Crockpot Cashew Chicken

If you do an Internet search, you can easily find many recipes for Crockpot Cashew Chicken. The following recipe is pretty similar to most of the recipes out there, although I always substitute healthier ingredients, when I can. I did not have any cashews when I prepared this, so I substituted peanuts (I have previously prepared this with cashews). The result was still delicious!

ready to eat

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks - If you want a dish similar to stir-fry, you can cut the chicken into smaller pieces. I was going to be serving this with whole-grain pasta, so I wanted larger chunks.

2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar - I have used rice wine vinegar in the past; this time I used Pompeian white wine vinegar.

2 tablespoons reduced sugar ketchup - If you have read my book, you know that ketchup has a lot of sugar! Heinz is one of the few brands of reduced sugar ketchup available at my local grocery store.

1½ teaspoons brown sugar substitute - Meijer has a brown sugar substitute now, which is what I used. This is not shown in my photo because the original packaging was tossed when I opened it, and it is stored in one of my canisters.

1 garlic clove, minced

½ teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ cup cashew halves - or peanuts, if preferred

some of the ingredients I used

Directions

Combine flour and pepper in a bowl with a tight fitting lid. Add chicken, cover, and shake to coat. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in crockpot. You can prepare this without flouring the chicken before browning, if you prefer. I find that the flour on the chicken helps thicken the sauce slightly.

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar substitute, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.

Just before serving, stir in cashews. Serve over rice or pasta.

crockpot photo before I added the peanuts

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