Sweet'N' Sour Chicken

This slow cooker sweet and sour chicken goes straight from freezer to crockpot. Frozen chicken pieces layer over carrots, green pepper, and onion, then a sauce of undrained pineapple chunks, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and ginger pours over the top. Walk away for 10-12 hours on low and come home to dinner.

The quick-cooking tapioca sprinkled over the vegetables is what thickens the sauce without any flour or cornstarch slurry at the end. It dissolves during the long cook and turns the pineapple juice and chicken juices into a glossy, clingy sweet-and-sour glaze.

Using the pineapple with its juice (undrained) is important. That juice is the liquid base of the sauce. Draining it means the pot runs too dry over the long cook time.

Kitchen Tips

• Layer vegetables on the bottom, tapioca over them, then frozen chicken on top. This order ensures the vegetables cook evenly in the liquid and the tapioca can thicken properly.
• Use frozen, skinned chicken pieces. Frozen chicken actually works better here because it releases moisture slowly as it thaws, keeping the pot from drying out.
• Don’t lift the lid during cooking. Each peek adds 15-30 minutes to the cook time as the trapped heat escapes.
• Serve over steamed rice to soak up the sauce. The sweet-sour glaze is too good to leave in the pot.

Variations

• Spicy kick: Add red pepper flakes or sriracha to the sauce before pouring over the chicken.
• Mango version: Swap pineapple chunks for mango chunks for a tropical, slightly different sweetness.
• Pork swap: Use boneless pork shoulder chunks instead of chicken for a richer, fattier sweet and sour pork.