Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken & Bacon Ranch Slowcooker Chicken

This past few weeks have been pretty crazy ones for us! So often when these types of weeks happen, we end up eating out WAY too much- this is not good for the waistline or the wallet! So I have been trying out new crock pot recipes to help make these crazy days a little less stressful! Here are two of my most recent discoveries- both turned out great and I love that they’re good summer recipes too! Happy crockpot-ing friends!

--Brittany J

Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 5

Salt and pepper

1 cup of honey

1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Cornstarch

Sesame seeds

Instructions:

1.   Place the chicken thighs in the crockpot insert and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.

2.   In a medium sized bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, oil, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine well. Pour over the chicken in the crockpot.

3.   Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours.

4.   When done, remove chicken from stock pot and cut into chunks. Prior to putting the chicken back in the stockpot, combine some cornstarch in water and whisk it into the crockpot to thicken up the sauce a bit. Throw the chicken back in and stir around to recoat the chicken in the sauce.5.   Serve hot over a bed of white rice (optional) and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Bacon Ranch Slowcooker Chicken
4 Servings

2 butterball turkey bacon strips, cooked and shredded (if you really want the easy way you can do what I did—use the bacon pieces you buy on the salad dressing aisle!)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 10.75 oz can condensed cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
1 cup fat-free sour cream
16 oz. chicken breasts, frozen or defrosted/raw
8 oz. pasta (I used rigatoni), cooked

Combine the first five ingredients. Place frozen or defrosted/raw chicken in slowcooker sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and pour sauce over the top (do NOT include water like the can mentions). Cook on high for 3.5 hours. Shred chicken with two forks. Cook pasta per package instructions on stove. Serve chicken over pasta.

Nutritional Information: 456 calories, 61 carbs, 5 fat grams and 36 protein grams.