November 15, 2016

Honey garlic chicken sliders

Do you know the very sweet Kelly from Life Made Sweeter?  Though Kelly and I have never met in person, I've gotten to know her via this food blogging journey and have the pleasure of considering her a friend.  Take a look at her site and it'll be obvious that Kelly is an incredible cook and baker.  You'll find her making delicious yet easy Asian-inspired meals, whipping up fresh batches of granola for her family, concocting fantastical cakes for her kids' birthdays, or tempting us with glorious desserts.  She's a supermom to 2 adorable little kids, a devoted wife, and a loving daughter.  Kindness just radiates from her and I can't thank Kelly enough for the support and encouragement she's shown me in the last few years.  
Lucky for all of us, Kelly just launched her first cookbook, The Asian Slow Cooker!  I am so happy for all her well-deserved success and it's clear she worked very hard on this book.  It's chock full of easy, mouth-watering, creative recipes with an Asian twist, often using the slow cooker to do the work so we can have more time to do everything else.  
I've tagged many recipes to make from the cookbook so I'll be busy for a while! And although it wasn't easy picking the first recipe to make, I went for the honey garlic chicken sliders...who doesn't love honey garlic chicken!  This is my kind of recipe - an easy one that uses a handful of mainly pantry ingredients with hardly any prep.  After a few hours in the slow cooker, the chicken turns out moist and succulent - and the sauce (which I thickened slightly with a cornstarch slurry to make more of a glaze) lends it a delicious sweetness; my son likened it to teriyaki sauce, which is a very good thing in our book.  Shredded, the chicken is great for sliders, as a filling for tacos, or eaten on its own with some rice or noodles.  
Making this for dinner on a busy weeknight, I used Hawaiian rolls and loaded them up with the chicken and plenty of the tasty sauce.  We had some roasted veggies - as well as tortilla chips and salsa - with it but to kick it up another notch, follow Kelly's advice and make a colorful and crunchy cabbage slaw to go with the sliders.  Either way, you can't go wrong.
There is something wonderfully cozy about a slow-cooker working away in your kitchen, filling your house with delicious aroma as you go about your day.  You can make a hearty, healthy meal to share with your family and often have leftovers to repurpose for another day.  For anyone who likes the idea of Asian inspired slow cooker recipes, or who loves Chinese takeout but is looking for a healthier, tastier alternative to enjoy at home, this is a great book for you!


This recipe is really easy to put together!  I opted to use (skinless, bone-in) chicken thighs rather than chicken breasts and started with a little over 1 1/2 lbs.  Simply place the chicken in the slow cooker and mix together the ingredients that will flavor the chicken.  It's a blend of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, balsamic glaze, honey, and garlic.  Lucky for me, I have most of these ingredients sitting in my pantry.  The one thing I don't have is balsamic glaze so I used a spoonful of balsamic vinegar; it's not exactly the same but I think I still get a bit of that complex flavor profile.  
All you have to do is pour this sauce over the chicken, along with a chopped onion.  I gave it a little nudge and stir and let it cook for about 4 hours on low in my slow cooker.  I can't leave well enough alone so I went in to give it a stir once or twice but you can just go about your day while dinner's cooking away.  After 4 hours or so, you have this marvelous mahogany-colored chicken that you can pull apart with 2 forks.
You can take the sauce/juice straight from the slow cooker and use it to moisten the chicken.  I wanted to thicken it somewhat so I transferred the sauce to a small saucepan and thickened it with a little cornstarch slurry.  This way you have a bit of a glaze that will stick to the meat better.  I ended up adding more and more of the sauce as I was putting each slider together!
You can top the chicken with some toasted sesame seeds or add a little hot sauce for extra spice.  Have fun!  I know we had a fun time gobbling up these sliders!

Kelly...your book rocks!  I know you did your mom and family proud.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful straightforward recipes with us.  I just love that you included a photo for each recipe so I can picture it on my dining room table!  I already have my eye on the Vietnamese pork chops and would love to cook up the eggplant for my mom.  It'll happen soon!  

Recipe:

Honey Garlic Chicken Sliders
Adapted from The Asian Slow Cooker by Kelly Kwok

- 4 to 6 servings - 

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. skinless, bone-in chicken thighs or chicken breasts (I used thighs)
1/4 cup (59ml) low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons (48g) hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons (48g) Thai sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons (30ml) balsamic glaze (I substituted with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar)
2 tablespoons (42g) honey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, sliced or diced
Slider buns

Place chicken directly into the bottom of your slow cooker.  Combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili sauce, balsamic glaze, honey, garlic, and pour evenly on top of the chicken.  Scatter the onion on top and give everything a light stir.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours (I gave it a stir midway).  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and shred into thin strips using 2 forks.  Take a little of the sauce/juice* and stir it into the shredded chicken to moisten.  Fill slider buns with the shredded chicken and enjoy!

