Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken Recipe (Freezer Meal)
Easy Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken Freezer Meal
This easy Hawaiian chicken crockpot recipe is a sweet-sour combination, delicious with hot cooked rice and stir-fried vegetables. This is one recipe that even my pickiest eaters like. Plus, it is one of THE QUICKEST and EASIEST recipes to make!
Perfect for Meal Planning
Because this Hawaiian crockpot chicken is so easy to make, I do 3-4 dinners of it and stick the extras in the freezer. This recipe is one you can pull out of the freezer, defrost in the microwave and then just put it in the slow cooker and it is ready after a busy workday or day running the kids around to activities.
Related Post: 15 Meal Planning Tips to Save Money and Time
Ingredients
Since this Hawaiian chicken is topped with pineapple, I like to just buy the canned stuff and then I use the juice from the can as well. You could go with fresh pineapple but we’re trying to make it as easy as possible here!
Other than that, this recipe doesn’t really have any complicated ingredients – you might even have most of them on hand already. If you like a little more flavor with your chicken I would recommend shredding the meat into the sauce.
Serving Tips
As I said above, this recipe goes great served over some hot rice. To make your rice cooking easy and hands-off, I highly recommend investing in a good rice cooker:
I also like to serve my Hawaiian chicken with a side of vegetables. You could try these slow cooker carrots or this quick buttered broccoli recipe! You could also just do a side of vegetables with dip.
More Chicken Recipes:
- Easy Honey Balsamic Chicken Recipe
- Quick Keto Chicken Recipe with Bacon and Ranch
- Skillet Honey Lemon Glazed Chicken Recipe
- Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken Recipe
- Healthy Honey Sesame Chicken Slow Cooker Recipe
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Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken Recipe (Freezer Meal)
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Small bowl
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper
- 1 onion cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1-inch chunks
- 20 ounce can pineapple chunks in juice drained
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Pat chicken dry with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken to slow cooker.
- Add onion, bell pepper, and pineapple chunks to slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, mix together sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Pour thick sauce into slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 5 hours or on high for 3 hours.
- Mix cornstarch and water until smooth and add to the slow cooker. Gently stirring a bit to incorporate into the liquid.
- Cook for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve with cooked rice and garnish with parsley or green onion, if desired.
Preparing for the Freezer:
- Place seasoned raw chicken into a large resealable bag. Add the pineapple chunks, chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, and sauce. Freeze. (Keep cornstarch on hand for when ready to cook.)
Prepare After Freezing:
- Let thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Then dump contents of bag into slow cooker and cook, as instructed above.
Is the chicken raw or cooked when you put it in the bag to freeze?
The chicken is raw when you put it in the bag.
Hi ya’ll! Thanks so much for the great recipe! I have two under two and am retuning to work. Anything that I can make that’s easy for hubby to make for the kids in the evening is great. I made this tonight and froze an extra one. 🙂
If I have already cooked it in the crockpot BEFORE freezing, how should I reheat?
Hi Carol, great question. I would let it thaw out in the fridge for 24 hours then reheat in a skillet or in the oven.