Chicken slow-cooked in a whisked sauce of soy, oyster sauce, hoisin, honey, ginger and garlic, with snow peas added at the end and noodles tossed through at the table.
Fifteen minutes of prep, four hours on Low, and about twenty minutes of finishing. Six servings.
Why This Recipe Works
- The sauce is whisked as a unit before it meets anything. Ten components poured in separately would sit in layers, and the honey would caramelise against the crock wall rather than dissolving through.
- Two cups of broth is what makes this work as a slow-cooker dish rather than a stir-fry. It keeps the chicken submerged over four hours, and it becomes the sauce the noodles are eventually tossed in.
- Noodles are cooked separately to just al dente. This is the same discipline the lasagna soup needs and for the same reason — pasta in a slow cooker is a thickener, not an ingredient.
- Snow peas go in for the last ten to fifteen minutes on High. That is the difference between a bowl with something crisp in it and a bowl that is uniformly soft.
- Rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil are both finishing-weight ingredients used at cooking stage, and they survive because there is only a tablespoon of each against two cups of liquid.
What Goes In, And When
Everything in this dish could technically go in at the start, and three things would be ruined by it. The timeline is the recipe.
At the start, with the chicken
Onion, red pepper, matchstick carrots, mushrooms, and the whisked sauce
The hard vegetables can take four hours. Carrots and onion in particular need it, and the mushrooms give up liquid that becomes part of the sauce.
After the chicken is shredded, on HIGH
2 cups snow peas or snap peas
Ten to fifteen minutes only. Snow peas are the one vegetable here that is meant to stay crisp, and four hours would leave them grey and limp.
Optional, at the same moment
1 tbsp cornstarch slurried with 1 tbsp water
Five to ten minutes more on High. Cornstarch needs real heat to thicken, which is why it belongs in the High phase rather than being stirred into a Low pot.
Meanwhile, in a separate pot
8 oz lo mein noodles, boiled to just al dente
Never in the crock. Noodles cooked in four hours of sauce dissolve and thicken the whole pot into paste.
Last, off the heat
Green onions and sesame seeds
Garnish rather than ingredient — both lose everything to a long cook.
Ingredient Notes
- Oyster sauce
- A quarter cup, and it is the ingredient that makes this taste like lo mein rather than like soy-sauce chicken. There is no direct substitute in the recipe.
- Lo mein noodles or spaghetti
- Eight ounces, and the recipe names spaghetti as a working alternative. Cooked separately either way.
- Snow peas or snap peas
- Two cups, added at the very end. Either works; both are here for crispness rather than flavour.
- Low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- A third of a cup. Low-sodium matters against a quarter cup of oyster sauce and two tablespoons of hoisin, which are salty in their own right.
- Fresh ginger and garlic
- A tablespoon of each, minced. Fresh rather than powdered — they go in at the start and four hours extracts them properly.
How to Make It
Whisk the sauce
Whisk the broth, soy or tamari, oyster sauce, hoisin, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a bowl.
Load the cooker
Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Add the onion, bell pepper, carrots and mushrooms. Pour the sauce over and stir gently.
Cook on Low
Cook on Low 4 hours (or High 2 1/2 to 3 hours) until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Shred, then add the peas
Shred or slice the chicken. Add the snow peas and cook on High 10 to 15 minutes until crisp-tender. If you want a thicker sauce, stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook 5 to 10 minutes more.
Boil the noodles separately
Meanwhile, cook the noodles in salted boiling water until just al dente. Drain and toss with a little sesame oil to prevent sticking.
Toss the noodles through
Stir the noodles into the slow cooker until coated. Adjust the seasoning with more soy or tamari, a splash of vinegar, or heat with sriracha if desired.
Garnish and serve
Top with the green onions and sesame seeds. Serve hot.
Success Tips
- Whisk the sauce as one thing before it goes anywhere near the crock.
- Take the chicken to 165°F rather than judging by how easily it shreds.
- Keep the snow peas out until the final High phase.
- Boil the noodles separately and pull them at just al dente.
- Toss the noodles in immediately before serving, not when the timer goes.
Serving Ideas
Straight from the crock in deep bowls, with sriracha and extra green onion at the table for people who want more heat.
Storage and Reheating
Refrigerate
Refrigerate up to 3 days. The noodles keep absorbing sauce, so leftovers are noticeably drier.
Freeze
Freeze the chicken and sauce WITHOUT noodles for up to 2 months, and cook fresh noodles into it after thawing.
Reheat
In a pan over medium heat with a splash of broth, tossing until the noodles loosen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the noodles cook in the slow cooker?
No. Eight ounces of noodles in four hours of sauce break down and thicken the pot into paste. Boiling them separately is what keeps this a noodle dish.
Can it be gluten-free?
The ingredient list already offers tamari in place of soy sauce and notes a gluten-free option for the noodles. Check the oyster and hoisin sauces too, which commonly contain wheat.
My sauce was thin.
That is what the optional cornstarch slurry is for. Whisk a tablespoon with a tablespoon of cold water, stir it in during the High phase, and give it five to ten minutes.
Can I use chicken thighs?
They work and stay juicier over four hours. The recipe is written for a pound and a half of breasts; either way take the meat to 165°F before shredding.
