CROCKPOT HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN is a simple meal that you can toss in the slow cooker for any night of the week. Serve this shredded chicken over rice with a side of steamed vegetables for a complete meal or stick the shredded chicken in a sandwich roll and top with coleslaw for a tasty sandwich!
Honey garlic chicken! Doesn’t the name alone just make you drool?
Let’s talk about this crockpot chicken recipe, shall we?
This is an Asian–ish tasting recipe, but I hesitate to actually call it Asian food. Does authentic Asian food contain ketchup? I feel like no, but I could totally be wrong.
I’m not the source for authentic Asian cuisine, but I’m here with a tasty meal nonetheless!
Table of Contents
What Readers are Saying!
“This chicken was delicious and is officially a new staple in my house!! I shredded it and then served it in Boston lettuce leaves, topped with cole slaw and slivered almonds. These ‘Asian lettuce wraps’ were fabulous!!! Then I used the leftover chicken the next day, served on hamburger buns (and again topped with cole slaw). Sooooo GOOD!!!” – Nicole
Either way, this reminds me of my favorite Chinese take-out joint.
The sauce is sweet, salty, and full of garlic.
Served over rice, with a side of steamed broccoli, it’s hard to go wrong with this slow cooker meal!
Be sure to serve this up with our favorite air fryer egg roll
How to make slow cooker honey garlic chicken:
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Get out a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. The Ninja Foodi is my new to go-to. It’s a slow cooker, air fryer, and pressure cooker all in one.
Grab a couple of pounds of chicken breasts. Add those guys to the slow cooker.
In a small bowl, whisk together some ketchup, reduced sodium soy sauce, honey, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes.
Helpful Tip!
Selecting your soy sauce
- Do be sure to use reduced sodium soy sauce or your chicken will come out quite salty! I love salty flavors, but it’s too much to use the regular soy sauce.
Pour the sauce over the chicken, give it a quick toss to coat the chicken in the sauce, and then cover your slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours, depending on your crockpot. We’re looking for tender, easily shreddable chicken.
When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the slow cooker and shred with a couple of forks. You can also use a hand mixer or stand mixer to shred chicken! Just toss the chicken in and use the whisk or beater blade attachment on low speed. Magical!
At this point, you can return the chicken to the sauce and then serve. Alternately, if you’d like your sauce a bit thicker, go ahead and add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of water and stir to combine. Whisk that into the sauce well, set the crock pot to high, and return the chicken to the sauce. Cover and cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour, to thicken the sauce a bit
Honey garlic chicken thighs:
If you’re a dark meat person, go ahead and swap chicken thighs for the chicken breasts in this recipe. No other adjustments needed.
If you’d prefer not to shred the meat, no problem! Just remove the chicken from the slow cooker and serve!
Freezer Hack!
Making this for dinner tonight? Make double and put one half into a zip top freezer bag and freeze for another night. When ready to cook, just dump the bag into the slow cooker on cook low for 8 hours.
More Asian flavors you might like to try:
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps: If you’re watching carbs, these lettuce wraps are keto friendly!
Spam Fried Rice: I’m not much of a Spam person, but even I have to admit that it’s delicious in fried rice!
Korean BBQ Sauce: Slather this Korean BBQ sauce on pork chops and grill ’em up!
Pork Stir Fry: Such an easy recipe for busy nights and it sure beats take-out!
Cauliflower Chicken Fried Rice: Another low carb favorite in our house – skip the rice and use cauliflower crumbles!
Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Add the chicken to a 5 quart slow cooker.
- Add the ketchup, soy sauce, honey, garlic, and red pepper flakes to a small bowl and whisk well to combine.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir to coat.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 3 1/2 hours or until the meat is cooked through and easily shreds.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred the meat with a fork.
- Stir together the water and cornstarch and whisk into the sauce. Set slow cooker to high and return the chicken to the sauce.
- Continue cooking for 30 minutes to thicken the sauce slightly.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in July 2018. The post was updated in 2020, though the recipe has not changed. It’s just as perfect as it ever was. 😉
Jordan Dail says
I just moved out from home and I was looking for some delicious, inexpensive meals because I love cooking and love eating healthy. This was the first crock pot dish I made and it was absolutely great. I steamed some broccoli and made some rice to go with it. I personally used regular soy sauce, but only used 1/4 a cup. Would recommend.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jordan!
Sue Geo says
I really wanted to like this. It was SO easy to make and I loved that it used standard stock pantry items.
This was super easy for a weeknight.
I made it exactly per the instructions, however, it was still too salty for my family (even with the reduced sodium soy sauce).
If there’s a substitute for the (reduced sodium) soy sauce, I’d gladly try this again.
