Easy Healthy Slow Cooker Cider-Braised Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Sage

I love one-pot meals. That’s probably why I love my slow cooker so much. This slow cooker chicken thighs recipe is based on a more involved cider-braised chicken thighs with sweet potatoes and sage recipe I came upon recently.

Healthy Cider Braised Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs & Sweet Potatoes

The original recipe looked delicious but required quite a bit more work – browning chicken in batches, cooking shallots and garlic, combining the liquids and deglazing your pan and then braising (cooking in liquid) everything on the stove top until done. Nothing terribly difficult, but I was feeling lazy yesterday and wanted something easier.

So I decided to experiment and combine all the ingredients in my slow cooker instead. It turned out delicious. A nice comforting dish full of lots of fall flavors including sweet potatoes, apples and sage. Perfect for a weeknight dinner when you want something easy and effortless.

This would be delicious served with crusty bread to sop up all the flavorful sauce.

The original recipe says that this meal serves 6, but my guys easily ate 2 servings each, so if you’re making this dinner for bigger eaters, plan on feeding 3 to 4.

Easy Healthy Slow Cooker Cider-Braised Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes and Sage

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

3 hours 30 mins

Total time

3 hours 45 mins

 

An easy healthy slow cooker chicken recipe full of the comforting flavors of fall – sweet potatoes, apples and sage.

Author: Martha

Recipe type: Main, Entree

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds skinless chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
• 8 large shallots, peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 large garlic clove, pressed
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• ⅓ cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried sage

Instructions

1. Season both sides of the chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
2. Layer the seasoned chicken in the bottom of a 4-quart slow cooker.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and shallots to the slow cooker.
4. In bowl or measuring cup, stir together the garlic, chicken broth, apple cider, vinegar, thyme, sage and remaining ½ teaspoon salt and pour over the vegetables and chicken.
5. Cover and cook on high for about 3-1/2 hours or on low for about 6 hours. (Mine was done after about 4 hours on high, so I switched my slow cooker to warm until we were ready to eat.)
6. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings. I added a little more salt, pepper and another teaspoon of vinegar at the end to liven it up.

Notes

Nutritional estimates per serving (1 chicken thigh and about ¾ cup sweet potato-shallot mixture): 344 calories, 8 g fat, 33 g carbs, 4.8 g fiber 34 g protein, 8 WW Points Plus Because of the temperature differences among slow cookers, your cooking times may be different. You’ll know this dish is ready, when the meat and sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork or knife. If you cook it too long, your sweet potatoes will get mushy, not a terrible thing! The original recipe called for fresh sage and thyme, but since I only had dried I used them instead. If you do use fresh, which would be delicious, you’ll want to increase the amounts to about 2 teaspoons of each.

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