Slow Cooker Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

Fall is here and that means it’s time for all kinds of wonderful slow-cooker meals. I love cooking with my slow cooker—did I mention I have five?—and use it for all three meals (slow-cooker hot breakfasts on cold mornings are awesome, but that’s another post), and for desserts and treats. I love being able to put together dinner first thing in the morning and not have to worry about it all day, especially on busy days—and on Sundays when we are frequently occupied with church meetings for much of the day.

I am always on the hunt for new and delicious recipes. I found this one online somewhere and, as with most recipes, I have tweaked it to make it work for my family. We love Chinese food, even when it is, as my son says, really American-Chinese. It’s tasty either way.

Slow Cooker Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken , cubed
• ½ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ cup water

Hot cooked rice

Directions

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Set aside pineapple chunks to add later.

Place carrots, onion, garlic and ginger in large slow cooker. Top with chicken. Mix soy sauce, brown sugar and pineapple juice; pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 9 hours or until chicken is no longer pink.

During last 30 minutes, add pineapple and bell peppers. Increase to high heat setting. Mix cornstarch and water; stir into chicken mixture during last 10 minutes of cooking. Serve with rice.

Note: If you don’t get this in first thing in the morning, you can pre-cook the chicken (I microwave it) and partially cook the carrots (ditto on the microwave). If you do this, you can cook it for about 4 hours on low and it tastes just as delicious.