Wondering if cutting down the soy sauce to a couple of tablespoons and using apple juice for the difference would work?
Karly says
Hi Sue! We haven’t tried reducing the amount of soy sauce, but I think it would work well. I’m not sure you’d even need to replace it with anything – though I’d probably use broth instead of apple juice if I did swap it, otherwise things might go the other direction and end up too sweet.
Wanda says
Can the soy sauce be substituted with something else?
Karly says
Coconut aminos would work.
Luv_Ags says
If I wanted to make this dish in the crock pot what would be the time of cooking?
Thanks!
Karly says
Hello! This recipe was created for the crockpot. The instructions are in the recipe card. 🙂
Amanda says
I am trying this recipe right now. This is the third slow cooker recipe I have tried since getting one. I am excited about it — though, i had to really save on groceries and so don’t have fresh garlic or reduced sodium soy salt…i am hoping with everything I’ve got that depleting the called for amount with water by half will taste alright. I am so nervous!
And — I just have to say that the ads on your site right now are so far beyond overkill. They are all really taking away from user experience with your page.
Karly says
Hi Amanda! I hope it turns out for you!
I’m sorry to hear about the ads. It’s a tough balance and we’re always tweaking to get it right. 🙂
Amanda says
Hi! I was wondering if I could use frozen chicken breasts in this? I don’t have enough time to thaw…
Karly says
Yes, that should work fine, though the cook time will be longer. Just cook until the meat shreds easily. 🙂
GABRIELLE M PANTINO says
Can I use chicken thighs for this recipe?
Karly says
Yep, that will work fine! 🙂
Karly Dudzek says
From one Karly to another ???? I just have to say- this recipe was so good, so easy and oh so right for my family! I made this on a whim- had 6-7 thawed chicken breasts and didn’t know what to do. I’m so glad to have found your recipe!!! Thank you! I tripled every ingredient to the tee and it turned out wonderfully. (Yes I did the water corn starch and yes low sodium soy sauce is a must) everything turned out perfectly! Served over riced with mixed veggies on the side. So good!
Karly Krecklow says
Side note… I have never seen or known anyone with my name spelled the exact same way! So cheers to that!!! I’m super excited to follow and try all your recipes.
Karly says
Ahh, there’s 3 of us!! 🙂
Karly says
So glad it was a hit!
Wendy says
Have you tried making this in the pressure cooker?
Karly says
No, afraid not. I think it would likely work fine on high pressure for 15 minutes with a natural release, but the sugar content might cause it to burn so I can’t say for sure.
Laura says
I cooked it in the instant pot today and added an extra 1/2 cup of water to the bottom. I didn’t add in the cornstarch until after it cooked. I took out the chicken, shredded it, used the saute setting when adding the cornstarch to the liquid, then added the chicken back in. It worked great! This is so tasty! Wonderful recipe!
Laura says
I forgot to mention I pressure cooked it for 15 minutes like you advised.
Karly says
Thanks for sharing, Laura! I’m so glad it worked in the Instant Pot!
Aimee says
This was a first time for my 62yr old father inlaw cooking for his wife. AMAZING! Cant rave enough. Followed to the “t” using thighs-cooking times- exact seasonings – easy directions and absolutely perfect even in Colorado altitude.
The whole family- even Papa couldn’t believe how wonderful the meal was and everyone over full. Papa so proud and ready for another great recipe- no longer scared.
Thank you!
Karly says
Aw, I love that! Thanks for sharing, Aimee!
L says
This was awesome. I used double the chicken in thighs instead of breast, doubled everything but the soy sauce (used that st 1.5× the amount) & made into wraps after I topped the chicken with homemade coleslaw (made with a coat of outback steakhouse aussie fries dip) & it was amazing, both alone & in the wraps!
Amanda says
I don’t have a slow cooker, any way I can make this in a Dutch oven?
Karly says
I’m sure you could, though I haven’t tried.
Michelle says
Hi, is there a substitute for soy sauce for thus recipe??
Karly says
You could try swapping in coconut aminos.
Emily K. says
My family loved it! I’m a sophomore in High school, so if I can cook it anyone can! I also made brown rice and Brussels sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes as sides with this meal. Yumm! There’s still a ton of leftovers from my family of four!
Karly says
Sounds like you made a delicious dinner!! 🙂
Shayna says
This looks amazing, and I’m definitely going to try it! I’m going to be out for a couple of hours before I want to serve it. If I added the water and cornstarch earlier (and kept cooking it on low), do you think that would work to thicken the sauce? And then I’d pull out the chicken to shred it at the end, after the sauce is already thickened.
Karly says
I think it would probably work, though I haven’t tried it to say for sure. 🙂