Chicken & Sweet Onion Crockpot Dinner

Yesterday was busy.  Lots of painting going on.

And lacing.
And potty training.
Don’t worry, I didn’t take pictures of that.
With all of our projects going on, and my pledge to get back to the gym, I needed something easy for dinner.  I don’t know why, but I have never used my crockpot to it’s full potential.  I think it’s because when I first started cooking, the only crockpot recipes I could find were heavy on the salt and cream of whatever and just didn’t sound very appetizing.  As I started searching for gluten-free recipes though, I came across some simple and healthy crockpot recipes from Stephanie O’Dea.  I had visited her site a few times before but never realized that all of her recipes are gluten-free because her youngest daughter has celiac disease.  Stephanie’s Vietnamese Roasted Chicken sounded interesting, so I gathered all of the ingredients together,
including my brand new gluten-free soy sauce.
As I inspected the fish sauce, I noticed that it was a little bit on the expired side.
Oops, over a year old and barely used.  Time to get some more!
So instead of fish sauce, I used some red pepper flakes. I know, I know, they are not the same thing at all.  So what?
After pouring the sauce over my frozen chicken thighs, I felt like the pot was a bit bare.
So I added some thickly sliced onions.  I’m so glad that I did because they came out sweet and caramelicious.
The result?  Tender chicken, sweet onions, dinner that the whole family raved over.  The best part?  I had a fantastic workout, the kids got to go swimming, and we all came home to a hot meal ready to go.  Hooray for the crockpot!

Chicken & Sweet Onion Crockpot Dinner

Ingredients
  

  • 6 chicken thighs can be frozen
  • Tbsp. lower-sodium soy sauce I used gluten-free
  • Tbsp. turbinado sugar can use any kind of sugar
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 2 yellow onions peeled and thickly sliced

Instructions
 

  • Place the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot.
  • Mix soy sauce, sugar, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes and olive oil in a small bowl.  Pour over chicken.
  • Place onion slices on top of chicken.
  • Cover with lid and cook on high for 2 hours then on low for 3-4 hours or until ready to serve.  (Cooking times will vary depending on crockpot and whether chicken is fresh or frozen.)
  • Serve chicken over rice and garnish with fresh parsley.

(adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking)

  • Kendra August 9, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    I LOVE Stephanie's recipes/cookbooks AND my crockpot(s). Living in Phoenix if I dont have to turn on the oven GREAT! I am making this Wednesday using some Asian sweet chili sauce I have instead of the sugar/chili flakes/fish sauce. I am also topping it with the onions and some cauliflower from BB.

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  • Joanna August 22, 2011 at 2:54 am

    I just love new recipes for the slow cooker! This one sounds fantastic!

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