼ teaspoon of black pepper
sea salt to taste (optional)
1 cup pineapple chunks (fresh or canned – we used fresh)
2 bell peppers, cut into 1″ pieces – we used one red and one green
Thickener Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of cool water
2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch **use more or less depending on how thick you want the sauce
🥣 How to Make
- Spray inside of slow cooker with non-stick coating spray.
- Place chicken inside the slow cooker. ( You can also used frozen chicken breasts)
- In a medium bowl whisk together chicken broth, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, tomato paste, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and push chicken down making sure chicken is covered with sauce.
- Cover slow cooker with lid and cook chicken on low heat for 5-7 hours or high heat for 2-3 hours.
- Tear or shred chicken with two forks into chunks if you are using whole chicken breasts.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a thickener. Pour in to slow cooker and whisk gently with chicken mixture. Gently fold in pineapple chunks and bell pepper.
- Cook mixture on high for an additional 20 minutes until sauce thickens and the pineapples and bell peppers are slightly tender.
- Season to taste with salt if desired.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and green onions if desired
- Serve immediately over brown rice.
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken breast
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ cup chicken broth we used low-sodium
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce or used Liquid Aminos as a gluten-free alternative
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey can also use brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- sea salt to taste optional
- 1 cup pineapple chunks fresh or canned – we used fresh
- 2 bell peppers cut into 1″ pieces – we used one red and one green
- 3 tablespoons cool water
- 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Spray inside of slow cooker with non-stick coating spray.
- Place chicken inside the slow cooker. ( You can also used frozen chicken breasts)
- In a medium bowl whisk together chicken broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, honey, vinegar, tomato paste, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and black pepper.
- Pour sauce over chicken and push chicken down making sure chicken is covered with sauce
- Cover slow cooker with lid and cook chicken on low heat for 5-7 hours or high heat for 2-3 hours.
- Tear or shred chicken with two forks into chunks if you are using whole chicken breasts.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a thickener.
- Pour in to slow cooker and whisk gently with chicken mixture.
- Gently fold in pineapple chunks and bell pepper.
- Cook mixture on high for an additional 20 minutes until sauce thickens and the pineapples and bell peppers are slightly tender.
- Season to taste with salt if desired.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and green onions if desired
- Serve immediately over brown rice.
Nutrition
Amy German says
I’m glad I read the comment about tomato paste because I didn’t understand either. Something else I don’t understand is the directions say to add soy sauce and dark soy sauce. But the list of ingredients doesn’t list 2 different soy sauces. Is there a difference?
Melody Andres says
Thank you for this recipe that doesn’t include deep frying the chicken!
Tina says
I don’t see tomato paste listed in the ingredient list, but then it says to whisk it with the chicken broth and other ingredients Is it needed, and if so, how much ?
Chrysa says
Sorry! That should say whisk in the ketchup. (The recipe can also be made with tomato paste, but the flavor is a bit different.)
G K says
I love Crock Pot recipes, and I haven’t tried asian food in it yet.
Mary Songer says
I loved the chicken recipe. The only change I made was to add some sesame seeds. It is delicious and easy to make.