Shoyu Chicken

I found this recipe about a year and a half ago and I make it at the very least monthly in our house. We were living in my apartment at the time and Hubby asked me if I had ever had Shoyu Chicken... I didn't even know what it was. He said it was something he had pretty frequently when he lived in Hawaii (12 years!! no fair!)

So I looked up a recipe online, mainly I was looking for something very simple and a recipe where I wouldn't have to run to the store, it was 10 in the morning and we were going to be looking at houses all day!

I found this recipe on RecipeZaar, and I had everything we needed to make it, so I threw it in the Crockpot and we went on our merry way to go find our dream house. (Nope, we didn't find it that day, but we eventually did).

I really haven't changed much of anything from the original recipe! It is good as is, but read on to see how I make it and how it turns out.

Here is what you need:

Skinless chicken thighs (trust me, take the skin off, otherwise it is too greasy), vinegar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and your CrockPot!

Measure everything out and dump it in the pan, here are my measurements:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar - don't use splenda brown sugar, I've tried this and my stepson was not a fan, he said it was way too sweet
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 3/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce (you can use regular, but this just makes it a tad bit healthier right?
• A huge, gigantic scoop of ginger (recipe calls for a teaspoon, I use an overflowing tablespoon). I buy my ginger in these handy little jars, because I've tried using fresh before and it just defeats the purpose of "easy"! :) 
• A huge, gigantic scoop of garlic (see above) 
• 3/4 cup of water (recipe calls for more, but then there is just too much liquid, plus you can just use the same measuring cup as you did with the brown sugar and soy sauce!) 

Mix all of that together right in your crockpot:

See all of those chunks, those are ginger. I love ginger, a lot.

Next, get your skinless chicken thighs and put them in there:

I used 9, that was how many was in my bag and if I had used any less than that then there wouldn't have been any left for me when I got home from school last night!

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. The recipe says to stir - I'm not home so I don't stir, I seriously doubt its necessary. Here is the chicken after cooking for about 5 1/2 hours:

I didn't get all of the fat off of the chicken thighs so you can see some of it has sort of flaked off, but that's okay, it is still going to be delicious (and I didn't have that kind of time!)

When you are about ready for dinner go ahead and heat up some rice and veggies:

Once the rice and veggies are done, serve it up. If I had been home when this was ready I may have thickened it up with some cornstarch, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, and either way, there are never any leftovers. I just prefer it a little thicker because as you've seen with my Salisbury Steak, I like to mix everything together and it comes together easier if it's a little thicker. To do this, I just turn the heat to high, mix about a TBS of cornstarch with about 1/4 cup water and stir it in with a fork and let it cook on high for an extra 15-20 minutes or so.

But I wasn't home, and my gracious boys decided to leave me some dinner when I got home at 9:

No veggies leftover, and only 2 of the 9 thighs left.

I don't know if you really understand just how good this is, it just falls right off the bone and it is so sweet and so yummy, you can seriously eat it with your fingers. Look, I started peeling mine up with my fingers and eating it while standing in front of the crockpot:

This is a tried and true recipe for us, I hope you like it! It's Crockpot Wednesday tomorrow, so don't forget to head over to Dining With Debbie and Slow Cooking Thursday to see even more wonderful Crockpot Meals!!

Here is the printable version. Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen