Honey Garlic Chicken

This is a nice slow-cooker recipe.  I say nice because it's not completely JUST cooked in the slow-cooker.  The taste is amazing but, there are extra 'steps' that are needed to complete the recipe - if I told you it was 'solely' slow-cooker recipe, you'd be sad in the end that you had a bunch of chicken thighs floating around in a 'soupy-sauce'.  Here is what I did:  I let my chicken cook (from fresh) on HIGH for one hour and then switch to Medium (which is more like Low on other models) for the final 4 hours.  About one hour before slow-cooker time ended, I placed in  large slices of onion.  At the end of slow-cooker cook time, I removed all the thighs to a foil lined baking sheet and proceeded to 'thicken up' the soupy sauce...all the taste is in there - it just needs a little help getting to 'sauce' stage!  I added a cornstarch/slurry mix to thicken the sauce in the slow-cooker.  I then basted the chicken thighs with the sauce and popped it into the oven for 10 minutes, letting the chicken brown up and 'marry' to the sauce. I served the remaining sauce/onion mix separate and the baked thighs in sauce over steamed rice.  We LOVED the taste of the meal.  ~Enjoy! Diane

Honey-Garlic Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
6-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbs ketchup
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 large onion, sliced
1/3 cup honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 Tbs hot chili oil, optional
2 Tbs cornstarch for slurry at end

Directions
Lay chicken thighs into the bottom of a 4-6 quart slow cooker.
Whisk soy sauce, ketchup, tomato sauce, honey, garlic, and basil together in a bowl; pour over the chicken. Add sliced onion into slow-cooker one hour  before end of cook time. There are some 'final' prep steps that are needed with this recipe.  I use about 2 Tbs cornstarch and a bit of cold water added to make a paste (slurry) that is added to the sauce to thicken.  I remove my chicken to a foil lined baking sheet, heat my oven to 375 and thicken the sauce and onion mixture that is in my slow-cooker.  Once the sauce is thickened, I baste the chicken  that is on the baking sheet and pop into the oven for 10 minutes.
Serve chicken over steamed rice.
Serve the extra sauce/onions on the side.

Cook on Low in slow-cooker for 5 hours - Finish in oven 10 minutes
(check chicken with an instant read meat thermometer to ensure it's done)

Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home