Sweet Chili Chicken in a Crock-Pot

Have you ever wished to take back a recipe when you sit down to eat? As soon as you sit down to eat you want to completely go back six hours and choose to cook the recipe in a different way? This Sweet Chili Chicken in a Crock-Pot meal is one that I wish to go back in time and cook the chicken on the stove like I usually do, instead of putting it in a Crock-Pot. In this blog I am going to give the full recipe AND how I would have cooked this meal before following the recipe.

Sweet chili chicken served on rice

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Published October 16, 2021
Updated March 17, 2022
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Cost breakdown for this recipe

One reason this was on our menu was because I was craving a meal with Sweet Chili sauce. What I was NOT looking forward to, was the actual end result and taste of this meal. Anyhow, below is a cost breakdown for each ingredient that went into this meal, including the homemade Sweet Chili sauce.

Making sauces from scratch is one way to cut the cost in a meal in such a dramatic way. Instead of buying one jar, 7-ounces of sauce, you can make three times that amount for typically the same cost. The cost of a jar of Sweet Chili Sauce, 6.7-ounces, is $3.49. Making this Sweet Chili Sauce recipe is $1.10

Chicken $9.53
Peppers $2.99
Brown Rice $3.19
Green Beans $1.19
Snap Peas $1.19
Pineapple $1.69
Ketchup $0.60
Soy Sauce $0.10
3 Garlic Cloves $0.20
Brown Sugar $0.20
Sugar $0.20
Apple Cider Vinegar $0.40

The total cost for this recipe was $21.48.
That is $3.38 per serving. And let me tell you, we have LOADS of it for leftovers. Making this recipe is so cost effective if you want a lot of food, to feed a lot of people. If you were to buy Sweet Chili Pineapple Chicken from a restaurant, you would pay close to $13.70 per serving. We would pay close to $80 to buy enough servings to feed our family. I don’t know about you, but we sure like saving $70 on a meal!

What to change

This recipe, in theory is perfect. It has vegetables, meat and a delicious sauce. What I was unaware of was the resulting dryness of the chicken. The original recipe that I was referencing said to put this meal at a HIGH temp for 5-6 hours, when I should have put it at LOW for 5-6 hours. The chicken ended up dry and I highly recommend not using a Crock-Pot with this meal, unless you are only putting it on LOW for 5-6 hours, so the chicken is fully cooked, yet moist.

Another way to make this chicken is to cook it on the stove in a Wok, and when the chicken is cooked, add the vegetables and make it into a stir fry. Add the sauce last and save some to drizzle over the top. Check the bottom of the post, after the recipe, for my Stir Fry Variation for this recipe!

Sweet Chili Pineapple Chicken Recipe

Sweet Chili Chicken Ingredients

1 1/2-pound Chicken
3 Peppers, yellow, red, orange
Brown Rice
Green Beans
Snap Peas
1 Pineapple
Sweet Chili sauce

ingredients for sweet chili chicken on stovetop

Sweet Chili Chicken Directions

1. Cube the chicken to 1-2-inch pieces and then place them into the Crock-Pot.

cubed chicken in a Crock-Pot with lid on

2. Rinse the bell peppers in a sink colander, then on a cutting board core and cut the pineapple, wash the green beans and snap peas, and then set aside.

3. Now that the vegetables are washed and prepped, place them on the chicken in the Crock-Pot.

4. Make the Sweet Chili sauce and then carefully pour it over the vegetables and chicken.

sweet chili sauce poured on top of vegetables and chicken in Crock-Pot

Sweet Chili Sauce Ingredients

1/3 cup Ketchup
4 tsp Soy Sauce
3 Garlic Cloves
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

ingredients to make sweet chili sauce on stove

Sweet Chili Sauce Directions

1. Firstly, place 1/3 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 4 tsp soy, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, and 2 garlic cloves minced in a saucepan and heat to medium-high until boiling.

2. Reduce the heat to simmer for 10-minutes or until thickened. For this meal I doubled the recipe of sweet chili sauce to cook the food in the Crock-Pot.

cooking sweet chili sauce for sweet chili chicken recipe

5. Cover the Crock-Pot and then cook on LOW for 4-5 hours.

lid placed on Crock-Pot for sweet chili chicken

Finally, serve with rice, top the chicken and vegetables with more sauce, if you prefer to make more, and enjoy!
~Monica

sweet chili chicken and vegetables on white rice served on a plate

Final result

I love making Oriental-flavored foods. For example, some of my favorite meals include stir fry, beef & broccoli, Sushi, Crab Rangoons, Spring rolls, and Teriyaki anything. My family, on the other hand, is not a fan of stir fry-based meals. So, with this recipe I was hoping to make a meal that he would enjoy, a hearty dinner full of flavor.

As a result, this meal was not my favorite, and to be honest, I would never make it again in this same way. The recipe I followed called for a cook-time on HIGH for 6-8 hours, which I should have never listened to. As a self-proclaimed Chef, I should have never cooked this meal that long.

Since making this recipe, I have altered the directions to give a more accurate time to cook so the chicken is not terribly dry. I was literally shocked at the dryness of the chicken when we sat down for dinner, and the vegetables were all either way over cooked or practically mush. For instance, the green beans were so over cooked they were like wilted yarn strings. I would have made this recipe not in a Crock-Pot, but as a Stir-Fry so the vegetables would have been cooked each to perfection.

Crock-Pots are amazing for certain recipes. This Sweet Chili Chicken, however, was not a win and therefore gets a one-star review.

Recipe for Sweet Chili Chicken

Sweet Chili Chicken in a Crock-Pot

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Crock-Pot
  • Sink Colander
  • Cutting board
  • Medium Saucepan

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 pounds Chicken
  • 3 Peppers red, orange, yellow
  • 1 Pineapple
  • Green Beans
  • Brown Rice
  • Sweet Chili Sauce

Chili Sauce Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup Ketchup
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 4 tsp Soy Sauce
  • 1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  • 2 Garlic Cloves minced

Instructions
 

  • Place the chicken in the base of a Crock-Pot.
  • In a sink colander, wash the peppers, pineapple, green beans and snap peas.
  • On a cutting board, cut the veggies.
  • Then place all of the vegetables in the Crock-Pot.
  • Make the Sweet Chili sauce and then pour it over the vegetables in the Crock-Pot.
  • Cover the Crock-Pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or until the chicken reaches a temperature of 165 degrees.
  • Finally, serve with rice and any extra sauce you reserve from the Crock-Pot.

Sweet Chili Sauce

  • Place 1/3 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 4 tsp soy, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, and 2 garlic cloves minced in a medium pan and heat to medium-high until boiling.
  • Reduce the heat to simmer for 10-minutes or until thickened.
Keyword Crock-Pot Sweet Chili Chicken, Sweet Chili Chicken, Sweet Chili Sauce

8 responses to “Sweet Chili Chicken in a Crock-Pot”

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8 thoughts on “Sweet Chili Chicken in a Crock-Pot

  1. We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our entire community will be thankful to you.

  2. I believe that avoiding ready-made foods is the first step so that you can lose weight. They might taste excellent, but processed foods currently have very little nutritional value, making you take in more to have enough energy to get over the day. When you are constantly having these foods, changing to cereals and other complex carbohydrates will assist you to have more vitality while eating less. Good blog post.

  3. I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this website. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. Actually your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own website now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.

  4. I blog often and I truly appreciate your information. The article has truly peaked my interest. I’m going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once a week. I subscribed to your Feed too.

  5. Hi, I think your web site might be having browser compatibility problems. Whenever I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up! Besides that, great website!

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This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

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