This is a simple slow cooker orange chicken recipe that has no prep and few ingredients.  I was trying out the Simply range of frozen chicken breast fillets and the largest in the pack weighed 250 grams, so I thought I’d make an orange chicken in the slow cooker to see how that performed.  This is a UK slow cooker recipe, using ingredients from UK supermarkets.

This serves 2 portions, depending on how hungry you are!  It produces an end dish of 180grams of cooked chicken.  I used it as two meals, served with basmati rice.

Orange Chicken Ingredients: 

• 250 grams frozen chicken breast fillets, skinless and boneless*
• 1 small carton of orange juice, ~200ml
• ~100 grams/¼ jar of orange marmalade
• ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon vinegar (I used white/distilled vinegar, but any vinegar will do)
• 1/8th teaspoon of pepper flakes (or chilli flakes if you have those)
• 1 level teaspoon garlic granules
• 1 level tablespoon dried ginger
• A pinch of salt

Method: 

1. Place the frozen chicken breast in a large bowl and add boiling water to it – this is just to defrost the chicken before putting it into the slow cooker.  You can add frozen chicken to the slow cooker, but I always like to give the chicken a bit of a head start.  Leave the chicken in the bowl for just 5-10 minutes while you get the slow cooker out and gather the other ingredients together.
2. Pour the whole carton of orange juice into a jug or small bowl (these are the small individual cartons). Add the orange marmalade to the orange juice and mix it in.  I used ¼ of a jar today because that’s all I had, but you can add up to half a jar if you wish!
   Note: This recipe has no added sugar as the sweetness is provided from the orange juice and the marmalade.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the orange juice and give it all a stir together.
4. Hook out the half defrosted chicken from the boiling water – it will have defrosted a little.  You can, of course, use fresh chicken or even fully defrost it.
5. Place the chicken and all the juice and spices into the slow cooker.
   
6. Cook on high for 1½-2 hours, until the contents are bubbling. Turn the slow cooker down to low and cook for a further 3 hours.  The chicken breast will then be cooked and still very moist.
   
7. Remove the whole chicken breast from the slow cooker, cut it into chunks.
   
8. Return the chicken pieces to the slow cooker, turn it up to high power and cook for a further 20-30 minutes.
   Thicker Sauce: If you prefer a thicker sauce, then spoon out a couple of spoons of the liquid and mix it with a tablespoon of cornflour until it’s smooth, then return that to the slow cooker for the final cooking stage.

Serve!

* This recipe is generous with the sauce, so you can add more chicken breast if you wish.

This is great served on a bed of plain basmati rice.

Recipe Cost £1.20, 60p/Portion:

I used the Simply Frozen Chicken Breast Fillets at a cost of 82p for 250 grams (£3.33/1Kg bag), the orange marmalade was a 28p jar of orange marmalade, so 7p of marmalade.  The orange juice I’d bought in at Xmas time as a 3-pack, these typically cost about 20p/carton.  Adding in the cost of the other ingredients this dish costs ~£1.20, or 60p per person.

Note: 250 grams of frozen chicken will weigh ~180 grams after cooking in this way.