Balsamic Pear, Chicken, and Asparagus
An unusual blend of seasonings flavor this slow cooker meal that takes advantage of the abundance of asparagus available in the spring. In other seasons fresh green beans would be an option to replace the asparagus.
Balsamic Pear, Chicken, And Asparagus Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
1 onion, sliced thin
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 ripe Bartlett pears, cored and sliced
1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons apple juice
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
How to Make Balsamic Pear, Chicken, And Asparagus
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken in the hot oil until completely browned, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a slow cooker. Add the onion to the chicken; season with salt and pepper. Place the pears and asparagus atop the chicken mixture.
Mix the garlic, balsamic vinegar, apple juice, rosemary, ginger, and sugar together in a bowl; pour over the asparagus. Season again with salt and pepper.
Cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours.
Balsamic Pear, Chicken, And Asparagus Nutritions
Calories: 308.7 calories
Carbohydrate: 33.5 g
Cholesterol: 69.2 mg
Fat: 7.4 g
Fiber: 6.1 g
Protein: 29.1 g
SaturatedFat: 1.5 g
ServingSize:
Sodium: 70.4 mg
Sugar: 21.6 g
TransFat:
UnsaturatedFat:
Balsamic Pear, Chicken, And Asparagus Reviews
This was an AWESOME slow-cooker recipe I omitted the chicken, because Im vegetarian, and reduced the oil to 1 tsp (I assumed not all of it would make it into the slow cooker after the chicken was done cooking) but kept everything else the same. It was DELICIOUS. I love the combination of sweet and sour and salty and savory. Super easy and great for a farmers market basket full of asparagus Its not quite a meal on its own, so Id recommend serving it over rice or with crusty bread.
What a wonderful dish Upon arriving home, the aroma was so very inviting, we couldnt wait to dig into it, and we werent disappointed. The multiple different seasonings and flacorings in this really made this dish. I served with orzo and mushrooms and a side salad. I will certainly be keeping this recipe and making again. Just because its a slow cooker recipe doesnt mean this cant be served to company
Made this dish for our Easter dinner. Everyone loved it I used brown pears instead of Barlett and they turned out very nice. My guests loved the flavours and found the dish very appealing to the eyes too. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe
Great sweet and savory flavors, and low carb I made this in the oven instead of the crock pot. I didnt change anything about the recipe, just put it all in a glass baking dish at cooked uncovered for 1 hour at 350.
I would totally give the sauce for this 10 stars if I could I made the sauce the night before, along with cutting the onion and pear. That way I could just toss it all in the slow cooker before I left for work. When i opened the container with the sauce, I wanted to just eat it right there I didnt brown the chicken before I put it in, mainly because I knew I was going to be gone all day and that it would cook in the slow-cooker. I also didnt add the asparagus for the same reason. The chicken unfortunately turned out a little dry for me, but thats partially due to the fact that I had to let it cook longer than I would like. I would love to use the sauce to cook the chicken either on the stovetop on in the oven. I will definitely be using it as a marinade going forward As for the pears, my husband found out he doesnt like them (awesome timing, huh?) so next time I think I might use apples (something he WILL eat.) Otherwise, good recipe, I just might tweak it so my chicken doesnt dry out. Seriously, though, the sauce. DIVINE
I LOVED this recipe I opted to used a rotissirie chicken, pulled all the meat off the bones and followed the rest as directed, just heated the onion (I used shallots) in with the sauce for several hours on warm, it was AWESOME Definatley a keeper and I will make it again.
I was really looking forward to making this because of the reviews but somehow this asted like a bad sweet asian meal... i was so hungry by the time it was done I ate it and it is palatable but I do not care for any more... I even added more garlic then called and it came out so sweet
There were some interesting flavors in here. It was easy to make, but I didnt pre-cook the chicken; I just let it cook in the slow-cooker. My husband and son liked it. Its healthy, so thats a plus.I give it 4 stars, because I liked it but I didnt love it.
I dont get it. I thought this recipe sounded wonderful but turned out to be blah Even the fresh ginger could not bring it to life. Not offensive but will not prepare it again.
The chicken was delicious but the pear brought no flavor to the meal. I think the balsamic was flavorful enough that my guests didnt even know they were eating pear. I also recommend cooking the asparagus seperate as it was a bit mushy.
Wonderful & easy
Flavorful, moist, a bit sweet, and very easy. A great recipe.
