Crockpot Orange Chicken Recipe (Plus Bonus Easy Orange Marmalade!)

A few weeks ago, I made a small batch of orange marmalade with some extra oranges.  The problem with that is that even a small batch made 4 containers, and we don't eat something like orange marmalade often enough to use that up quickly.  (I didn't have any canning jars to can it and save it long-term).  So I wanted to find a recipe for orange chicken, ideally in the crockpot, and using the orange marmalade.

(Apologies for the not-so-stellar picture, but I almost forgot to even take one! Hopefully I'll remember next time and update)

The majority of the recipes I found on Pinterest using orange marmalade were chicken, marmalade, and a bottle of barbecue sauce.  I could have made homemade barbecue sauce and then done that one, but I wanted something easier with what I had on hand.  So I searched some more and combined a few common ingredients from other recipes. And if I do say so myself, it turned out really good!  Since we have two containers of marmalade left, it's safe to say we'll be having this again soon.

Ingredients:

• 20oz. chicken breast, cut up into small pieces
• 1 cup orange marmalade
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (I thought this was just the right amount of kick, but the kids thought it was too spicy, so next time I'll use 1/4 tsp. instead)
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours, until chicken is cooked through and veggies are soft.  Serve over rice.

Easy Orange Marmalade 

(makes about 1 cup per orange)

Directions: Thoroughly wash all oranges.  Cut off any yucky spots.  Puree oranges, peel and all, in a blender.  (My blender is pretty low-powered, so I had to halve mine and do one orange at a time).  Measure the amount of orange pulp you get.  Mix an equal amount of white sugar with the orange pulp in a medium size pot.  Heat over medium heat until bubbling, then lower heat and simmer 30 minutes, stirring often.  Lower the heat more if necessary (my first batch burned because it was too high of a heat and I didn't stir it often enough).  Cool and refrigerate.