Filed under: Poultry
The original recipe I followed tonight is fussy about the preparation of this sauce. You marinate the chicken in some of it, then put the rest in a blender and reduce it. Brush the chicken with half the reduced sauce, bake, brush again with remainder of sauce, and serve. I had no time for any of that. I prepped my chicken and made the sauce at 9 o’clock this morning, keeping them separate until about 1 PM. I let the mix of chicken breasts and thighs marinate for about 3 hours, until I baked the whole shebang without any additional glazing while it cooked. My method worked fine, though without the extra sauce (from the baking pan) poured over the chicken, it was less flavorful than I’d hoped.
I bought the chipotle chile in adobo sauce this time because I’ve seen it included in my recipes lately. It comes in a small can, at my supermarket it was near the olives and sun dried tomatoes. I wasn’t impressed. I didn’t think the flavor was that different from any hot sauce, and so I would just rather use the sriracha I already have in the house instead.
This is a possible repeat. Next time I would marinate the chicken for longer, and then grill it. There’s enough honey in the mix that it should get nice and caramelized when cooked that way. I served it with Spanish rice (from a mix) and roasted cauliflower.
Honey, Chipotle, & Lime Baked Chicken
Adapted from Cooking Light, June 2010
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
4 limes, juiced (about 1/2 c. juice)
1/3 c. lower sodium soy sauce
1/4 c. honey
2 Tbsp. chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced
Rinse, trim, and pat the chicken dry. Arrange pieces in a single layer in a large baking dish.
Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl, and then pour over the chicken. Marinate for an hour or more.
Preheat oven to 375° F. Turn each piece of chicken over once, so the down side is now up, and then put in the oven to bake, uncovered for about 45 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer chicken piece to a platter and serve the sauce in a gravy boat on the side.
May 20, 2010
I’ve mentioned before that I consider myself relatively slow at prep work in the kitchen. I had this Crock Pot Chicken Vindaloo in my slow cooker in exactly 10 minutes, and that included gathering all my ingredients. Unfortunately, in my whirlwind I sliced my finger open while cutting the onions. So perhaps you should aim for 15 minutes of prep!
I used almost 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. Otherwise, I followed the seasoning pretty closely, using what I had in my spice rack. Use it as a guideline: I subbed ground cinnamon for the stick, used whole cloves instead of ground, and skipped the cardamom.
I had steamed a lot of green beans for Thursday night’s dinner, and I had about two cups leftover, so I did not include them in the slow cooker until about a half hour before the vindaloo finished cooking — just enough time to heat them through. I finished the dish with a large handful of chopped cilantro.
I have become a total convert to boneless, skinless chicken thighs as my slow cooker meat of choice. They handle the long cooking time very well, and never seem to dry out. Plus they have a lot more flavor than chicken breasts. They performed as I expected in this meal, which is seriously delicious. I tend to under-spice food when left to my own devices, and I’m sometimes surprised at how absolutely popping with flavor a meal can be when you use a liberal amount of seasoning. The tomato-based sauce is thick and perfect for spooning over rice.
I couldn’t help but think of Merrie as I was plating this dinner, because she is a big fan of adding potatoes to meals in her Crock-Pot. They would be a perfect addition to this dish.
May 9, 2010
Tonight’s recipe comes from Amy, a personal chef who blogs at Dinners for a Year and Beyond. I bookmarked and then tried her Balsamic Red Onion & Tomato Chicken last June, but I messed around with her recipe quite a bit and didn’t love the result. I knew it had potential though — I was definitely interested in the idea of a balsamic-based sauce.
I retried this recipe tonight, following the original recipe closely in terms of ingredients — I omitted the butter and only seasoned the chicken with pepper rather than Montreal seasoning — and pretty closely as far as technique. Instead of cooking the chicken first, I caramelized the onions, and then set them aside in a bowl with the raw, diced tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients other than the seasoned chicken breasts and oil. I browned the chicken in a large skillet, just for color (they were not cooked through). Then I dumped the bowl of remaining ingredients on top of the chicken and let it all simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes.
It was great! The brown sugar is a sweet counterpoint to the mouth-puckering vinegar, and pre-cooking the onions helps them melt into the sauce and lend it body. The sauce is wants to be mopped up with a piece of bread, which we happily did. Cooking this dish tonight reminded me that it’s worth going back to recipes that didn’t work out as planned the first time.
April 22, 2010
I originally got this recipe for Sriracha-Glazed Chicken and Onions over Rice from Anna at Cookie Madness. It’s from Cooking Light, and the first time I made it back in August 2008 I left out the sriracha (a hot chili sauce) entirely — I couldn’t find it in my supermarket, and I was concerned my extended family would find it too spicy.
