Chinese in a slow cooker.

I grew up with a love for Chinese food. It’s something I definitely inherited from mum. Chinese food was the one thing my mum always gravitated towards when given the opportunity. Mum would eat it in food courts and more often than not over indulge! Mum also cooked Chinese food at home fairly often. I have loads of memories of her making a beef stir-fry with black bean sauce or fish with ginger and garlic for dinner. Our fridge and pantry always had oyster sauce, black beans, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts ready on hand for mum to whip up into a stirfry meal.

These days when I’m out with Daniel and the kids, we love to head to Yum Cha for lunch. It’s a treat for us as depending on the venue, it can be quite expensive. I often have food envy so Yum Cha is perfect for me since you get the chance to sample a bit of everything. Like mum, I do cook Chinese food at home… just not as often as she does.

Many people would naturally grab a wok to make a Chinese meal. However, I made this honey soy chicken meal in my slow cooker. The slow cooking works to really infuse the flavours into the chicken making this a delicious sticky bit of food heaven. Don’t leave out the Chinese Five Spice if you can help it. This gives this honey soy chicken meal such a wonderful aroma and flavour. Slow cookers are definitely a busy mum’s secret weapon. You can also plug your slow cooker into a timer. If you work late, just set your slow cooker to start and stop at certain times to ensure your meal is perfectly cooked!

Honey Soy Chicken

Chinese food isn’t typically cooked in a slow cooker. However for time poor mums, the slow cooker is a saviour! This Honey Soy Chicken recipe is finger licking delicious. Serve with white rice and a side of steame or sauteed green vegetables.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

 

• 500 g chicken tenderloins
• 1 tablespoon flour
• salt & pepper
• ¼ cup honey
• ⅛ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
• ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cornflour, (optional)
• sesame seeds, to garnish
• 1 spring onion, finely diced to garnish

Instructions

 

• Turn slow cooker onto high setting.
• Put flour, salt & pepper in a sandwich bag and coat chicken. Transfer chicken to slow cooker, discard flour.
• In a small bowl mix together honey, soy sauce, tomato sauce, garlic, ginger, onion powder and five spice. Mix thoroughly and pour over chicken.
• Cook on high for 4 hours or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and sauce has darkened.
• If you feel like the sauce needs thickening, dissolve cornflour in small amount of water and add to slow cooker. Allow to simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
• Serve chicken on top of steamed rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onions to garnish.

Notes

• Use chicken thighs rather than chicken breast if you need to substitute the tenders for something else. 
• If you prefer to have more sauce, add 2 tablespoons of water to the recipe after adding in the soy sauce.