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These tender slow cooker chicken thighs are super easy to make with a short prep time and everyday ingredients. The honey garlic sauce is absolutely irresistible!
Obsessed with honey garlic flavors? Try these easy skillet Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts or this Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken recipe.
Why you’ll love it
Is there anything better than homemade honey garlic sauce? It’s got bold flavors, and it perfectly coats the melt-in-your mouth tender chicken thighs. This versatile recipe is wonderful over rice, noodles, or even in a sandwich. Asian-inspired flavors just bring so much more to the table when it comes to shredded chicken!
This is a family friendly meal that you’ll make again and again. There’s tons of the mouthwatering sauce that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. Smother it over veggies, and you’re golden. Busy parents will appreciate that it’s an incredibly simple to make dump-and-go chicken dinner.
What you’ll need
- Chicken – boneless chicken thighs are a great choice for slow cooking because they become more tender and don’t dry out as easily as chicken breasts do
- Soy sauce – we’re using the low sodium variety here
- Honey – this gives a sweet contrast and balance to the savory ingredients
- Ketchup – adds a bit more sweetness and depth. Don’t worry, it definitely doesn’t give an overwhelming tomato taste!
- Garlic – feel free to adjust the garlic quantity to your tastes
- Apple cider vinegar – my not-so-secret ingredient to amp up the flavor
- Ginger – don’t skip the fresh ginger! It’s essential to this recipe
- Red pepper flakes – optional, but I like giving it a little kick
- Cornstarch – to thicken the sauce
How to make slow cooker chicken thighs
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Place the chicken thighs in your slow cooker, arranging them so that they’re in a fairly even layer. In a bowl, whisk all the sauce ingredients together.
Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cook on high for 3.5 hours, then add in the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce up and continue cooking it for another 15 minutes. Shred with two forks and enjoy!
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- I use this Crockpot model.
- Ginger is much easier to grate when it’s frozen. I always keep a piece of ginger in my freezer in a ZipLoc and then grate it with my Microplane when needed. That way, you’re also never without ginger!
- For the garlic, I simply use a garlic press to crush it. I do this as a shortcut for any recipe that requires minced garlic.
Substitutions and variations
- You can swap the chicken thighs for chicken breasts, but they may not turn out quite as tender since they have less fat and aren’t as well-suited for slow cooking. Cooking time may need to be adjusted depending on their size.
- Using bone-in chicken thighs is an option, but I would increase cook time to 4 hours on high. If you use ones that are skin-on, keep in mind the sauce may end up a little too oily.
- If you want to keep the thighs intact and not shred them, that’s fine! But the meat will easily fall apart anyway after slow cooking.
What to serve with honey garlic chicken
- This recipe pairs really well with jasmine rice and chopped scallions. I also garnished the chicken with sesame seeds, but that’s totally optional!
- You can also serve it over noodles or with steamed or stir fried vegetables.
- One of my favorite ways to serve shredded chicken is in a bun with some Homemade Coleslaw.
Leftovers and storage
- Keep any leftovers of this chicken recipe in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
- Reheat in a small saucepan over a low heat. Microwaving will work fine as well. I’d make fresh rice or noodles.
- Freezing should be good for up to 3 months with this one. Thaw overnight, or very slowly over a low heat.
More Asian-inspired recipes
If you made these Crockpot honey garlic chicken thighs, let me know in the comments below! Tag me #saltandlavender on Instagram if you made any of my recipes.
Honey Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs boneless skinless
- For serving: chopped scallions, sesame seeds, rice optional, to taste
Sauce:
- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Add the chicken thighs to your Crockpot (in an even layer).
- Add the sauce ingredients (except for the cornstarch) to a bowl and whisk together until combined.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook on high for 3.5 hours. Low for 6-8 hours will work too.
- Mix the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl, and then pour it into the slow cooker. Give it a stir. Let it cook (on high) for another 15 minutes or so to ensure the cornstarch has activated and the sauce thickens.
- You can leave the chicken pieces whole or shred them with 2 forks (I do this right in the slow cooker). Serve over rice and with scallions and sesame seeds sprinkled over top if desired.
Notes
- This recipe serves 4-6 depending on portion size.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
Can you use bone in thighs
See the “substitutions & variations” section of the blog post.
How big of a serving size does the calories account for?
A serving size is 1/6 of the recipe as written. It’s calculated automatically from a database of ingredients. You’d have to weigh your own ingredients and/or consult a nutritionist for information beyond that. Enjoy!
can i place some carrots and potatoes in the pot as well?
You could. I am not 100% sure on timing (they could end up a bit under or overcooked) but I think it’s worth a shot. Let me know! 🙂
Can I use drumsticks instead, what adjustments would be needed?
Hi! I haven’t tested with drumsticks. I would try everything the same. Let me know how it goes!
Delicious!!
Glad you liked it! 🙂
Would this work without the corn starch thickening step?
Sure, but the sauce won’t be as thick.
Thank you for this recipe! I made it as stated and it was good, but I wanted to make it a little more Asian in flavor on this second try. To do so, I doubled the ginger, used rice wine vinegar instead of apple cider, used only a 3 T of catchup and substituted hoisin and salbal oleek for the remainder of that 1/3 cup, and did the same with the soy sauce, substituting ponzo (citrus soy sauce) for the remainder of the 1/3 cup. Yummy!!
Sounds good to me! Glad you enjoyed it, Annie 🙂
Hi there, I’m going to try this recipe this week (I gave it a 5 star rating even though I haven’t tried it yet because I’ve tried so many of your recipes and not one of them has let me down yet! ❤️). Just wondering, do you have any idea if it’d be ok if I use ground ginger instead of fresh?
Hi Mary! That’s so nice of you to say! 🙂 I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes. So, with ground ginger you’d need to use it very sparingly… it is very strong and can ruin a dish if you add too much (been done, done that). I’d try to use fresh if you possibly can, but a tiny amount (I’m just guessing here since I don’t use it very often, but maybe max 1/4 teaspoon?) should be ok in a pinch.
This looks good! I have a small slow cooker, is it okay if a couple of pieces are on top others in the cooker?
Yes… that should be fine. You may want to stir it halfway through/every so often. Hope you enjoy it!
Can this recipe be done in the Instantpot in the same manner?
Hi! What do you mean by the same manner? You mean using the slow cooker function on your IP? You could for sure try that. But pressure cooking is basically the opposite of slow cooking, and I have not tried pressure cooking this particular recipe. I have a similar one that has been tested in the IP here: https://bit.ly/3cEXYRE You could probably tweak this recipe to adapt it for the IP based on that one, but chicken thighs may need a bit longer in the IP to become tender.