What a difference a year and a half makes. Now we keep sriracha on hand as a condiment (J. loves it) and it’s readily available at my local grocery store. I had been thinking about trying this recipe again and decided to do it when my parents were over, since they are OK with a little more heat. I followed the recipe as written this time, though I caramelized the onions for nearly three times as long as recommended.
The presentation is beautiful — browned chicken, golden onions, and a thick and glossy sauce are professional-looking on top of white rice. It is spicy, but not in an uncomfortable way. It’s just the right amount to pack a punch of sweet and heat — the ginger also comes through. I put roasted asparagus alongside, which I’ve been making at least once a week lately. My parents and I loved it, and I would definitely make it again.
April 14, 2010
Updated to add: I used a 16 oz. jar of medium salsa, which is more than the original recipe calls for. Also, I did get some slight burning of the beans around the bottom edge of the crock, but not enough to bother me or really detract from the recipe.
I bookmarked this Martha Stewart recipe for Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans a couple of months ago because I wanted to start experimenting with using dried beans in my slow cooker. I wound up starting it late — it was almost 11 AM — and I was worried about the beans finishing in time. So I cooked it on high for 3 hours, and then once I saw that the beans were softening enough, I switched it to low for another 3 hours (yes, I open my Crock-Pot during cooking).
I used vegetable stock instead of water, and omitted the canned chipotle chiles because I was hoping to make something mild enough for the kids to eat. I liked it a lot; it’s a solid recipe that doesn’t take on that generic mushiness that some slow cooker recipes have. The dried beans hold their texture, and I find that the dark meat of the chicken holds up better than white meat does. My preparation wasn’t bland, but I do think it would have been a lot tastier with the chipotle, or with some chili powder or other spices added. As leftovers today for lunch, the pintos reminded me of refried beans, which I like. I’ll definitely make this dish again.
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I offered A. 25¢ to try the meal. He bargained me up to 50¢, and took a bite. Then he took several more bites because apparently it wasn’t quite as horrible as he’d expected. I’ll take it as a small victory.
April 13, 2010
This chicken dish is a favorite of J.’s family, so I made it tonight when everyone was over for dinner. They definitely prefer boneless, skinless chicken breasts over bone-in pieces, and I now make this recipe with those cutlets exclusively. The flavor is better, since the sauce sits right on the chicken instead of its skin. I bumped up the quantity of onion, too (we love ‘em), which was also a positive change from the original.
These six chicken breasts were large — nearly half a pound apiece — so if yours are smaller adjust the bake time downward.
Neil Sedaka’s (Boneless) Chicken
Adapted from Neil Sedaka’s Chicken
2 large onions, thinly sliced
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (seasoned with salt & pepper if you like)
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. prepared whole-grain mustard
4 Tbsp. ketchup
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Spread half of the onion in a layer on the bottom of a large glass casserole dish and arrange chicken breasts on top. Add remaining onion on top of the chicken. Sprinkle with vinegar and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Mix garlic, mustard, and ketchup together and spoon over chicken and onions.
Bake for one hour, turning once at the 40 minutes point, until chicken is cooked through. Stir sauce and onions together and spoon over chicken breasts to serve.
April 8, 2010
Kalyn posted her sister-in-law’s recipe for white chicken chili (Amy’s Amazing White Chicken Chili) on Twitter recently, and I knew immediately I wanted to make it. I have a backlog of dinners I want to make when my parents are here — Hot & Sour Soup and Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans, to name a couple — but this chili sounded too good to put in the “to try, eventually” folder. I was not disappointed.
I followed Kalyn’s basic recipe, but instead of prepping chicken breasts specifically for the dish, I used leftover roasted chicken from the night before. It was mostly breast meat, with a little dark meat too. I removed all the meat from the bone and roughly chopped it into bite-sized pieces; I wound up with 3 cups worth. Then I picked up her recipe after she explained cooking the chicken. Using leftovers made this chili super-easy, and what a totally different way to make use of a chicken two nights in a row!
Other changes I made: I am apparently out of oregano, so I omitted it. My chiles didn’t say anything about the variety of pepper — I used two 4.5-oz. cans of Old El Paso chopped chiles. Even with this quantity it has a lovely warmth, but is not a gasp-for-beer spicy dish. Next time I would chose fresh jalapeño peppers instead, though I did enjoy the soft texture of the canned chiles. I used 3 cups of homemade chicken stock and did not add the additional flavor base — it didn’t need it. I rinse and drain my beans to cut down the salt content a bit. And I used a lot of cilantro, about a cup, chopped. You can add salt and pepper to taste.
