Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

I’ve heard tell that before there were slow cookers, women actually stood all day long in the kitchen. On their feet. Stirring, stirring, stirring. Checking meat and basting in an eternal loop. What kind of sick twisted world must that have been? I’ll tell you what. My Crock Pot love affair prior to homeschooling looks like a 13-year-old puppy love summer dalliance compared to my over the moon adoration of this kitchen appliance now. Especially when it produces easy meals as gorgeous and delicious as this one.

Sweet sesame sauce.
Tender chicken over rice.
My tongue rejoices.

See what I did there? A haiku. About Honey Sesame Chicken. Oh wait. Sesame Chicken isn’t a Japanese dish…is it? Darn. I thought I was being so intellectually hilarious. Oh well. At least my food is scrumptious. We can’t all be multi-talented. Ooooh, but I’ll give you this tip to make up for my lack of humor today. This meal works amazingly well when you’ve forgotten to defrost any meat and suddenly it’s noon and you aren’t sure what to do. Throw those frozen chicken breasts in the crock-pot my friend. And then pretend you are one of those people who has dinner planned weeks in advance.

Print Recipe for Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
adapted from Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients
4 chicken breast (skinless thighs would be fine too)
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup onion (diced)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional – doesn’t really add heat, just adds more flavor)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water (for dissolving cornstarch)
sesame seeds

Directions
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve cornstarch in 4 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. Shred chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

*For a thicker sauce, strain sauce into a small pot after removing chicken and adding cornstarch (removing bits of onion/garlic/chicken thru a fine mesh strainer). Simmer/reduce sauce to desired thickness, then pour back over shredded chicken and serve.
*You can also sprinkle more red pepper flakes on top if you want more heat.
Serves 4

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