Sticky, sweet slow cooker honey garlic chicken is a delicious dinner served over rice or noodles.
Honey garlic chicken breast uses skinless breasts or thighs slow cooked in a quick homemade honey garlic sauce!
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This Honey Garlic Chicken is a Flavor Favorite Because…
- Tasty slow cooker honey garlic chicken is an easy one-pot dinner.
- Basic pantry ingredients and a little crock pot time are all it takes to make this delish dish.
- Double the sauce and use it as a glaze for pork, shrimp, and veggie dishes all week long!
Ingredient Tips and Swaps
- Chicken: Use split chicken breasts or bone-in thighs with the skin removed for this dish. You can also use boneless skinless breasts or thighs.
- Aromatics: For the best flavor, go for fresh ginger and garlic.
- Soy Sauce: Use low sodium soy sauce, or use regular or tamari and replace half the amount called for with water.
Variations
- Add vegetables like baby corn, mushrooms, water chestnuts, or pineapple chunks.
- Add sriracha or sambal to taste for a spicy-sweet glaze.
- Replace the homemade sauce with a jar of prepared honey garlic sauce (choose a thick sauce).
How to Make Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
Slow-cooker chicken recipes like this one are so easy to make.
- Whisk the sauce according to the recipe below and pour over the chicken.
- Cook until tender and shred the chicken.
- Thicken the sauce in a small saucepan with a cornstarch slurry.
- Toss with the shredded chicken and enjoy.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve this chicken over rice, cauliflower rice, or noodles
- Serve it as lettuce wraps with a variety of toppings.
- Add a side of steamed veggies like broccoli or carrots.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- Keep leftover slow-cooker honey garlic chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
- Freeze portions in zippered bags for up to 1 month and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes
Did you love this slow cooker honey garlic chicken recipe? Leave a comment and a rating below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds split chicken breasts skin removed, or 1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
- ½ cup less sodium soy sauce *see note
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder or ½ small onion, finely diced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- sliced green onions and sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Combine soy sauce, honey, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, onion powder, and red pepper flakes.
- Place chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker and pour the sauce over top. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until the chicken reaches 165°F in the thickest part.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and place it in a bowl. Use two forks to shred it, discarding the bones. Lightly cover to keep warm and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of water and cornstarch. Transfer the liquid from the slow cooker to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. While whisking, drizzle in the cornstarch mixture a little at a time to reach the desired consistency; you may not need all of the mixture. Let boil 1 minute.
- Pour the sauce over shredded chicken and stir to coat. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds if desired.
- Serve over rice or noodles.
Video
Notes
Depending on how much liquid your chicken produces, you may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.
Soy Sauce Note: Use low-sodium soy sauce, or this dish will be too salty. If using regular soy sauce, replace half of the soy sauce with water.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 298 | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 1191mg | Potassium: 680mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 71IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Slow Cooker
Cuisine American, Asian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Hi Holly
Do you think the Slow Cook Honey Garlic Chicken will work on pot stove top, and how long would you cook it for?
I have only written this recipe as written. I am sure you could do it on the stove top, but the cook time would decrease.
This sounds delicious! Have you tried it with FROZEN BONELESS chicken breasts? I’m wondering what kind of time adjustment needs to be made? Our supermarket doesn’t carry bone-in breasts. Suggestions?
Hi Cathy, While I have only tried the recipe as written, I think it would work with frozen breasts, I would recommend unthawing in the fridge overnight.
Hi Cathy,
I have made this with frozen boneless chicken breasts. With my 6-quart crockpot, I cook 6 hours on low (from frozen) and everything comes out perfectly. I don’t bother thawing the chicken breasts in the fridge. I just throw them into the slow cooker straight from the freezer.
Is there a certain size slow cooker that needs to be used when making this recipe? I couldn’t find any indication in the recipe and other information that’s posted. Thank you for any help you can give me. :)
I’ve made this successfully in both a 6qt and 4qt slow cooker, both with great results.
OMG this was the best! We added water chestnuts. It was better the second day because all the flavors blended. Fantastic!!! Thank you so much…………
Water chestnuts sound like a great addition Sharon, so glad you loved it!
Hi there
Do you think I could use a pork loin roast in place of the chicken in the Honey Garlic Chicken recipe ? What’s your thoughts and tips maybe …? Thanks for your time
I have only made this recipe with chicken so can’t say for sure. Let us know if you try it with pork loin roast Teresa.
You may enjoy my Dr Pepper Crock Pot Pulled Pork Recipe or Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin.
I put this together tonite and put in fridge. I will turn crockpot on in the morning on my way out to work.
I hope it it works okay doing that way!
Let me know how it turns out Lori!
I’ve made this several times and it’s delicious. I normally add my own touches, change a recipe, but not for this one. I do add more vegetables, but that’s it. This is perfect and even better than what you can get out. We love it!
So glad you love this as much as we do!
This was delicious and easy to make. I had to substitute the hoisin sauce for umami paste and brown sugar, which worked fine. Ran out of time and didn’t get to thicken the sauce with cornstarch, but it was still yummy. My guests loved it!
Glad to hear it worked so well for you Shelley!
very salty. Would not make aga
Did you use low sodium soy sauce as directed in the recipe? This does help with the salt.
Have you tried making this in your instant pot? If you have please give me the times on this :D.
Thank you!!!!
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it would work!! I would suggest using the chicken setting.
Can i use a pressure cooker for this recipe
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it would work!! I would suggest using the chicken setting.
I made this tonight and it was a hit and I will be making it again. I have a question. T he recipe calls for an onion I would assume that is a regular onion and not green onion which is shown on the picture.
Yes Stacy, the onion is a regular onion. The green onion is garnish only. I’m so happy to hear that you love the recipe!
Excellent – we like sauce, so I doubled the sauce quantities
When should I add frozen broccoli? Toward the end im assuming
I would suggest steaming the broccoli separately as adding frozen broccoli to the slow cooker will cool it down and it can take a long time to get back up to temperature. Once cooked, toss it together before serving.
Can you use regular chicken breasts (no bone)? How would that affect the timing? Cooking rookie here!
You can use boneless chicken breasts, they may not be quite as moist. I would cook them about 3 hours on low or until they reach 165 degrees.
Help I can find rice vinegar do I have to put this in?.
I use apple cider vinegar instead
Can you freeze this if you make more
Awesome recipe–so easy and makes the house smell so good while it is cooking.
Can you use chicken thighs instead of breast?
Of course!
Love the sound of this recipe but a member of my family can’t eat garlic, has anyone tried it without the garlic and how do you think it would taste?!