Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken made with just five ingredients, you can set it in minutes and have the perfect weeknight meal!
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken is the slow cooker chicken version of one of the most popular recipes on my blog of all time, Brown Sugar Garlic Pork with Carrots & Potatoes.
Or if you’re looking for a slow cooker pork version of this recipe (minus the veggies and plus some bacon) here it is! Slow Cooker Bacon Garlic Pork Loin
Some notes about this Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken:
- Yes, you can absolutely make this meal in the oven. Set it on a sheet pan just like you would in the slow cooker and roast at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes (you may want to use foil).
- Want some spice? Add in crushed red pepper or a squirt of Sriracha.
- If you want an even deeper caramel flavor, try dark brown sugar.
- Do not add any liquid! I know it can be scary to cook dry in a slow cooker, the chicken will release a lot of liquids.
- Serve with rice or potato wedges and roasted vegetables.
You can also swap out different cuts of chicken in the slow cooker.
- Try using Chicken Breasts (brownie points for draping bacon on them to keep the chicken moist).
- Double the topping and toss chicken wings with the same topping and cook for 6 hours on low.
- Try rubbing a double topping amount over an entire chicken propped up on some foil balls to keep the chicken out of liquid.
Looking for more slow cooker chicken recipes?
- Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken
- Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
- Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken
- Crisp & Juicy Slow Cooker Chicken
- Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken
Looking for more awesome Brown Sugar Garlic Recipes?
- Brown Sugar Garlic Oven Baked Pork Chops
- Brown Sugar Garlic Pork with Carrots and Potatoes
- Bacon Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken
- Slow Cooker Bacon Brown Sugar Garlic Pork Loin
Tools Used in the making of these Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken Thighs:
Slow Cooker: Love this slow cooker and how programmable it is, it has been a workhorse for me… until…
My New Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Ingredients
- 5 chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
Instructions
- Add the chicken, salt, pepper and garlic to the slow cooker.
- Mix it up then flip the chicken skin side up.
- Sprinkle on the brown sugar.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Nutrition
I am trying this now. I dont like meat on the bone so im using chicken breast. The chicken breast I have is frozen and will release liquid. Because my chicken and bacon are both frozen I am adding a half cup of chicken broth, and since I am all over the place I threw in some baby carrots as well.
Stay tuned for the results.
What if I only have skinless chicken breast?
I would recommend wrapping them in bacon to help keep them moist while cooking in the slow cooker.
I made this recipe as written except that I doubled it and used my large slow cooker so that all the thighs could be in a single layer without overlapping. I cooked on high for 4 hours. My chicken looked rather pale and not the golden brown that is shown in the photo. It was also falling off the bone and hard to remove from the slow cooker in one piece. Also surprised at the large amount of liquid, so the chicken was really “boiled” when I would have preferred “braised”. Maybe that is just the downside of the slow cooker. Was I supposed to drain some of that mid way through cooking? Overall the taste was pretty good, but could have used a lot more garlic. I ended up putting the thighs on a baking sheet and sticking under the broiler to get a more appetizing color.
I’m glad you still enjoyed it but it does sounds like maybe your chicken had too much water being released during the cooking process. Next time, try and ensure they’re fully thawed and maybe even pat them down with a paper towel before placing them in the slow cooker.
I made this Saturday and it turned out great!! Glad i found this recipe!!
Making it tonight with chicken breast bacon wrapped. Smells great but see a lot of liquid. Dried the chicken breast as directed so not sure why. Do you drain it?
The extra liquid you see is from the bacon that is wrapped around the chicken breast. It helps to keep the chicken moist.
Asking about the Garlic… My husband can’t stand it!! Was thinking a bit of minced onion to replace it. Whaddaya think? Sorry if you addressed this in one of your previous comments. I ran outta time and didn’t read them all…yet. I have never seen sooo many comments………… This just looks so good and easy. Can’t wait to try it out. The other similar recipes look just as good. Gonna try those too !! Thanks for sharing this…
It will change the flavor of the original dish but if your husband doesn’t like garlic, I would think it would be ok to substitute with onion instead. Hope you guys enjoy it!