We ate this chili with Bachman MultiGrain Tortilla Chips, the first time I’ve tried this variety. They were excellent and have a better nutritional profile than traditional chips. Me and my parents loved this meal, though not surprisingly the boys wouldn’t try the chili. A. ate a couple of chips, but perhaps because they were brown and somewhat healthy-looking G. could not be convinced to even eat those.
February 10, 2010
I first tried to recreate a restaurant-quality coq au vin at home last May, and although the result was pretty tasty it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I found using bone-in chicken awkward, since the end result is like a stew, and the bones had to be fished out.
I came across another coq au vin recipe in a Better Homes & Gardens Ultimate Slow-Cooker magazine that I borrowed from Suzanne. It reminded me I wanted to give this traditional dish another go. I preferred this version, but it’s still not exactly right. It definitely needs some more seasoning — black pepper, a bay leaf, or maybe tarragon? Also, I liked the tomato paste called for in the first recipe I tried; it added some depth and nice color that I missed in this one. Plus the sauce in this recipe is very thin at the end. That’s fine if you’re putting it over noodles or rice, but it just lacked the right velvety mouth-feel I was looking for.
I’m posting the recipe as I made it, because my mother in law wants to try making it herself! That’s a lovely compliment to get. Also, A. told me that while this was cooking it smelled delicious, like pancakes. And he ate a whole piece of the chicken, sans veggies. I would make this dish with dark meat only, but I had some people eating with me that prefer white meat, so I used a combination of thighs and breasts.
Slow Cooker Coq au Vin, Second Try
Adapted from BH&G Ultimate Slow-Cooker
1 lb. frozen pearl onions
1 c. baby carrots (a large handful)
2.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
20 oz. mushrooms, cleaned & quartered (I like baby bellas, white are fine too)
1 c. beef stock
1/2 c. dry red wine
In a large (6 qt.) slow cooker, layer the ingredients in the order listed above. Cook for 4 hours on high, then season to taste. Serve over egg noodles or rice to soak up the cooking liquid.
January 29, 2010
I was sure I had nearly a full bag of lentils in my pantry, but it turned out to be just half a cup. This turned out to be a happy mistake. Instead of the two full cups of lentils this recipe called for, I used a quarter of that and then filled in the rest with chunks of washed, but unpeeled, white potatoes from my farm share. They are perfect together, and create a really delicious Indian-inspired dish. Although there are green chiles in here, it’s not spicy, I promise.
I probably would have preferred the onions if I’d taken the time to caramelize them in some olive oil first. I also thought the flavor improved the second day, when my leftovers were reheated. Still, I will definitely make this recipe again, and it inspired me to think some more about other curry dishes for the Crock-Pot.
Crock-Pot Indian-Spiced Chicken with Lentils & Potatoes
Adapted from Indian Spiced Lentils with Chicken
½ c. lentils, picked through and rinsed
1 qt. potatoes (4-6 medium), washed and cut into chunks
1 medium onion, diced
1½ tsp. cumin
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. dried mustard
½ tsp. turmeric
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
4 c. vegetable broth
1.5 – 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts, halved)
Place everything up to and including the vegetable broth in the slow cooker and give it a stir to combine. Lay the chicken on top. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Stir and serve over rice, if desired.
Note: the original recipe suggests leaving the lid off the Crock-Pot while it is still on high for the last few minutes of cooking if you feel there’s too much liquid left for your taste. I didn’t do this, but did use a slotted spoon to serve.
December 6, 2009
My friend Mae sent my this slow cooker recipe as part of an email recipe exchange, and it turned out great! It is super simple, too.
The finished dish has a bit more liquid than is appropriate for tortillas, but it is perfect over rice, which soaks up all the sweet and slightly spicy goodness. You could try draining off some of the pineapple juice before cooking to decrease the liquid as well.
I used fresh chicken, but Mae uses frozen chicken breasts and cooks it on low for 8-10 hours instead of on high for a shorter period.
Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken with Pineapple
From Mae
olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained
1 16 oz. jar salsa (I use a medium spiciness)
1 20 oz. can unsweetened, crushed pineapple
Brush a small amount of olive oil on the bottom of your slow cooker, and place chicken breasts in a single layer inside. Then pour the remaining ingredients on top. Set to cook on high for 4 hours. After 3½ hours, check that chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken breasts, shred the meat, and stir it back into the slow cooker. Continue cooking for remaining half hour.
November 14, 2009
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I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 4 and 6, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 