Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken is an easy crockpot recipe and a true family favorite. We use skinless chicken thighs (though chicken breast works, too) and slow-cook them in a sticky honey-garlic sauce. Serve them whole with the sauce poured over the top, or shred the meat and mix it with some of the deliciously sweet sauce. Either way, you’re going to love it!

This slow cooker honey garlic chicken is one of those recipes I rely on when I want big flavor with almost no effort. The sauce is sweet, garlicky, and deeply satisfying, and it tastes like something that took way more work than it actually did.

I love that it’s refined sugar-free, too. Many crockpot honey garlic chicken recipes rely on ketchup and brown sugar, but I skip both. Instead, I use a little tomato paste for depth and let the honey do all the sweetening. There are no fussy steps here—everything goes straight into the slow cooker, you turn it on, and that’s it.

When it comes to serving, I can never quite decide which way I like best. You can serve the chicken thighs whole with plenty of sauce spooned over the top, or shred the chicken and turn it into honey garlic shredded chicken. Honestly, I recommend trying it both ways—it’s delicious no matter how you serve it.

For another sweet chicken slow-cooker recipe, try my General Tso’s crockpot chicken next!

What to serve with crockpot honey garlic chicken

I love this recipe with mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. There is a lot of sauce, so you can pour some over the top and pretend it’s gravy. And a simple green salad with one of our favorite salad dressing recipes will round out the meal.

Another delicious option is our Roasted Winter Green Salad. It goes really well with this chicken.

If you’ve opted to shred the chicken, you can sandwich some between bread with a handful of arugula.

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Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Recipe

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Total: 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

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Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken is an easy crockpot recipe and a true family favorite. We use skinless chicken thighs (although chicken breast works, too!) and slow cook them in a sticky honey garlic sauce. Serve them whole with the sauce poured over the top, or shred the meat and mix it with some of the deliciously sweet sauce. Either way, you’re going to love it!

4

Ingredients

• ▢ 8 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
• ▢ ¼ cup honey
• ▢ ¼ cup soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon molasses
• ▢ ½ teaspoon oregano
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ▢ Sesame seeds and chives (to garnish)

Instructions 

• Place the chicken thighs in your slow cooker in a single layer.
  8 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
  
• In a small bowl, mix the honey, tomato paste, soy sauce, molasses, oregano, and garlic. (See notes.) Pour the sauce over the chicken. Put the lid on the slow cooker and turn it to high for 2-3 hours or low for 5-6 hours. (See notes)
  ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon molasses, ½ teaspoon oregano, 4 cloves garlic
  
• A half hour before you're ready to eat, whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water and pour it into the crockpot. Mix it around a little to thicken the sauce.
  2 tablespoons cornstarch
  
• Serving option 1: Pour some sauce over the chicken thighs and then sprinkle with a bit of green onion and sesame seeds.
  Sesame seeds and chives
  
• Serving option 2: Shred the chicken with two forks, and then mix in ½ cup of the sauce.
  

Video

Notes

If you have a large slow cooker, you can mix the sauce in it, then add the chicken and stir it around. I find this a little hard to do in a small slow cooker.

While you can cook this longer (8 hours on low), the chicken will be very tender and is best shredded.

Nutrition

Serving: 2 chicken thighs with ¼ of the sauce, Calories: 365kcal (18%), Carbohydrates: 28g (9%), Protein: 40g (80%), Fat: 10g (15%), Saturated Fat: 2g (13%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 194mg (65%), Sodium: 1167mg (51%), Potassium: 644mg (18%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 20g (22%), Vitamin A: 176IU (4%), Vitamin C: 3mg (4%), Calcium: 58mg (6%), Iron: 3mg (17%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.

Love honey garlic?

Here are a few more favorite honey garlic recipes:

• Honey Garlic Corn on the Cob
• Sticky Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
• Baked Honey Garlic Chicken