Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Bowl: If ketchup goes with every chicken dinner in your family, try these saucy, sweet, and tangy chicken thighs instead.
The meat becomes incredibly tender in the slow cooker so you can easily slip out the bones and cut the chicken into bite-size pieces for kids.
Bone-in chicken thighs are pan-seared before being basted with sticky-sweet sauce and slow cooked to fork-tender perfection.
Sear the chicken thighs in batches to avoid over-crowding the pan and hindering browning.
Though we swoon over the superiorly moist meat, the real magic lies within the sauce, which masters the balance of savory and sweet.
For a burst of freshness, we add a simple cabbage slaw that rounds out the meal with a satisfying crunch.
For an extra dose of veggies, pair it with sugar snap or snow peas.
Our recipe requires little legwork and saves 300 calories and 250mg of sodium over the classic.
Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Bowl
Recipe
- Prep time 20 mins
- Cook time 20 mins
- Total time40 mins
Bone-in chicken thighs are pan-seared before being basted with sticky-sweet sauce and slow cooked to fork-tender perfection.
Sear the chicken thighs in batches to avoid over-crowding the pan and hindering browning.
Though we swoon over the superiorly moist meat, the real magic lies within the sauce, which masters the balance of savory and sweet.
For a burst of freshness, we add a simple cabbage slaw that rounds out the meal with a satisfying crunch.
For an extra dose of veggies, pair it with sugar snap or snow peas.
Our recipe requires little legwork and saves 300 calories and 250mg of sodium over the classic.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 green onions
- 1/4 cup unsalted ketchup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar, divided
- 2 (8.8-oz.) pouches pre-cooked whole-grain brown rice (such as Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice)
- 3 cups packaged cabbage-and-carrot coleslaw
- 3/4 cup thinly sliced radishes1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Step By Step Procedure
Step 1
Place chicken thighs in a large ziplock plastic freezer bag; sprinkle with cornstarch, and seal.
Shake bag until chicken is evenly coated. Remove chicken; shake off excess cornstarch.
Step 2
Heat canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high.
Add chicken, and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.
Place in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker.
Step 3
Thinly slice green parts of green onions; set aside.
Finely chop white parts of green onions; stir together with ketchup, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, salt, and 1/2 cup vinegar in a medium bowl.
Pour sauce over chicken in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or on LOW for 7 hours and 30 minutes, until chicken is tender and cooked through.
Remove chicken from slow cooker; cool slightly. Carefully remove bones from each thigh; discard bones.
Step 4
Heat rice according to package directions. Stir together coleslaw, radishes, sesame oil, and remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar.
Step 5
Divide cooked rice evenly among 6 bowls. Top evenly with coleslaw mixture and chicken. Drizzle with sauce from slow cooker; sprinkle with green onion slices.
