Foodie on a Budget: Five Spiced Adobo Crock Pot Chicken Thighs

My husband and I discovered how amazing the combination of Chinese Five Spice powder and chiles in adobo sauce is at a tapas bar we used to frequent when we lived in Pennsylvania.  From the first time their Chinese Five Spice pork tenderloin with a Chipotle Buerre Blanc sauce was ordered, we were hooked.  And my husband ordered it every single time we visited that restaurant.  Seeing as how I had some chiles in adobo frozen and just waiting to be used (click here for my post on how to freeze leftover chiles in adobo sauce), I decided to come up with a tasty Crock Pot recipe combining chicken thighs and my husband's favorite flavor combination. Chicken thighs are one of my favorite meats to cook in the Crock Pot.  They just seem suited to slow roasting, not to mention it is one of the cheapest cuts of chicken you can buy. ;)

*Please note, I did have some awesome step-by-step photos for this recipe, but I somehow managed to erase almost all of them from my memory card before I had downloaded them to my laptop.  Yeah, BIG fail. :P *

What you will need:

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

1 cube of chiles in adobo sauce, thawed (or 1 chile & 2 tbsp of sauce from the can, blended)

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp of Chinese Five Spice Powder

2 tbsp of brown sugar

4 chicken thighs

salt & pepper, to taste

This recipe is ridiculously easy.  First, remove the thick skins from the chicken thighs.  This is easiest to do if they are just still slightly frozen.  Just grab up underneath the skin and pull.  It should come off in one large piece.  Place the thighs (even if they are slightly frozen still) into the slow cooker.

Next?  Just dump everything else in- the onion, garlic, tomato sauce, chiles in adobo, cider vinegar, Chinese Five Spice, and brown sugar.  Mix well, making sure the chicken thighs are well coated.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, taste the sauce and season accordingly with salt and pepper. 

The result is a spicy, sweet, & smoky chicken thigh with meat that just falls off the bone.  I simply served the chicken and sauce over rice with a dollop of sour cream on the side to tame some of the heat.  You could also serve it with some yummy slices of avocado.  
This recipe serves 4.

Five Spiced Adobo Crock Pot Chicken Thighs

by Frugal Foodie Mama

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5-6 hours

6045037

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 15oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 cube of chiles in adobo sauce, thawed (or 1 chile & 2 tbsp of sauce from the can, blended)
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp of Chinese Five Spice Powder
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar
• 4 chicken thighs
• salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

First, remove the thick skins from the chicken thighs. This is easiest to do if they are just still slightly frozen. Just grab up underneath the skin and pull. It should come off in one large piece. Place the thighs (even if they are slightly frozen still) into the slow cooker.

Next? Just dump everything else in- the onion, garlic, tomato sauce, chiles in adobo, cider vinegar, Chinese Five Spice, and brown sugar. Mix well, making sure the chicken thighs are well coated.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours. During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, taste the sauce and season accordingly with salt and pepper.

I simply served the chicken and sauce over rice with a dollop of sour cream on the side to tame some of the heat. You could also serve it with some yummy slices of avocado.

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For Nutritional Info on this recipe, please CLICK HERE.

Foodie on a Budget- Don't Toss That! Freeze it!

How many times are you finding yourself tossing out that bunch of wilted herbs you bought for a few snippets the week before?  Or tossing out that container of chiles in adobo sauce when you only needed one a few weeks before for a recipe?  I think I have been guilty of those things more times than I can stand.  If you happen to own a blender, an ice cube tray,  and a freezer, then you are in luck!  Here are a few ways to preserve some of those leftover culinary must-haves and waste no more.

Saving cut herbs is easy!  If you haven't used them all up within 3 or 4 days of purchasing them, then blend with a little bit of water and freeze them.  I had some leftover parsley and just blended it with a little bit of water and poured into an ice cube tray.  When you need parsley for a soup or sauce, just pop out one of the cubes and let it melt as you are cooking.  You can do this with just about any leafy herb- basil, oregano, cilantro, sage...

I often end up using chiles in adobo sauce for some of my favorite Latin recipes.  Problem is you usually only need one chile and a few tablespoons of the sauce for each recipe.  I would take the remaining chiles and sauce and place them in a storage container in the fridge determined to use them before they went bad in a couple of weeks.  About 100% of the time, that never happened.  So, now after I have opened the can and used what I needed for my recipe, I immediately toss the remaining chiles and sauce in my handy blender.  I blend until smooth and then spoon out into an ice cube tray. 

Once they are frozen hard, I pop out the chile cubes (and/or the parsley cubes) and store in a freezer bag (separately, of course!).  Be sure to label and date the bag so you always know how long they have been hanging out in the freezer.  These cubes will stay good for MONTHS frozen. With the chile cubes, you can choose to defrost them in the fridge before cooking or just add them to your sauce frozen as it is simmering and let them melt in.

Note:  One chile cube is about the equivalent of one chile and two tablespoons of adobo sauce.