One of the easiest and best slow cooker recipies Ive ever done. Minimal preparation for maximum results. I served it with mashed potatoes. My boyfriend thought it was 5 star resturant quality food. He was so impressed. I thought the same. I was pleasently surprised. Will make this dish for special guests and when I need to do impressive entertaining.
This dish was okay, but not fantastic. I might try it again some time, but I doubt it.
The chicken tastes amazing but the asparagus and pears are left too soggy. I would suggest adding potatoes or serving over rice.
I did not care for this recipe.
We really liked it. We served it in a bowl over mashed potatoes. Ours was ready in 3 hours and the asparagus was just right. Not draining the juices from the chicken and pouring it in with the slow cooker is probably important.
Really didnt like the flavors
I was really hesistant to try this recipe due to the reviews being so mixed but Im glad that I went for it. My bf and I really enjoyed this one. However, I did take some advice from other comments. I added the asparagus in on the last hour and they came out just right. After two hours passed, I drizzled more balsalmic over the chicken at every hour until it was done. I think this helped moisten the chicken and give it good flavor. My bf has already requested that I make this one again
The flavor was just okay. My family did not like it. I wouldnt recommend this meal for those who are picky.
Solid recipe. I went light on the chicken (meat is just getting so expensive) and heavy on the ginger. I did not brown my chicken first and had no issues. I had no apple juice, subbing white cooking wine seemed to work well. All in all a tasty meal for fall when I used green beans instead of asparagus as recommended I loved the rosemary and might try some fresh next time, added closer to the end. I cooked mine for about 4.5 hours, any more and I think it would have been overdone. The dish was sweeter than I expected but nummy, thanks for sharing this unique recipe :)
Chicken tasted real good, but the Asparagus was yucky tasting. Its a one-timer for us. Ill give a 3 for the flavor of the chicken.
OK. So if I could give this a Ten I would.VERY Satisfying Made only a few changes.Used butter instead of Veg.oil,seasoned the chicken with Hungarian Paprika,Garlic Salt and Lemon Pepper.Added 2 Tb of Soy-sauce to sauce.then I cooked everything on very low on top of the stove.It was done and perfect in 30 min. THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE :)
Excellent recipe. Ive made it twice. The first time the asparagras was very soft and mushy. I like them a little crunchy, so the second time I made the dish, I added the asparagras about an hour before the cooking was complete and they were perfect. Great dish.
Fight back the urge to add more juice or sugar...any more will make it too sweet. My husband was nice enough to choke it down after he added a bunch of sriracha to cancel out some of the sweetness.
Ive been looking forward to making this dish. I finally made it today and Im thoroughly confused by the 4 and 5 star reviews. I do a lot of cooking and was intrigued by the combination of ingredients. I made it as is. Didnt make any changes. Im pretty disappointed and will not make this again.
Tastes and smells like an Asian dish, I would serve it with rice. I dont really like pears, and I had sweet potatoes that I needed to fix, so I substituted that, I think they went very well with the dish. I also baked instead of slow-cooker, and the chicken wasnt dry. But I added the asparagus in the last few minutes to avoid mushiness.
The flavor actually turned out good for me. I only had fresh rosemary so that flavor was a little strong but overall tasty. The chicken was a little dry and the asparagus was very mushy. I ended up cutting everything up and mixing it together and it was pretty good like that. I just noticed in the picture someone put it over rice. I like that idea, if I make this again, Ill probably try that.
I guess I should have known better. I couldnt believe that the asparagus would be edible after 4 hours...and it wasnt...but the reviews were so good. Flavors were good, meat a bit dry after just 4 hours. Definately wont try it again.
The recipe was a great "base" to start from when looking to do something with chicken and pears, substituting for other ingredients I had on hand. Substituted: Crystallized Ginger for the Fresh, Garlic Powder for minced, and Orange Juice for apple juice. Even with the changes it turned out quite tasty and favorable.
I would not make this recipe again without trying to change a few fundamentals. First, I dont understand the need for precooking the chicken. My chicken was totally dried out by the end of the 4 hours in the slow cooker. Couldnt you put the chicken in raw? Secondly, after 4 hrs on low the asparagus was mushy. I made the kids eat it and forced myself to also finish it, but the rice was our favorite part of the meal... I wish I could say the sauce redeemed it, but it was OK...
