Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken (2024)

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken has fall-apart tender chicken breasts or thighs coated in a sticky honey sauce. With only 10 minutes of prep, this is an easy weeknight dinner recipe.

Everybody needs more easy chicken recipes. This is one of the easiest and best crock pot chicken recipes with a sticky honey sauce which is the feature of this recipe.

This sticky honey chicken will become a family favorite with great Asian flavor and tender chicken breasts or thighs. And it fits most healthy diets like a low-calorie or low-fat diet . And it can be made to fit a gluten-free diet.

Super easy to make with the step-by-step photo instructions. You can use almost any size slow cooker and either chicken breasts or thighs. And make it a complete meal by adding some vegetables with rice.

Serve with rice, like Fried Rice or Baked Rice. And don't miss these other easy Chinese take-out recipes Chinese Boneless Ribs, Beef and Broccoli, General Tso Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Chicken Stir Fry.

Adapted from Allrecipes Honey-Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs.

🐓What your will need to make this recipe

• Chicken—skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs
• Honey garlic sauce—soy sauce, honey, garlic cloves, basil(optional), crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• Corn starch—optional for thickening
• For serving—rice, toasted sesame seeds, green onions

✔️Tips and Options

• Chicken tips
  • Chicken skin does not cook well in a crock pot, so don't use chicken with skin.
  • Bone-in chicken takes a bit longer to cook.
  • Cutting the chicken breasts into a couple of pieces helps them cook faster and easier, making serving-size pieces and more surface area for the sauce to flavor.
  • If using chicken thighs, use skinless, but they may be boneless or bone-in.
  • The size of the thighs is thinner and smaller than the breasts, so they do not need to be cut into pieces.
  • Cook chicken breasts to 165° and thighs, although safe at 165°, are tenderer at 180°+.
  • You may shred the chicken near the end of cooking and mix it back into the sauce.
• Sauce tips
  • You can use Tamari to replace the soy sauce if you need gluten-free. Most Tamari is gluten-free, but check the label.
  • A touch of rice vinegar (some may contain gluten) or crushed red pepper flakes are good. I added red pepper as an option.
  • The basil is in the model recipe, but I no longer use it, so it is optional. Some will use oregano to replace the basil.
  • The recipe makes ¼ cup of the honey garlic sauce to use at serving, but some will want more, so adjust the amount of sauce to what you want. It will not affect the cooking.

↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe

This is a very easy recipe to cut in half or double. As written, it makes four servings of about 1 cup and can be made in a 2-quart crock pot.

To adjust the recipe size in the recipe card

1. Use the recipe card and change the number of servings to half or double.
2. Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.

Suggested crock pot sizes

• For a half recipe—it will fit in a 1 quart, but crock pots smaller than 2 quarts are notoriously inaccurate in cooking. So use one at your own risk and watch the temperature.
• For a full-size recipe—a 2 to 4-quart crock pot works well. You can use bigger but watch the temperature closely. Cooking small recipes in large crock pots tends to overcook rapidly and may burn. Cook to an internal temperature and not by time.
• For a double recipe—use a 3-quart or larger crock pot and watch the final temperature.

❓FAQs

Serving and storage of leftovers

The simplest serving method is with the honey garlic sauce over rice or cauliflower rice with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and some sliced green onions.

Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or freeze in an airtight container for 3-4 months.

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Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Trim about 1 ½ pounds of chicken. If using skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut them into serving-size pieces. You may use skinless chicken thighs if you wish.

In a medium bowl, ½ cup of ketchup, ¼ cup of soy sauce (low sodium preferred), ¼ cup of honey, four cloves crushed garlic, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional), and ½ teaspoon basil (optional) whisk together.

Spread the chicken across the bottom of a 2-quarts or larger crock pot coated with PAM cooking spray. Add the sauce and mix.

If you want a thicker sauce, in a small bowl, make a cornstarch slurry by mixing 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cool water until smooth. Add to the crock pot and mix well during the last hour of cooking.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Breasts should reach 165°, or thighs should be 180° minimum when done. Check the chicken temperature at about 2 hours since crock pots vary.

Serve with rice and use the sauce as gravy. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

📖 Recipe

Originally Published January 4, 2015. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.