The original recipe uses pork — General Tso’s Slow-Cooked Pork Tacos With Orange-Broccoli Slaw — but boneless, skinless chicken thighs are an easy substitution. That’s what I did. The chicken thighs only need to cook for about 4 hours on low in your Crock-Pot.
I omitted the cornstarch, and once the chicken was fully cooked I removed it in order to shred it fully. While I was doing that, I reduced the remaining sauce in a small pan on the stove, and found that I could get it to thicken slightly in a short amount of time. If you do use the cornstarch, you will likely get a much glossier, thicker sauce, so the choice is yours.
I used my own dressing for the broccoli slaw, which includes sriracha, honey, fresh lemon, and rice wine vinegar. The slaw is better if it sits for a few hours in the dressing, but its crisp and spicy flavor is a good compliment to the saucy chicken.
A. was happy to eat a couple of these chicken tortillas, and even asked for them again the next night. On the other hand, I could barely get G. to try a plain tortilla. So, a semi-success. I liked the flavor of this dish a lot, and think it performs well as a slow-cooker meal. It worth repeating a couple of times a year.
I first tried this recipe about a year ago, but when I made it then (Martha’s Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken & Beans) I omitted the chipotle in order to make it more palatable for the boys. At the time, A. did eat a few bites of it, but I did not find the same success this time. I did add in the chilies Monday, and the recipe is better for it. You can add more or less to suit your spice tolerance — the amount here has a medium level of heat.
Although the original recipe does not call for soaking the beans, the comments suggest doing so improves the recipe. I never seem to remember to soak mine. This time I used a quick-soak method, where you pour boiling water over the beans and let them sit for a few minutes before adding them to the Crock-Pot. I like this way of doing things: I didn’t have any burning of the beans, their texture held together while still becoming creamy, and it didn’t rely on me remembering to start dinner the night before.
This recipe cooks up thick enough to be served inside tacos or rolled as a burrito. I like it a lot and wish my kids were more receptive to it! Even the addition of cilantro — one of A.’s favorite condiments — wasn’t enough to win them over this time.
1 c. dried pinto beans, picked through and rinsed
12 oz. salsa (I use a medium spice level)
2 Tbsp. canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 c. vegetable stock (chicken would work too)
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro (about half a bunch)
Boil a kettle of water while you pick through and rinse the pinto beans. In a heat-proof bowl, cover the dried beans with the boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes. Drain.
In a large slow cooker (mine is 6 quarts), stir together beans, salsa, chiles, flour, and vegetable stock. Layer the diced onion and pepper on top. Then place the chicken thighs in a single layer on top of the vegetables. Cover and cook on low heat for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 8. Don’t peek!
Using two forks to pull the meat apart, shred the chicken thighs in the crock. Add the cilantro, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Give a final stir and serve with tortilla chips, tacos, or wraps.
8 c. water
16 oz. bag dried lentils, rinsed + picked through
4 carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
6 whole cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Combine first 6 ingredients in the crock of a large slow cooker (mine is 6 quarts). Cook on HIGH for 6 hours.
Remove garlic cloves if you like (or eat them, or leave them in the soup). If you like a smoother soup, use an immersion blender in the crock for about 20 seconds until about a third of the soup is pureed, leaving some chunks. Season with remaining four ingredients, adjusting salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Sorry, you’re getting our leftovers. Pictures of them, anyway!
Roasted Beets with Feta hardly needed a recipe. I boil my beets rather than roasting them: I find this preparation to be neater, and I don’t notice a decrease in flavor at all. In fact, this batch of beets (from my farm share) was particularly flavorful, earthy and sweet. I followed the proportions given for the dressing in this recipe but made significantly more, since I poured it over three times as many beets plus a large bowl of salad. I sliced a brick of feta and served it on the side. This is a salad that can stand up to brisk weather, especially when paired with soup.
I tried a Crock-Pot Butternut Squash Soup from A Year of Slow Cooking (love that blog). I made several adjustments: 2 smallish squash (from my farm share), only 1 onion, only 1 apple, and turmeric instead of coriander because I didn’t have any. I used vegetable stock. Since I had my oven on to bake Brownie Roll-Out Cookies, I decided to roast the squash and onion rather than putting them into the crock raw or microwaved. They were fully cooked before they even joined the other ingredients in the slow cooker. I did use my immersion blender at the end to make it smooth and creamy, and needed to add an additional cup of water to thin it out a bit. This is a keep recipe for us — though none of the kids would try it (including my niece), I think they might be persuaded to in the future. Even J. had it later that night and thought it was very good.
Along with dinner rolls, this soup and salad combo was a well-received dinner (by the adults eating it — my various in-laws and me and J.) and a welcome lighter alternative to some of the meals I’ve been cooking for them lately.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more about me and CITK, and keep in touch:
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Cheesy Kale Crisps: We rarely eat kale now that our farm share is over, and I want to fix that. I've wanted to try using nutritional yeast, and this recipe looks like a tasty way to do it.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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