Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

 

Save the white styrofoam container for a more desperate time—today we’re making easy Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken. Its sweet, sticky sauce has all the allure of your favorite takeout but is made of healthy, natural ingredients. The recipe is only eight ingredients (nine if you are a stickler and count the rice), and if you cook Asian food regularly (meaning you own soy sauce), you have all of them in your pantry right now

.I regularly hear that you are constantly on the lookout for healthy, easy crockpot chicken recipes.

As a fellow appreciator of keeping dinner simple (but delicious!) and healthy (but by no means “diet”), recipes like this slow cooker honey garlic chicken thighs are some of my absolute favorites to create.

The recipe index also suggests that when it comes to picking a slow cooker chicken recipe theme, I have a serious penchant for this entire “takeout/fake out” approach. (Although, I do have an extensive list of other Healthy Crock Pot Chicken Recipes.)

Current delivery-goes-healthy menu options include (though are not limited to): Pineapple Chicken, Crock Pot Cashew Chicken, Asian Lettuce Wraps, and Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken, with a side of Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli.

Does reading that recipe list make anyone else want to borrow a few extra slow cookers and create one of those restaurant-style combo plates? (I’ll have the #2 with slow cooker honey garlic chicken, the cashew chicken, and a side of Homemade Fried Rice please!)

For today, however, this tasty slow cooker honey garlic chicken is exactly what I want at the center of my plate.

The breezy ingredient list only takes a few minutes to stir together, the honey sauce merits nothing short of universal praise, and the leftovers easily pack for lunch and reheat like a dream.

About This Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe

The Ingredients

• Chicken. I opted to make this a juicy and flavorful boneless skinless chicken thighs slow cooker recipe, but you certainly can make this a honey garlic chicken chicken breast slow cooker recipe. Either will be tasty!
• Honey and Garlic. This is a seriously under appreciated ingredient combination. The honey gives the sauce its signature sweetness and stickiness, without the need for any additional sugar.
• Soy Sauce. The salty ying to balance the honey’s sweet yang.
• Tomato Paste. Wait, don’t go. I know that tomato paste sounds odd in a takeout-type recipe, but it gives the sauce richness and a touch of acidity. Don’t skip it.
• Chili Paste. (Also known as sambal oelek.) You can find it in the Asian or international food aisle of most major grocery stores (and even Target). If you don’t have it, swap red pepper flakes. This dish isn’t spicy, but you can always add more if you like a good kick.
• Rice Vinegar. To make the sauce punchy and addictive.

• The Directions

  1. Add your chicken to the slow cooker. In a mixing bowl, whisk your sauce ingredients together, and pour over the chicken. Cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is done. The chicken will bathe the yummy sauce!
  2. Remove the chicken to a plate to cool. Whisk the cornstarch directly into the slow cooker and cook until your sauce thickens.
  3. Shred the chicken, and return it to the slow cooker. Stir and coat your chicken in the sauce. Serve as desired (I like to serve it over rice topped with green onions and sesame seeds), and ENJOY!

  As noted above, after the chicken has cooked, I add cornstarch directly to the slow cooker to thicken the sauce further because we like our sauce nice and thick.

  If you are in a hurry, you can 1) skip the cornstarch step entirely and live with a thin (but still flavorful) sauce or 2) speed things along by transferring the sauce to a small saucepan, adding the cornstarch, then it on the stove instead. See recipe instructions below for tips.

• Recipe Adaptations

  • To Make Gluten Free. Use gluten-free tamari in place of the soy sauce, and swap the rice vinegar for apple cider vinegar.
  • To Make Paleo. Use arrowroot starch in place of the cornstarch.

  • Tips for Cooking Chicken in the Slow Cooker

    Choosing Between Breasts and Thighs, Bone-In or Bone-Out

    • As far as which type of chicken to use for this crock pot chicken recipe, you have options. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are what I used in this recipe. Dark meat is more forgiving, so it won’t dry out as easily. If you like, you can certainly make this a slow cooker chicken breast recipe instead. Be sure to check the chicken early to ensure it doesn’t overcook. (For more tips on cooking chicken in the slow cooker, see my Crockpot Shredded Chicken.)
    • To make slow cooker chicken thighs bone in, I suggest removing the skin first so that the sauce doesn’t become greasy. You will also need to extend the cook time. I’d estimate 4 to 6 hours on low, depending upon the size of your chicken. The same is true of slow cooker bone-in chicken breasts.

    About Using Frozen Chicken for Slow Cooker Recipes

    • While it is safe to cook raw chicken in the slow cooker, the chicken must be thawed. Do not put frozen meat in a slow cooker. It will spend too long at room temperature and may not be safe to eat.
    • If you do have your heart set on cooking with frozen chicken—say dinner is around the corner and you just realized you forgot to pull the chicken thighs out of the freezer (not that this has ever happened to me before!)—I’d suggest my Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken, which can be made safely with frozen chicken thighs or chicken breasts.
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