Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken features tender chicken breasts or thighs coated with sticky honey garlic sauce. It's easy to make with only 10 minutes of prep time. Let your slow cooker do the work for the perfect sweet, savory, and spicy weeknight dinner.
🐓Ingredients
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
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐓Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Make Honey Garlic Chicken in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 👨🍳Make it right every time
- 🐓What chicken to use
- 🥣Honey garlic sauce—tips and variations
- ↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe
- 🍲Suggested crock pot sizes
- 🍽️Serving
- 🍚Chinese Recipes
- ❄️Storage of leftovers
- ❓FAQs
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by Paul D.:
"Fantastic recipe! My family loves it. My wife thinks I'm a genius, lol."
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everybody needs more easy chicken recipes. With a sticky honey sauce, this is one of my easiest and best crock pot chicken breast recipes.
It is super easy to make with the step-by-step photo instructions. You can use almost any size slow cooker, 1 or 2-quart mini crock pots, or larger. Use either chicken breasts or thighs. And make it a complete meal by adding stir-fried vegetables and rice.
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.
👨🍳How to Make Honey Garlic Chicken in a Crock Pot—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Trim and cut chicken breasts.
2. Mix the honey garlic sauce.
3. In a smaller crock pot, stir the chicken with the sauce until coated.
4. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, but check at 2 hours. Breasts are done at 165° and thighs at 180°-185°.
5. If you want a thicker sauce, add a cornstarch slurry for the last hour of cooking.
6. Serve with rice and use the sauce as gravy. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
👨🍳Make it right every time
Cutting the chicken breasts into smaller pieces will help them cook more quickly and evenly, resulting in serving-sized portions and allowing more sauce to flavor the chicken.
Towards the end of cooking, you can shred the chicken and mix it back into the sauce.
Cook chicken breasts to 165° and thighs, although safe at 165°, are tenderer at 180°+. Bone-in chicken takes a bit longer to cook. Remove any skin before cooking.
If you want a thicker sauce, add a slurry of cornstarch mixed in cool water until smooth before adding slowly.
Many people want more sauce for rice; adjust to the amount you wish. I usually double it.
🐓What chicken to use
Skinless boneless chicken breasts are recommended. You may use skinless chicken thighs, which 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.
🥣Honey garlic sauce—tips and variations
Soy sauce: Regular soy sauce has lots of salt, so I suggest using low-sodium soy sauce to decrease the sodium level.
Honey: The sweetness of the sauce is from the honey. You can adjust to your taste.
Garlic: I prefer fresh crushed or minced garlic. You could use garlic powder. Use ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder in place of each clove of garlic.
The basil is usually used in this recipe, but I no longer use it, so it is optional. Some will use oregano to replace the basil.
A touch of fresh ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar (some may contain gluten), or crushed red pepper flakes are good. I added red pepper as my option.
↕️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 or larger crock pot.
- Use the recipe card and change the number of servings.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
🍲Suggested crock pot sizes
A half recipe will fit in a 1 quart, but crock pots smaller than 2 quarts are notoriously inaccurate in cooking. So, you can use one at your own risk and watch the temperature.
For a full-size recipe, generally use a 2 to 4-quart crock pot, although bigger may be used. You can use a bigger slow cooker 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.
🍽️Serving
Serve with rice, like Plain Fried Rice or Baked Rice. Add some stir-fry vegetables or steamed broccoli for a complete meal.
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.
🍚Chinese Recipes
Check out these other easy Chinese take-out recipes: Chinese Boneless Ribs, Beef and Broccoli, General Tso Chicken, Cashew Chicken, and Chicken Stir Fry.
Serve with rice, like Plain Fried Rice or Baked Rice.
❄️Storage of leftovers
Store in the refrigerator for 4 days or freeze in an airtight container for 4 months.
Reheat in the microwave or a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a small amount of chicken broth or water to the sauce if needed.
❓FAQs
To make honey garlic chicken gluten-free, use Tamari to replace the soy sauce. Most Tamari is gluten-free but check the label.
No. There are two issues with adding frozen chicken to a cooking crock pot.
First, the internal temperature of the chicken may not reach the safe final internal temperature of 165°.
Second, there have been a few reports of ceramic crock pots breaking due to temperature differentials.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds skinless chicken - breasts or thights
Honey Garlic Sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup soy sauce - low sodium preferred
- ¼ cup honey
- 2-4 cloves garlic - crushed or minced
- ½ teaspoon basil - optional
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes - optional
Optional thickening
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
For serving
- rice
- toasted sesame seeds
- sliced green onions
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-quart 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 Notes
Pro Tips:
- Use low-sodium soy sauce for lower sodium.
