Blood Orange and Honey Chicken in the Slow Cooker

This flavorful Blood Orange and Honey Chicken is so easy to make in the slow cooker. You can even thicken the juices to make a beautiful pink glaze with a few minutes under the broiler before serving.

Blood oranges are usually in season here in California in Spring, but our cool weather pushed them off to early summer this year which is fine with me. Any chance I can get my hands on these dark pink beauties I will enjoy them. If they are out of season you can use any fresh oranges you have.

Most orange chicken recipes use marmalade and brown sugar and end up overpoweringly sweet. Gee, I wonder why. I kept it simple to let the flavor of the oranges shine.

This was supposed to have a dark pink glaze to it, but my preteen son was "starving". Any mom that has survived these years knows that 1) boys are always starving and 2) they will sneak in and start eating anything if you don't get them something healthy ASAP.  I had to rush the last step of thickening the cooking juices before applying it as a glaze and broiling.

Ingredients for Blood Orange Honey Chicken

All it takes for this dish is a few simple ingredients that should be easy to find at most grocery stores (the sesame oil will probably be near the soy sauce):

• whole chicken (cut into pieces) or other bone-in chicken pieces
• blood oranges or other fresh oranges
• honey
• low sodium soy or tamari sauce
• rice wine vinegar (or other mild vinegar)
• sesame oil

Recipe

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Ingredients

 

• 3 blood oranges
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup low sodium soy or tamari sauce
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 whole chicken (cut into pieces)

Instructions

 

• Juice the oranges. Finely chop the peel of one of the oranges.
• In a medium bowl combine all other ingredients except chicken.
• Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. If the pieces won't all fit in one layer put the wings and backs on the top with the meat side down.
• Add the orange sauce, shifting the pieces slightly to make sure all of them are covered with liquid.
• Cook approximately 4-5 hours on low, until the chicken breast reaches an internal temperature of 165℉.
• Remove one cup of the cooking liquid about 30 minutes before serving. In a small saucepan cook it down over medium heat until it is thickened. You may want to add a little more honey.
• Place the chicken pieces on a foil lined baking sheet with skin side up. Brush the chicken with the glaze and broil for about 5 minutes until browned.

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