This has to be the best chicken thighs ever. It was even better the next day. It is now our favourite recipe.
Sabrina,
Thank you for this awesome recipe. I did the oven version and it was delicious. Glad I found your website – looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
I tried to make this last night, I woke up in the middle of the night because the smell was so overpowering and had to get it out of the house… what did I do wrong?
That doesn’t sound good. What was the overpowering smell?
Currently cooking this for the third time! I’ve made it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs – so easy, and SO good! One question: is it really two whole tablespoons of minced garlic? It seems like a lot (and my whole apartment smells like garlic now, which was nice at first but is now giving me a headache lol).
Yes, that’s the correct amount but you can cut back to your preference. Glad you’re enjoying it!
Can I double the Chicken Thighs? Would I need to double the garlic and brown sugar?
Just make sure not to overcrowd the slow cooker. You don’t want any of the chicken to be layered or on top of each other. Enjoy!
Made this recipe using 4 bone in chicken breasts. Wrapped a piece of bacon around each breast. Flavor of the sauce and chicken was AMAZING and the chicken was so moist! My husband, son and I loved it! I made Savory root vegetables with it and it complimented it well. Will definitely make this again!
This was a huge hit with my husband! So tasty! Thank you!
Quick question for you Sabrina, can this be done with skin on, bone in turkey thighs too? If so how many would you use and would you change anything?
It will likely just be my husband and I for Thanksgiving this year and we just love this recipe… the chicken turns out PERFECT, would be so cool to do it with turkey!
Thanks 🙂
Yes, that will totally work. 🙂 You can also use https://dinnerthendessert.com/slow-cooker-thanksgiving-dinner/
Recipe looked good but I only had chicken breasts and legs. Instead of using bacon, I ended up browning the chicken then adding the cooked juices, a little pineapple juice, soy sauce and olive oil to the garlic and brown sugar in the crockpot. Came out fantastic, great flavor. I will try this recipe with thighs though next time. Looks great.
can I make this with chicken breasts? I’m not a fan of bone in chicken
Unfortunately, chicken breasts tend to dry out in a slow cooker so I don’t recommend it.
I wanted a new recipe for my slow cooker/crock pot and found this. SOOO pleasantly suprising how delicious it was! Love that it’s only a few ingredients also! My husband loves it and says its restaurant worthy! Wow….blown away by how good and simple it truly is! Thank you!
Are these skin on?
Yes 🙂
Can the chicken be a little frozen still mine has not thawed completely and im losing time to make it.
I recommend it to be completely thawed because if it’s still frozen, it will release more water during the cooking process which tends to make it “soupy”.
This recipe was simple and easy. Turned out DELICIOUS! I even put some of the juice over my Brussels sprouts. Has definitely become a hit at my home. Thanks.
I made this for dinner tonight just as the recipe calls for and it was delicious!! The chicken browned beautifully and got slightly crispy on top and was moist and flavorful. I served it with your parmesan garlic crash potatoes which were also amazing. My whole family loved it and the entire meal was so easy to throw together. Thanks for the great recipe!
Made this last night. Let me say it was delicious. I used chicken breasts and I wrapped in bacon per directions. The chicken was dry but the bacon added moisture so my brown sugar did run off. My daughter in law who loves chicken but not sweet food said it was great. Thanks for sharing.
