Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with Blackberry Jam

We’ve been doing a lot of hosting as of late, even for Messy Kitchen standards.  It’s hard to keep up.  I don’t remember the last time my kitchen was clean for more than a fleeting second.  I made this honey garlic chicken for my book club last week.  It’s not a difficult recipe, and it serves a lot of people.  I doubled the recipe below and fed thirteen, plus I had a very full tupperware of leftovers for lunches and dinners throughout the week.  It can be eaten on buns, in lettuce wraps, on top of a salad or even on top of scrambled eggs.  Yes, I went there.

For book club, I served it with this savory watermelon salad and a delicious corn on the cob for which I have high intentions of sharing the recipe with you in the near future.  Oh, and on paper plates, because I’m classy like that/don’t have any desire to wash thirteen plates, assuming I even own that many.  I really enjoyed this chicken, it was really moist and flavorful.  I will say it was a little sweeter than I thought necessary.  With the blackberry jam, I think you could easily get away with half the amount of honey listed.  I might also up the spice factor just a touch with some sriracha.  Play with it and make it your own!  The original recipe insisted that bone-in breasts were necessary, but I can assure you that’s not the case; I used boneless, and the chicken was anything but dry!

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with Blackberry Jam

Adapted from Just a Taste

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup blackberry jam
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

How To:  Arrange the chicken breasts in the slow cooker so that they are not overlapping.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, blackberry jam, hoisin, olive oil, garlic, onion and crushed red pepper flakes, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and cook the chicken on LOW for 4 to 5 hours until the chicken is fully cooked.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker reserving the liquids.  Using two forks or your fingers, shred the chicken into small pieces.  Place the shredded chicken in a large bowl or back in the slow cooker if you want to keep it warm.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry.  Transfer the liquids from the slow cooker into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and whisk in the slurry.  Bring the sauce to a boil and cook it until it reduces and has thickened slightly, stirring frequently.  Pour the sauce over the chicken, tossing to combine.  Serve on buns or as lettuce wraps.

 Serves 8-10

Johanna