Sweet and Spicy Slow Cooker Chicken

Super Bowl week. Normally I'd write about wings and chili and the food of watching football in a room full of people who've decided that yelling at a television is a reasonable use of a Sunday. But this year the Super Bowl feels different because football feels different because Clay played his last game in November and the jersey is in the closet and the cleats are on the shelf and the game ball is still on the kitchen counter and I can't watch football without seeing number fifty-four making tackles and knowing that the next tackles he makes will be on a different field entirely.

We had people over anyway. Travis and Jolene. Tyler. A couple of Connie's coworkers. I made wings — the smoked wings from last year, buffalo and bourbon honey. I made the jalapeño poppers. I made chili in the slow cooker because I was tired and the slow cooker is the appliance of people who've given up on cooking as performance and accepted it as function.

Clay watched the game but not really. He was on his phone, researching. Army things. Fort Benning things. Infantry school things. He's studying for a test that hasn't been administered yet, preparing for a life that hasn't started yet. I watched him watch his phone and thought: he's already gone. Physically he's on my couch eating my wings, but mentally he's in Georgia, in a barracks, in a foxhole, in wherever the Army puts boys who were linebackers six weeks ago. He's already gone and I'm not ready and there's nothing to be done about it.

Travis pulled me aside during halftime. He said "How are you doing, Dad?" Travis doesn't ask emotional questions. Travis communicates through nods and grunts and the occasional shoulder pat. "How are you doing" is Travis's version of opening the vault and inviting me in. I said "I'm fine." He said "Liar." He gets that from Connie. He handed me a beer and we stood on the porch in the cold and he said "Clay's tough. He's a Hensley." I said "Hensleys die young." Travis said "Not all of them. You didn't." I looked at Travis and he looked at me and it was the most honest conversation we'd had in years and it lasted twelve seconds and it was enough.

The chili did its job that night — sat in the slow cooker for eight hours and asked nothing of me, which was exactly what I needed. If you’re looking for something with that same set-it-and-forget-it mercy but want to put chicken in front of a room full of people who are yelling at a television, this sweet and spicy slow cooker chicken is what I’d make. It’s got the heat and the sweetness, like the bourbon honey wings but without the smoker, without the effort, without asking you to be present for anything more than dumping ingredients and walking away to stand on the porch with your eldest son and say nothing important in twelve seconds.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 4–6 hours | Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
3 tablespoons sriracha
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
Sesame seeds, for garnish
Sliced green onions, for garnish

Instructions

Prepare the sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger until well combined.
Add chicken to slow cooker. Lightly grease the slow cooker insert with the olive oil. Place the chicken thighs in an even layer on the bottom. Pour the sauce over the chicken, making sure each piece is coated.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 5–6 hours or HIGH for 3–4 hours, until the chicken is tender and registers 165°F internally.
Thicken the sauce. Remove the chicken to a cutting board. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Stir the slurry into the liquid in the slow cooker. Set to HIGH, cover, and cook for 10–15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Shred and toss. Shred the chicken with two forks and return it to the slow cooker. Toss to coat in the thickened sauce.
Serve. Spoon the chicken over rice, into slider buns, or onto a platter for game day. Garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sweet and Spicy Slow Cooker Chicken — The Appliance of People Who’ve Accepted Cooking as Function