Tonight is my second time making this delicious chicken!!! The first time I must have had small thighs because it was done on high in 2 hr 30 min and then stayed on warm for another hour or so. This time looks like its cooking at more the rate it should. I am so impressed with this recipe, first time I made it I was expecting really dried out chicken but instead it just fell off the bone! SOOOO easy to make too and the house smells amazing! I serve it as one of our “fall” dishes with wild rice and sweet potato. Thank you for your great recipe 🙂
I made the mistake of buying chicken thighs bone out/skin off so I first seared the chicken on high in olive oil (2 min each side) before putting them in the crockpot. Then I added 2 tbsp of butter cut up and placed it around the cooker. (I made 8 chicken thighs) I put it on low for 4 hours but when I checked it at 3.5 it was done so I put it to “warm” until my guests arrived. I was concerned that because of my error it wouldn’t turn out so I actually made a back up dish but honestly this turned out SO GOOD! My company loved it. My only wish I’d made more! I don’t think I’d even try it with the skin and bone to be honest. The chicken was fall apart juicy and moist and the flavour was mouth watering. Definitely adding this recipe to retail rotation!
Yay, so glad you didn’t need your back up plan. 🙂
Can you use skin on drumsticks? Bought the wrong chicken today.
You’ll need to watch the cook time as there isn’t as much meat on a drumstick as on a thigh, usually. I would suggest propping them up around the slow cooker with the meatier side pointing down (not laying flat) to help give them a crisp. I hope you enjoy it!
I see this says 308 calories per serving. Is this including if you are eating the skin on the chicken? Thanks?
Yes 🙂
I put this together yesterday morning before work. It took literally 3-5 min, and the results were outstanding! My husband got home before me, and texted “the house smells amazing “! It’s really good, but next time I might add some smoked paprika or chili powder/ flakes… something extra. The flavor was almost too mild for us… the chicken was super moist and fell off the bone. My goodness! Thanks for sharing this super quick, inexpensive meal idea!
You’re welcome! So glad you all enjoyed it!
Do I need kosher salt?
I prefer kosher but you can use table salt for this recipe. Enjoy!
Smelled great but tasted meh
Sorry it didn’t live up to your expectation.
Trying it right now in the oven!
Already went to store and bought skinless boneless chicken thighs. Might be helpful to update the ingredient list so it states it as it wasn’t very clear while reading the ingredient list until reading through all the comments! Going to look for different recipe…
So delicious! I used boneless skinless thighs because we were cooking for a party that wasn’t a knife-and-fork deal. I tripled the recipe, and while it didn’t look as pretty as the picture because the thighs couldn’t caramelize, it was a huge hit 🙂 the other thing I did differently (out of pure laziness bc it was already in my fridge!) was used twice the amount of ginger-garlic paste in place of the garlic called for in the recipe. If you have this, do this 😉
I started it on low for an hr and then realized I need it to be done sooner. Can I switch it to high? If so, for how long?
Oh no! I’m just now seeing this. How did it turn out?
What is the green shown in the picture?
I just added parsley as a garnish, completely optional.
Excited for this to be done for dinner tonight. I love chicken thighs and am always looking for recipes for them rather than breasts.. I was a little worried they’d dry out so I added some olive oil to it. I added an entire package of thighs I think 8? So we shall see how they turn out!
How much water is added
None. 🙂
This is the best chicken I have ever had. Hands down. I was feeding it to my one year old and We couldn’t stop eating it, lol! I made 6 thighs and we ate three of them together! It was like eating a dessert.
The only problem is this website, it’s really frustrating how the page keeps reloading because of advertisements. I was trying to follow the recipe and finally just had to take a screenshot of it because i would scroll down and it would pause for a while. Also I had to type up this comment in my notes app and paste it on here because there is such a keyboard delay when I try to comment for some reason. When I tried to leave a comment I on another recipe of yours I tried (that was amazing, seriously I never comment but these recipes have been so good I had to say something), the same thing happened. The comment keyboard has a huge delay. I definitely am going to be making more of your recipes though, the delays are worth it!
I so glad to hear you love it but bummed you’re having issues with the site. I’ll look into the problem and hopefully you won’t have that issue again.
Can I use frozen chicken breast without the bacon? This would provide liquid correct? Then place them on foil balls to keep them out of the liquid?
Unfortunately it will produce too much water and make it all very soupy. I don’t recommend it, sorry.
I put it in the oven as stated and I suggest next time you try the recipe variation before you recommend it. The sugar all came off and was a burnt pool around my chickens. I suggest putting the brown sugar on close to the end of the cooking if it’s going in the oven.