- It will fit nicely in a 2 qt or bigger crock pot. See the recipe post to discuss increasing or decreasing amounts and crock pot size options.
- If you add vegetables to the crock pot, you will also need to increase the crock pot size and increase the sauce.
- Cook to an internal temperature of 165° for the chicken breasts. If using thighs, you will be happier with the texture of the chicken if you cook it to 180°+.
- Thickening is optional, and you may want to increase the amount of sauce for serving.
- Good refrigerated for 4 days. Good frozen for 4 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Adapted from Allrecipes Honey-Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs.
Originally Published January 4, 2015. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Lindsay says
This recipe bursts with flavor! My entire family LOVED it! The only substitution that I made was Braggs liquid aminos vs soy sauce. Thank you!
anna says
I'm not very good with season I vs, but learning. If you don't have basil, what can be substituted instead?
DrDan says
With this recipe, I would just leave it out... there is lots of other flavor.
DrDan
Ashley says
Definitely use low sodium! I used regular soy sauce and it is terribly salty for my taste :/ i think im going to have to whip up something else for dinner tonight.
Ray says
Just bought my first ever crock pot and this was my first ever dish! So delicious and easy, I am hooked. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!!
Mike says
Great and easy! I added broccoli after everything was cooked. Over rice or was great!
DrDan says
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Racquel says
Really amazing recipe! Easy to make, nutritious and easy to clean up. The flavor is wonderful - unique and robust. If I change anything next time, I will half the amount of soy sauce because it was a tad salty.
DrDan says
Hi Racquel
I do agree that the sodium was at the high end. I would do low sodium soy sauce in the future.
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
Andrea says
Can I mix everything together and let it set in the fridge overnight before tossing it all in the crockpot?
Dawn says
I only have 8 and 10 low or 4 or 6 high. Was yours 4 low? If so guess, I will just do 8 n then check it at 4. Will rate when we try tonight. Thanks! Looks great. I use my crock pot often and am always looking for new stuff.
DrDan says
4 hours on low is enough. So start on 8 low and check at 4 hours and pull the plug.
DrDan
Skyla Ellis says
This was good but I think unused to much garlic & honey! It was too much taste and a little too sweet.
But I'm glad I tried. Thanks for the recipe!
Joe Ferriero says
Hi Dr Dan, just made it for 1st time . Its great but wish the sauce was thicker. Any suggestions?
DrDan says
Hi Joe, You can thicken it some with corn starch. Try 1 tablespoon corn starch in 2 tablespoons of cool water mix well then add to the liquid in the pot about 30 minutes before completing and turn up to high. When you mix it in either take the chicken out briefly to get all the liquid treated or move the chicken to the side and mix well. And don't forget to go to high for the last 30 minutes or so.
DrDan
Stephanie says
Yummy!! So good!
Stephanie says
I made this tonight! I put on slow for close to 8 hours and it was delicious! I only added a dash of lemon juice and a little less basil. So good!
Dandy Sandy says
This recipe is delicious! I substituted 2 planks of Tempeh for the chicken. I cut Tempeh in halves then sliced lengthwise to make patties. Soooo goooood! Will make again!
Theidahopotato says
This recipe has real potential, but I made it as is and my husband and I didn't love it. I think the real problem was the basil; it just added a very strange flavor. However, my two year old and ten month old loved it and chowed down. I'll make it again, omitting the basil and adding a splash of rice vinegar or a squeeze of lime. Then I'll top the adult portions with a bit of siracha!
Amy says
Googled "slow cooker chicken breast" for cook time and found this recipe. I didn't expect it to be good at all. But I ate the whole thing by myself at once. (3 chicken breasts.) Whoops!
DrDan says
Hi Amy,
I'm working some variations of this. I just hope they do as well.
Thanks for the note.... you ate all three????
DrDan
Michelle says
I googled same thing
Michelle says
I googled slow cooked chicken breast too. This was delicious. I added some Chinese and white wine as someone else suggested (in place of the basil). I needed to add cornflour to make it thicker and could have added more. Next time I'll probably remove the juice and reduce it on the stovetop. I didn't have low salt soy and noticed the saltiness but it wasn't bad. Definitely a great recipe.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note. It is a good basic start. Like all recipes, they are just guidelines to get where you want to go.
DrDan
Alfin says
Great stuff