I recently received a lovely hamper full of French’s and Frank’s sauces in order to create some Independence Day inspired recipes. Now I know I’m British and all but I do love a good theme and was soon digging out my stars and stripes flag and getting in the (American) holiday spirit!
I started brainstorming recipe ideas for healthy party style snacks and was writing out a big shopping list when N decided to read over my shoulder.
N: “I thought we were having an American Independence Day party?” he said.
Me: “Yeah, we are! I’m thinking healthy chicken kebabs with a nice marinade, that sort of thing!”
(It is worth noting at this point that I’ve never seen such a look of horror on my husband’s face before.)
N: “Healthy kebabs? KEBABS? Laura for a start kebabs aren’t American and secondly ‘healthy’ and ‘American’ do not belong in the same sentence! Cook some real food… like, Man vs Food style REAL FOOD!”
Now I couldn’t bring myself to completely tear up my healthy eating rule book but I did go all out to make the food as saucy and delicious and succulent and juicy as possible! The result is a Fourth of July feast which isn’t going to earn anyone a gold star at weight watchers, but with substitutes like lean chicken meat instead of fatty pork and tangy vegetable sides, it’s got some healthy balance to it.
Let the Independence Day eating extravaganza commence!
This is quite honestly the easiest recipe you could ever hope to make. It takes just 5 minutes of prep and a mere 4 ingredients. The only hard part is resisting the urge to peak under the lid as it bubbles it’s way to perfection in the slow cooker. It will make your kitchen smell delicious as the chicken absorbs all of the wonderful smokey flavours of the sauce, leaving two succulent breasts that will shred easily with a fork.
You can serve the pulled chicken in buns, use it to top your jacket potatoes or spoon it into tacos like us. (Yeah yeah I know that tacos are Mexican!)
I used French’s Mississippi Sweet & Smoky BBQ sauce which was sweet and sticky and tangy.
Serves 2
2 chicken breasts (skinless)
A bottle of BBQ sauce (yep, we’re using it all – live dangerously!)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Half a red onion
Place your chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker and pour over the bottle of BBQ Sauce.
Roughly chop the onion and add this to the mix along with the Worcestershire sauce.
Using two large spoons toss the chicken in the sauce to make sure it’s completely smothered in it.
Pop the lid on and leave it to bubble away on low for 6 hours.
After six hours your chicken will be ready. Check the consistency of the sauce and if it’s a bit watery drain it into a saucepan and gently heat it for 20 minutes until it reduces and thickens a bit.
Shred your chicken with a fork, then add the sauce back in, reserving a couple of tablespoons for dressing.
Mix the sauce and chicken together and try to resist eating bits as you go along!
This can be used in your chicken tacos, or as a delicious topping on hotdogs.
1 red onion
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tsps olive oil
A dash of Frank’s RedHot Pepper Sauce (or as much as you dare!)
Slice your onion in half and then thinly slice it into half moons.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan on low-medium, then add the onion and sugar, stir it all together and then leave it to slowly cook for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Add the balsamic vinegar and hot sauce, mix well and then cover for another 10 minutes.
Take off the lid, keep the heat low and stir occasionally until ready to serve.
2 carrots
2 tbsps olive oil
Salt and pepper
1tbsp red wine vinegar
A handful of peanuts
A handful of coriander
Lightly crush the peanuts and chop the coriander, then put these to one side.
Thinly slice the carrots (I use a peeler to make slivers).
Toss these in the olive oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
Transfer into a small bowl and sprinkle on the peanuts and coriander.
All that’s left to do is grab some napkins (because this is messy finger food after all!) and tuck in.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
…if you’re craving more American style food, check out my waffle recipe here… it’s gluten free!
*Contains PR samples – thanks French’s and Frank’s!