This is the first time I made a dish which I found to be hardly appetizing at all. I doubled the measurements for the liquids, and yet, it still came out dry. More so, you can only taste the "essence" of the flavour (rather than having some sauce to pour over your plate), and the asparagus, being at the top of the layer, was not saturated in the flavour at all (i.e., it was simply steamed asparagus). I was disappointed, because it sounded like a promising recipe. I wasnt impressed at all.
One word...weird. I followed the recipe exactly.
Main concern about this recipes is that asparagus does not cook very well in a slow cooker and it came out over-cooked and pears may be the wrong fruit to go with this too. The rest of the food still turned out good, so thats why I think overall its accurate to call the recipe okay.
I dont have a picky family when it comes to food and no one in my family liked this recipe. It was very sweet and didnt really have a lot of other flavor. Definitely not a keeper for us.
I was underwhelmed with this dish. There wasnt much "sauce" everyone raves about. It has great ingredients in it, but not enough for the dish. I cooked it on the stovetop in a cast iron pot for over an hour, and the chicken was dry. (Tasted better with the cooked pear, though.) I cooked the asparagus separately (we dont like them soggy) and added them towards the end. There just wasnt any deliciousness there. I get more from just marinating a chicken in far less ingredients, then I did from this dish. Maybe doing the slow cooker thing concentrates the flavors more, I dont now. But I wont be making it again. Meh.
Really didnt like what happened to the asparagus. It mushed up and was very stringy. I suspect just about any other hardy vegetable (potatoes, carrots, etc.) would do well. The chicken and sauce worked well together.
Tried with frozen green beans and apples, and they held up well (wouldnt use canned beans). It was super easy to throw everything in the crockpot and go; house smelled great too.
I would not make again - it was edible
Would not make again. Very, very bland. Ended up with overcooked asparagus, too much onion flavored chicken.
Overall, the recipe had great flavour between the pear, apple juice, onions and balsamic vinegar. However, I cooked this for the full 6 hours, and my asparagus was mushy as all get-out Next time, Id either cook it for a shorter amount of time, or add the asparagus later in the cooking process.
This recipe is good and easy. I think next time I would cook it longer in the slow cooker. It was much better heated up the next day. The flavors melded together better. I would give it 3.5 stars.
Prep is fairly easy. I didnt pre-cook the chicken and it stewed just fine. The flavors are awesome. The asparagus and pears do get super mushy. I might try cooking for less time next time. But super nutritious and your home will smell amazing while this cooks.
Delicious Interesting combination of flavors that I really enjoyed together. The only reason Im giving this four stars instead of five is that I would probably use half the sugar or less (the pears/apple juice make this plenty sweet already) and double the balsamic vinegar. Great recipe.
I did not care for this. I followed the recipe exactly except I had to use ground ginger instead of fresh...Chicken was dry, the asparagus was tough and stringy in spite of being fresh, the pears were beyond mushy,and the flavors just did not blend well together.
Loved the flavors. I only cooked it a little over 3 hours. If I did it again I would wait and add the asparagus the last hour. The asparagus was too soft for my liking. Chicken was alittle dry but the flavor was great.
We did not like this dish so much. The pear seem to have given the dish a rather odd taste. May try again with less sugar and without the pear.
The recipe was a great "base" to start from when looking to do something with chicken and pears, substituting for other ingredients I had on hand. Substituted: Crystallized Ginger for the Fresh, Garlic Powder for minced, and Orange Juice for apple juice. Even with the changes it turned out quite tasty and favorable.
Hmmmm- it was lacking something in the sauce... I followed the base recipe, following the suggestions of others, cooked it on high for 2 hours- perfect timing. Did not put the asparagus in the pot- didnt want it mushy Did throw some mushrooms in. I also didnt brown the chicken first- it was fine. So the meat was perfectly cooked, as were the onions and mushrooms...the sauce was missing something though- very bland, edible but not rememorable Not worth attempting again...
I omitted the ginger, but one spice shouldnt make that much difference in a recipe. My family thought it was OK. Doubt Ill make it again.
I used the ingredients, but as I like to go as fat free as possible I made this in the oven with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I pared the pears, put them on top of the chicken, then made my sauce and drizzled it over the chicken. Instead of brown sugar I used honey. As asparagus was out of season when I made this, we didnt have any. Baked at 350 degrees for approx. 45 min - 1 hr. After the chicken was done, I put the chicken onto a platter, put the drippings into a saucepan, added some balsamic vinegar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil to thicken and then drizzle over chicken & pears. Ohhhhh so goooood
No comments: