If you’re looking for your favorite Chinese food without the fried and breaded part…try this easy slow cooker version of General Tso’s Chicken. The flavor is all there without the grease and calories.
I love Chinese food but sometimes I feel so sick after eating it. It can be really greasy especially when it’s breaded and fried and then soaked in a salty sauce. Talk about bloat-fest! The slow cooker is a great way to make your favorite Asian foods. You get lots of flavor but not all the calories.
This particular recipe starts with apricot jam, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. It does have some sweetness to it. But it’s not overly sweet so don’t worry if you’re not a sweet meat fan. We served ours over brown rice but you can do noodles too.
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Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken
- Cook Time: 4-6 hours
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
- 1/3 cup low sodium (gluten free) soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Apricot jam or preserves
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp minute tapioca
- Diced green onions, optional
Instructions
- Cut chicken thighs into bite size pieces. Place in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, apricot jam, hoisin sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes and tapioca. Pour sauce over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.
- Serve chicken over rice or noodles and top with green onions.
Notes
Ideal slow cooker size: 3-4 quart
Lisa B says
Any idea if it would freeze well as written, defrost in refrigerator overnight, then into the slow cooker in the morning? I am looking for recipes that I can prep ahead and freeze so my husband and FIL can have a few good meals when I am out of town.
[email protected] says
Yes I'm pretty sure this would work great! You are nice to make food ahead of time for them 🙂
Lisa B says
Any idea if it would freeze well as written, then defrost overnight in the refrigerator before putting in the crockpot in the morning? I'm looking for recipes I can prep ahead and freeze, so my husband and FIL will have a few good meals when I'm out of town.
brooke says
Can you explain the purpose of the tapioca in this recipe? I've never seen a recipe call for it before so I was wondering what it added.
[email protected] says
It is a thickener and works great in slow cooker recipes!
Baws Makeup says
How many kcal??
Lana says
Thank you for the recipe. I definitely want to try that one in our new rice cooker/slow cooker. Kids love general TSO but we were not able to have one since we had to go GF. I have a question It calls for a LOW slow cooking setting. In mine I cannot change to low (it is set by default to HIGH). Any suggestions – can I still do the recipe but with different times? or sue rice cooking setting instead? any suggestions are appreciated!
[email protected] says
You can just cook it for less time. I would cook for 2-3 hours on high
Andrea Stoeckel says
I really love your recipes, for over a year now. I know its the "latest thing" but the gluten free is a given in this recipe….because….there is NO WHEAT in it. As a chef, this is the one big bugaboo these days…I even saw it on wine and a carton of eggs the other day
[email protected] says
I know huh? I like to categorize my recipes and this is just one way for me to label it. That way when someone with celiac comes to my site they can just go to the gluten free label and find recipes that work for them.
Cat says
Soy sauce has gluten in it so it's not necessarily a given just bc there is no wheat in the recipe…… She uses a gf soy sauce which folks with celiac would appreciate.