As soon as I took a bite of this tasty dinner I couldn’t wait to get the recipe on here. I just know you are going to love this Honey Sesame Chicken and Broccoli.
Three things you will love about this recipe:
- It is packed with tons of sweet, delicious flavor. By using zero point canned, and drained, crushed pineapple you don’t have to use a lot of honey so you get all the sweetness without all the calories or Smart Points.
- It’s easy to make. Take a few minutes in the morning to get everything in the slow cooker or Instant Pot and then spend a few minutes in the evening to steam the broccoli, shred the cooked chicken, and thicken the sauce with a cornstarch/water mixture. That’s all there is to it!
- It’s low in Smart Points. Guess how many Smart Points one serving of this deliciousness is… Are you ready for this? Just 1 Weight Watchers Smart Point per serving! Yup, you read that right. O-N-E. So good! It just doesn’t get any better than this Honey Sesame Chicken and Broccoli! I can’t wait for you to try it!
Bless someone by doubling the recipe and sharing with a friend!
Question: Have you ever used Take Them a Meal? If you know someone going through a hard time it might bless them if you, and a few others who love them, brought them dinner for a week or two. Takethemameal.com makes it easy to coordinate a schedule for friends and family to sign up to bring a meal to the person going through a challenging time. For us personally, it was a big blessing when people brought us dinner the week after we brought our first born home when we were in a whirlwind and weren’t getting hardly any sleep, but the Take Them a Meal service can be used for anyone at any time.
Why this is relevant.
So, we made this dinner I am about to share with you for a super close friend of mine who recently lost her mother. I actually doubled up this recipe when I made it (as you will see in the ingredients picture) and I am happy to tell you that her family loved it. She said her young teenage daughter hadn’t tried broccoli in a long time and she loved this dinner, broccoli and all! WIN! Our kids (well, the two that actually eat) raved over this recipe too, making this a kid-friendly recipe that I am confident your whole family will love!
Why I picked this recipe.
This recipe was inspired by a recipe I found in my Dashing Dish cookbook. I knew I wanted to make an easy recipe that could cook in a crockpot or Instant Pot because I wanted to be able to control what time dinner would be ready. I have tried to make elaborate meals for people in the past and it always stressed me out. One time I tried to make a dinner that took longer than I expected to cook and I got it to my friend an hour later than I originally said I would. I felt terrible. Something else I learned a while back is that when you bring someone a meal it helps if you use a disposable container so you are not putting the burden on them to do the dishes and track you down to give the dish back to you. Here is what we brought my friend…
… I also melted chocolate chips and drizzled the chocolate over some strawberries as a special dessert (I didn’t think to take a picture. Sorry). So yummy!
Make this recipe work for you!
One more thing… this recipe is really quite versatile.
Don’t have sesame seeds? Don’t sweat it… it’s an optional ingredient.
Hate onions? No biggy, just leave them out.
Want to serve the Honey Sesame Chicken with quinoa or rice instead of broccoli? Go for it!
This recipe is yours to play with, so have fun with it! 🙂
Okay, are you ready to try this sweet yumminess?
Here is what you need:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion, chopped, optional
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice, drained
1/2 cup water, divided
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1-1/2 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, optional
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 cups steamed broccoli (about 1-1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoons cornstarch
2-3 green onions, sliced, optional
Here is what you do:
Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
Top chicken with the chopped onion.
Mix together the pineapple, 1/4 cup water, garlic, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Pour the pineapple mixture over the chicken and onions.
Allow to slow cook for 4-6 hours on the LOW setting.
Once chicken is fully cooked, transfer the chicken from slow cooker/Instant Pot to a plate and cut or shred the chicken.
IF USING AN INSTANT POT, set the IP to the sauté setting. While the sauce is heating up, mix together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the Instant Pot and allow to cook until boiling, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes, or until thickened. Once sauce is thickened press cancel on the IP.
IF USING A SLOW COOKER, transfer sauce to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. While the sauce is heating up, mix together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce pan and allow to cook until boiling, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat once the sauce is thickened.
Meanwhile, steam broccoli in a steamer or cook it until soft in a large pot with boiling water and drain.
Stir chicken in with the honey sesame sauce that has been thickened.
Plate 1 cup steamed broccoli with 1/2 cup honey sesame chicken mixture.
As an optional step, you can top this with sliced green onion and extra sesame seeds.
Makes 8 servings.
One serving is 1/2 cup chicken mixture over 1 cup steamed broccoli
One serving is 2 Green, 1 Blue, and 1 Purple point.
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice, drained
- 1/2 cup water, divided
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1-1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 cups steamed broccoli (about 1-1/2 pounds)
- 1 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2-3 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
- Top chicken with the chopped onion.
- In a small bowl, mix together the pineapple, 1/4 cup water, garlic, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Pour the pineapple mixture over the chicken and onions.
- Allow to slow cook for 4-6 hours on the LOW setting.
- Once chicken is fully cooked, transfer the chicken from slow cooker/Instant Pot to a plate and cut or shred the chicken.
- IF USING AN INSTANT POT, set the IP to the sauté setting. While the sauce is heating up, mix together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the Instant Pot and allow to cook until boiling, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes, or until thickened. Once sauce is thickened press cancel on the IP.
- -OR-
- IF USING A SLOW COOKER, transfer sauce to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. While the sauce is heating up, mix together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce pan and allow to cook until boiling, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat once the sauce is thickened.
- Meanwhile, steam broccoli in a steamer or cook it until soft in a large pot with boiling water and drain.
- Stir chicken in with the thickened honey sesame sauce.
- Plate 1 cup steamed broccoli with 1/2 cup honey sesame chicken mixture.
- As an optional step, you can top this with sliced green onion and extra sesame seeds.
Pam says
Thank You for also including the slow cooker method, as I don’t have an Instant Pot. This sounds delicious!
Jan says
This is delicious and so easy! Thanks for sharing !
Susan says
Is the nutrition including all the ingredients? I’m on Points Plus, not Freestyle. Thanks, looks great, Susan
Alisha Hughes says
I’m sorry, Susan. I am only doing the FreeStyle points now, so I am not sure what the points+ values would be.
Leslie says
This was very good! Thank you for the recipe. Even my picky 3 and 5 year olds gobbled up the chicken. That’s a huge win in my book. I will make this again for sure and I’m so glad I have leftovers for lunches for a few days. Thanks again!
Alisha Hughes says
Awesome, Leslie! I love that your kiddos liked it too! 🙂
Betsy says
This looks delicious. How did you remove the sauce mixture from the chicken after it was already mixed in? You mention taking it back out and adding the corn starch.
Jen says
If I want to make this using the pressure cooker feature on my instant pot (instead of slow cooking), what is the cook time?
Alisha Hughes says
I am not 100% sure, but I think you would cook the chicken for 12 minutes on high and then quick release the pressure.
Lynn Lyons says
Tried this last night in the crockpot. It was delicious!!! Definitely a keeper.