Sweet and Spicy Coconut Mango Chicken
Once again I am posting from beautiful South Dakota while sitting in a Perkins because they seem to have the best wifi connection in town. Yesterday we did a 10K hike (3.5 miles each way) to the top of Harney Peak in Custer State Park.
I was overcome with gratitude that my husband and I were able to do this challenging 5 hour hike because 100 pounds ago, it may have killed me. So when people ask “why would you want to hike to the top of a mountain?”, my response now is always, “because I can”.
While vacation is always great, I do miss home cooking and creating healthy recipes. Eating out can be challenging, especially in an area that doesn’t really make organic, preservative free meals a priority. That being said, try cooking this Sweet and Spicy Coconut Mango Chicken in my honor while I’m out West.
This recipe is so easy and simple. Very few ingredients and full of protein and flavor. Seriously, anybody can make this. You cannot screw it up. That might be going too far because I’ve been known to mess up the simplest of things but you know what I mean.
While this was cooking in the slow cooker, my house smelled like Hawaii. We rent homes when we vacation there so we can cook our food and play like we live there so using mango and coconut in anything automatically brings my senses back there.
You can also serve this as a chunky stew or top some cauliflower rice with it. I do recommend the topping of sweetened coconut flakes, it really adds a lot to the flavor.
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cubed
- 2 medium semi-ripe mango, diced into chunks, reserve pits (you will use the pits in the slow cooker for extra flavor and discard after cooking is finished)
- 1 can full fat coconut milk (I use Trader Joe's brand)
- 2 tablespoons chipotle flakes
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- shredded sweetened coconut (I use Trader Joe's brand)
- butter lettuce
- Put mango chunks, mango pits, coconut milk, chipotle flakes and red pepper flakes in slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Cube your chicken into bite size pieces and add to the slow cooker. Stir to make sure all chicken is coated in coconut milk mixture.
- Set slow cooker on low for 5 hours.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the mango pit and discard.
- SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
- Using a slotted spoon, drain and spoon onto butter lettuce cups, top with sweetened shredded coconut.
- Spoon chicken with the coconut sauce over some quinoa or cauliflower rice, top with sweetened shredded coconut.
- Just have a bowl of chicken and coconut sauce as a stew and a fresh pita.