Chicken

Sweet Chili Ginger Chicken

Sweet, gingery and just a little spicy. Ready sooner than most.

Prep 5 min LOW 5–6 hours HIGH 2½–3 hours Serves 6

Sweet Chili Ginger Chicken, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

This is our takeout recipe. Sweet chili sauce is one of those flavors that seems complicated — sweet, sour, garlicky, a little hot — and is actually just a few things in the right proportion.

Like the honey garlic, it uses very little liquid so it glazes rather than sauces. And like the honey garlic, it's faster: five to six hours instead of seven.

Thighs are the right cut here. The sweetness needs a richer meat behind it or the whole thing reads as candy.

Why you'll love it

Tastes like takeout, costs like groceries.

Sweet chili is a restaurant flavor and this gets there.

Faster than most.

Five to six hours on LOW, or under three on HIGH.

Mild heat, real flavor.

A background warmth rather than a burn.

Vegetables stay crunchy.

They go in at the end, which keeps texture in a dish where everything else is soft.

What's already in the packet

Brown sugar powderGarlicChili powderGingerOnionSoy sauce powderCayenneChicken bouillonBlack pepper

Brown sugar and chili with ginger and soy — the four things that make sweet chili taste like sweet chili.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 5–6 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 2½–3 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Thighs are more forgiving here. Breasts should come out right at 165°F.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
½ cup Water
1 packet Cook SLO Sweet Chili Ginger Chicken

Pick your chicken

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken drumsticks

Cook chicken to 165°F

Add vegetables

Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Snap peas (fresh or frozen)Baby cornPineapple chunksSliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Water chestnutsBroccoli florets (fresh or frozen)

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen) at the start; pineapple chunks in the last hour; snap peas (fresh or frozen), baby corn, water chestnuts and broccoli florets (fresh or frozen) in the last forty-five minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, to soften into the sauce	Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)	These break down and give their flavour to the pot. Right for a gravy or a fajita, wrong if you want them to hold their shape.
Last hour	Pineapple chunks	Any longer and green beans go grey, squash turns to water, and pineapple falls apart.
Last 45 minutes	Snap peas (fresh or frozen)Baby cornWater chestnutsBroccoli florets (fresh or frozen)	This is the one people get wrong. Broccoli added at the start comes out grey and falls apart. Forty-five minutes keeps it bright and firm.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced carrots (fresh or frozen) and bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Add pineapple chunks, snap peas (fresh or frozen), baby corn, water chestnuts and broccoli florets (fresh or frozen) when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**Served over noodles.** Cook lo mein or rice noodles separately and spoon the glaze from the bottom of the pot over the top. **Do not add dry pasta to the pot for this recipe.** There is only half a cup of liquid — it makes a glaze, not a sauce, and there is nothing for pasta to cook in.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Coat the meat in a bag, not in the pot
Put the meat and the whole packet into a gallon zip bag, seal it, and shake until every surface is covered. It coats far more evenly than sprinkling from above, it takes ten seconds, and there is nothing to wash afterwards.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Thighs can go in whole. Breasts are better cut into large chunks.
2
Pour in just ½ cup of water.
Half a cup. More liquid and you lose the glaze entirely.
3
Sprinkle the whole packet over the chicken and turn the pieces once.
Coating both sides matters more here than in the saucy recipes.
4
Put the lid on.
Add vegetables in the last 45 minutes if you're using them.

Vegetables

Spoon the glaze from the bottom over the chicken.

The sugar sinks. Bring it back up.

Serve right away over rice.

The glaze is glossiest in the first ten minutes.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point and turn the pieces over

There is very little liquid here and a lot of sugar, so the bottom catches. Turning the meat also brings glaze back up onto the top, where it belongs.

Swaps and add-ins

Add pineapple.

A cup of chunks in the last 30 minutes. Makes it sweet-and-sour.

Broil for two minutes.

Caramelizes the edges and looks restaurant-made.

Serve it in lettuce cups.

Chop the chicken small, spoon into butter lettuce.

Make it hotter.

Sriracha or chili crisp stirred in at the end, per plate.

Tips for success

Half a cup of water, no more. This is the one instruction people override, and it's the one that matters most.
Thighs over breasts here. Sweet glaze on lean breast meat can read as dry. Thighs stay juicy.
Vegetables in the last 45 minutes. Crunch is what keeps this from tasting like every other slow cooker dish.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

A squeeze of fresh lime.

Sweet and sticky needs acid more than anything else in this book. Do not skip it.

Toasted sesame seeds.

Ten seconds and it looks like it came in a takeout box.

Sliced green onion.

Sharp raw onion against the sweetness. Traditional and correct.

Serve it over

White or fried riceLo mein noodlesLettuce cupsSteamed broccoliRice noodles

Tomorrow night

Sweet chili rice bowls.

Over rice with cucumber and shredded carrot.

Chicken banh mi.

On a baguette with pickled carrot, cucumber and cilantro.

Fried rice.

Chopped, fried with day-old rice, egg and peas.

Cold noodle salad.

Tossed with rice noodles, herbs and extra lime.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months. Glazes freeze cleanly.

Reheating

A hot skillet beats the microwave — it re-crisps the glaze.

Questions people ask

Recipe card