Pineapple Orange Crockpot Chicken

My husband came home with a huge package of chicken breasts from Costco yesterday.  The plan was to grill enough for 2 dinners, but then my family ate way too much at back-to-back birthday parties, derailing our Sunday dinner plans.  With school starting tomorrow and a board meeting to attend, I knew my grill master would not be home in a timely fashion tonight, so the chicken was going in the crockpot.

Let me say up front, I'm not a huge fan of crock pot meals.  The convenience is nice, but the meat always seems dry and overcooked to me.  Maybe it's my crock pot.  Maybe that's just how meals that cook 6 to 10 hours are going to turn out.  

When I looked at this, I was thinking that there was no way my kids were going to like it.  

Wow, was I wrong. My daughters devoured this meal and talked about how good it was the whole time!  

My favorite short grain brown rice was perfect with the chicken.  I love Lundberg because it's labeled gluten free and non GMO, and this variety just happens to be eco-farmed too.  We have also used Lundberg jasmine rice and sushi rice with this recipe.  

I cooked the rice separately on my stovetop.  

Pineapple Orange Crockpot Chicken

Ingredients

3 to 6 chicken breasts

1 20 ounce can of Dole Crushed Pineapple

1 C orange juice

1/4 C soy sauce (I used San-J GF Tamari reduced sodium soy sauce)

1/4 C honey

1/4 C brown sugar

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ginger

2 cloves (1 tsp) of garlic -- minced

Directions

Put all the ingredients, except the chicken, in your slow cooker, and stir everything around.  Add the chicken, making sure it is submerged in the liquid.  If you're going to be gone all day, set your crockpot for 8 to 10 hours.  If you're home, set your crockpot on low for 3 to 4 hours.  

Before serving, shred the chicken and let it soak in all the juice.  Serve over rice.  

Recipe Notes

Four large chicken breasts make enough for dinner, and lunch the next day for our family of four.  I usually make 3 cups (dry) of rice for the two meals.  This dish is really great left over.  

Update -- These last 2 pictures show what the chicken looks like when it's only cooked for 3 hours.  The sauce did not get as dark, and the meat was a little moister.