Southern Lemonade Chicken

Chef Freckles's Note:

A sweet and sour chicken recipe that has the surprising ingredient of frozen lemonade concentrate. The sauce simmers in the crockpot and becomes mellow and delicious - not too lemony, just right!

• Total Time: 6 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 -6 pieces chicken (I just cut up a whole chicken)
• ¼ cup flour , seasoned with garlic salt, black pepper
• 1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade , thawed
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or splenda)
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

Optional vegetables

• ¼ cup carrot , slices diagonal cut or ruffle cut
• ¼ cup scallions or ¼ cup green spring onion , cut into 2 inch pieces
• ¼ cup Chinese pea pods or ¼ cup snow pea pods
• 1⁄8; cup rings red bell pepper
• 1⁄8; cup rings green bell pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse pieces of chicken in water, then roll damp chicken into seasoned flour. Brown in fat in a heavy skillet. Remove chicken and place in crockpot. Combine lemonade concentrate, brown sugar, ketchup and vinegar; mix well. Pour lemonade mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Remove chicken from crockpot and cover to keep hot. Transfer liquid to saucepan over medium-low heat. Skim fat; add optional vegetables, combine cornstarch and cold water and add slowly to liquid, while stirring. The sauce will be thickened after it reaches a full rolling boil, when thickened, serve the chicken along with hot cooked rice. The vegetables will still be crisp-tender.
2. It tastes a bit like sweet and sour chicken - always a hit with my 5 children - we double the recipe since we're a two chicken family now.

Reviews

[Fernmeadow]

Well chef...that was a wonderful recipe. I did put 1/2 cup of lemon juice with 1 1/2 cups water to dilute it and I added 4 garlic cloves. It turned out wonderful! There were plently of left overs and I blended them up and added some chicken stock and it turned out to be a wonderful lemon chicken soup. Thanks for this...it was a hit...Fern