This recipe was excellent! I used boneless skinless chicken thighs, doubled the rest of the ingredients and added fingerling potatoes, baby carrots and butternut squash, cooked on high for 7-8 hours.The chicken was not brown and crispy (since I used skinless) but it was still tender and delicious! Thank you!!
Tonight’s dinner…slow cooker brown sugar garlic chicken…winner winner chicken dinner! So easy, so flavorful! Normally I’m a skinless, boneless chicken breast kind of girl but purchased quality (but very economical) chicken thighs knowing the boyfriend prefers them. Placed them in the slow cooker for eight hours on low and proceed to enjoy this beautiful day here in Michigan. We both love this recipe…I will be stocking up on chicken thighs and using my Food Saver to have a supply in the freezer as I think this will be a comforting cold weather meal. The ingredients are so simple and basic pantry staples; I used the minced garlic in the jar to make preparation the easiest. I served it with rice pilaf and garden fresh sliced tomatoes. Thank you so much for making meal time so easy! Today is our 3rd year anniversary and this meal was special enough for celebration!
Thank you so much for coming back to let me know! Congrats on your anniversary!
One word.no two…Simple N scrumptious and I added sliced onions..for I love onions
I’ve made this several times. It is absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it.
This is excellent, I had some sweet potatoes so I added those as well, they were so good with the chicken, a definite keeper!
This is delicious with breast or thighs my family loves this dish
How do you think this recipe would do if instead of brown sugar I used maple syrup?
I’ve never tried it but if you decide to give it a go, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
I just signed up so haven’t made recipe yet but I know a good recipe when I see one. I can’t lift things out of m oven anymore so I cook
everything in my slow cooker or on the grill when there;s no ice on the porch, the wind isn’t blowing 40 mph, and the grill only has a few inches
of snow around it.
Steve, I never just cook meat. I always put meat and vegetables in the slow cooker , or meat and vegetables either on or wrapped in foil on the grill.
I made this and cooked it on high for 4 and 1/2 hours. Why did it not come out dark like this it is very light?
You can always pop it under the broiler for a bit (watch it so it doesn’t burn) if you’d like more a crisp on it.
Great recipe.. Used jumbo chicken legs…was very skeptical ….with only 5 ingredients….but went with it…..meat was fall off the bone tender….very flavorful……will make this again….?
Will doubling the quantity of the thighs make a difference in the turnout? I would love it to still look like the picture and keep the taste but I know I would have to pile the meat on top of each other…
You don’t want to over crowd the slow cooker so I would recommend using two slow cookers if you want to double it.
Tried Recipe today using drumsticks and thighs. After 4.5 hours, I removed all the liquid but a few ounces and reduced in a sauce pan for about 45 minutes. I added added diced red pepper in place of green onions and then added the reduction back to the chicken. At this point the Cooking was done. It was delicious.
I season the chicken with 1 tblspn salt, 1 tablspn pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder and dry Italian seasoning. I served with white rice cooked in EVOO and a lil salt. Frozen mix veggies to color on the plate. This was 10-to 12 PC’s chicken combo pack. Hence the measurements for dry rub. Soy Sauce was added to the reduction.
Cooked for 5 hrs and no crisp. I used thawed breasts and only put 4 in. I love the crisp part the best but got non. To the person that tried this ..cooker must be bad. it turned out fine without liquid. There was plenty of liquid in the pot. I just want the CRISP!!..LOL
You can always pop it under the broiler for a bit (watch it so it doesn’t burn) to crisp up more to your liking. 🙂
That is exactly what I did. I am just learning to use a cooker for more than a pot roast. I over crowded it and did not use enough dark brown sugar. BUT, I stuck it in the broiler, crisped it up and it was great. Need more sugar next time.
Yeah overcrowding is hard because often times if we don’t we have one solitary piece of chicken left over. But the broiler is amazing for crisping everything up at the end! Glad it turned out!