* If desired, you can do like I did and transfer the sauce/juice from the slow cooker into a small saucepan and thicken it with a cornstarch slurry.  I mixed about 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 4 teaspoons cold water.  Over medium heat, stir about half the slurry into the sauce until thickened.  Add a bit more slurry if necessary to reach the desired consistency you prefer.


27 comments:

  1. Wow! Looks great! The tendered and flavorful meat sure make me eat more sandwiches!

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    1. Yes, very tender and packed with sweet and savory flavor so what more could a meat-lover want? ; )

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  2. o yes, I love Kelly's recipes too. These sliders look amazingly delicious with the honey garlic chicken.

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  3. Its a gorgeous recipe! Simple to make but packed with flavour. I love the cover too...everything looks so delicious.

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    1. Don't you love that - easy, simple, but good. I love the cover, too, and the photos inside are wonderful as well. There's one with each recipe which is practically a must for me.

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  4. What a great recipe and a beautiful review of a well deserving blogger. Thank you for sharing this cookbook - I will have to check it out asap! Have a wonderful week Monica.

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  5. The sliders sound terrific. Perfect to serve when you have a group over for a football game.

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    1. Yes, awesome for football season, for feeding a crowd. It's happy food. : )

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  6. Aaw you are the sweetest, Monica! These sliders look amazing!! Love all the adaptations you made! Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe and my book. You are way too kind, I am so happy that this blogging journey has allowed me to find such good friends like you. Thank you so much for your support and friendship throughout the years. You are always making me hungry with everything you make, your family is so lucky to have such an amazing baker and cook :) xo

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    1. Hi Kelly! : ) Kudos again to you on the book; I love it!! Needless to say, your family is so lucky to have you and to enjoy your awesome cooking. I loved reading about your mom and how much of an influence she is on you; she must be so happy and proud! : ) I can't wait to try other recipes soon. I want to eat everything - each dish looks so great, beautifully captured!

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  7. Yay for Kelly's cookbook! These sliders sound fantastic. Perfect for game day or really any day! Now if only I had them waiting in my crock for dinner tonight... lol

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    1. I love it when the slow cooker is out and doing its thing. Kelly's book is great - simple recipes that I can do and it has all the flavors I crave all the time. : )

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  8. Hi Monica, Kelly does have wonderful recipes, I will have to pick up a copy of her book. I just started cooking seriously with a crockpot about 2 years ago and very much enjoy the process. Delicious lookimg sliders.

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    1. Hi Cheri - for the longest time I had a crock pot and never used it. When I started to a few years ago, I really appreciated it and wondered why I kept it under wraps for so long! Amazing what can turn out in a few hours. Kelly's book is great for me...I have a lot of those pantry ingredients and crave a lot of the Asian flavors she shares. Yummy stuff! : )

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  9. This recipe sounds so delicious and flavorful! I will soon have to pick up copy of this book for more interesting recipes :-)

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    1. Yes, love the slow cooker recipes with an Asian bent.

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  10. A big kudos to Kelly! Awesome news and what a delicious looking slider. I just received a slow cooker for my bday this year and looking forward to giving it a workout.

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    1. Yay for Kelly and her terrific book. I know you'd love cooking in a slow cooker. Hope you share some recipes soon!!

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  11. Yay! Many congratulations to Kelly. I love her site and recipes, she is indeed a super Mom. This book has such a wonderful collection of slow cooker recipes. These honey garlic Kitchen sliders look so yummy like most of her recipes. YUM YUM! Wonderful share, Monica.

    Anu
    http://www.mygingergarlickitchen.com/

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    1. Yes, she's a hardworking super mom for sure! : ) This was very tasty and I can't wait to try other recipes soon!

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  12. First of all, YUMMY recipe! Secondly, I just LOVE the name of your blog!! Following for sure! <3 - http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com

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  13. Recipes like this make me wish I had a slow -cooker, they are not popular here. Any idea how to bake this in an oven with similar results? I am drooling and I know for sure we would all love this.

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    1. I see...I'm sure you could bake this in the oven; I'd try it at a low-temp, say 275 or 300 degrees, and make sure the meat is done (temp registers 165), then reduce the sauce/thicken it with a slurry to get that flavor in the dish. You could also simmer/braise it on low on the stovetop...

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  14. There are no words for this. You have made me SO hungry. What a great idea and it sounds like a fab book.

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