The spicier the better.

I love hot foods.  The kind that make you sweat when you eat them because they’re so hot.  In the late summer and early fall one of my favorite things to do with all the tomatoes from the garden is to make salsa.  I make regular salsa, sweet salsa, and plenty of HOT salsa.  And believe me, I don’t hold back on the Habanero and other spicy peppers that go into my hot salsa.  It is not for the weak of tongue.

Being the spicy food lover that I am, I like adding hot sauce to a lot of my foods, especially on my eggs in the mornings.  A few months ago I discovered a hot sauce called Sriracha. This hot  sauce is often served as a condiment in Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese restaurants throughout the United States.  There is some debate as to the true origins of this sauce but it appears to have multicultural influences.  I simply love it because it’s so good!  It has a sweeter taste to it than regular hot sauce while still maintaining the spiciness I crave.

Another food I love to eat, especially during the winter months, are hot wings.  This week for Crock Pot Wednesday I thought it would be fun to try my own version of “hot tenders” in the crock pot.  The result was exactly what I was hoping for.  I actually didn’t think they were too hot so if you don’t like things extremely spicy these should still be fine for you.  There is only a tablespoon of hot sauce in this recipe.  Just enough to give it a little taste of Sriracha.  This meal was filling, delicious, and well under 500 calories!

Here is what you’ll need on your grocery list:

**This recipe makes enough to serve 2 people.  If you want to make more, you can obviously double the amount of sauce you make. My recommendation for layering in the crock pot would be to get as many tenders across the bottom of the crock pot, season them and pour 1/2 of the sauce over the first layer.  Then put another layer of tenders on top of those, cover with the broccoli and then pour the rest of the sauce over all of it.  This will make more sense once you read the recipe.**

6 (2-3 oz) Chicken Tenders

Salt

Pepper

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 tbsp Corn Starch

1 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Sriracha Sauce

1 tbsp Honey

2 tsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Apple Vinegar

2 tsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup Water

2 cups Broccoli

**Optional – 1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt**

Lay chicken tenders flat across bottom of crock pot.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine garlic, corn starch, brown sugar, Sriracha sauce, honey,  soy sauce, vinegar, oil, and water.

Top chicken tenders with broccoli.  Then pour sauce evenly over chicken and broccoli.

Cook on Low 5-6 hours.  When serving I would strongly recommend topping each serving with 2 tbsp Plain Greek Yogurt.  I took the picture below before doing so but added it afterwards and it was delicious.  It really complimented the meal.

This will for sure be a repeat meal in our house.  I love that this dish can be elegant or used for a sporting event.  In fact, this might be the next meal I try for a Hawkeye basketball game.  If we win, I guess Mike will know what we’re having for every game after that 😉

Enjoy!