Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

15 Comments

5 from 5 votes
5 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes
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Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken is an easy weeknight dinner with just 4 ingredients in your crockpot! Sticky sweet, spicy chicken thighs in a rich, flavorful, garlicky sauce.

This Slow Cooker Recipe is just as tasty as our Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken with just a fraction of the work. Put your skillet away and make this easy Chicken Recipe for dinner instead!

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken in white slow cooker

SLOW COOKER SRIRACHA CHICKEN

The next time you are looking for an easy, flavorful chicken recipe for a busy weeknight, this is the recipe for you! The spicy, sweet sriracha sauce is full of Asian flavor but you could easily serve this chicken with any of your favorite noodles, rice, or BBQ side dishes. This crockpot Sriracha Chicken is prepped in minutes for a dump and go dinner that’s delicious all year round.

The prep time for Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken is so quick and easy! Simply whisk the brown sugar with the garlic and sriracha to make the sweet sriracha sauce, and pour over your chicken thighs. No need for marinating or browning the chicken. Save even more time with a garlic press or buying pre-minced garlic.

MORE EASY CHICKEN RECIPES

You won’t believe how much flavor comes from just 3 ingredients.  The best part about recipes with so few ingredients, like this Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken, is that you can easily add what you have on hand. There flavors are simple and pair with so many different items in your pantry. One of the easiest swaps is honey to make Honey Sriracha Chicken that is just as addicting as this brown sugar chicken!

The sticky, sweet sauce on Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken is great with go-to sides like Mashed Potatoes and Baked Mac and Cheese. Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken is a delicious healthy meal prep with Brown Rice and Roasted Broccoli. Garnish Sriracha Chicken with lime wedges, cilantro, green onions, and sesame seeds.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken before cooking

VARIATIONS ON SLOW COOKER SRIRACHA CHICKEN

  • Honey: Use ½ cup honey instead of the brown sugar to make this Slow Cooker Honey Sriracha Chicken. The honey-sriracha chicken sauce will be extra sticky and delicious!
  • Bacon: Toss each chicken thigh in the sriracha sauce and then wrap in 2 slices of bacon before cooking. Bacon is great to use for boneless chicken breasts so it stays moist and juicy.
  • Hot Sauce: Use your favorite hot sauces instead of sriracha to change the spiciness of the sauce. Add garlic chile sauce (sambal oelek) to really bring out the tangy, garlicky flavors.
  • Flavors: Add a tangy, vinegary element to Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken with lime juice, rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. Soy sauce or sesame oil would add an umami taste to balance the sweet and spicy sauce.
  • Chicken Breasts: If you want to use boneless chicken breasts, keep whole and wrap in bacon or add a liquid like chicken broth to keep the chicken moist. Shred chicken breasts or cut into bite-size pieces after it’s cooked for tacos or sandwiches!

Baked Sriracha Chicken

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Whisk all the ingredients, except chicken, in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • In a large skillet (oven safe) over medium-high heat, brown the chicken thighs skin side down for 2-3 minutes.
  • Pour sauce over chicken thighs, tossing to coat.
  • Bake chicken thighs for 30-35 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

MORE SLOW COOKER CHICKEN RECIPES

HOW TO STORE SLOW COOKER SRIRACHA CHICKEN

  • Serve: You can keep Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken on warm for up to 4 hours, but it’s served right away so it stays juicy. Store after no more than 2 hours at room temperature.
  • Store: Place cooled Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat in the oven on low heat, with sauce, for best taste and to keep chicken from drying out.
  • Freeze: Once cooled, store Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken in a sealed container and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight before reheating in the oven.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken topped with green onions

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Dinner, then Dessert

Slow Cooker Sriracha Chicken

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken is an easy weeknight dinner with just 4 ingredients in your crockpot! Sticky sweet, spicy chicken thighs in a rich, flavorful, garlicky sauce.
Yield 5 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken up close
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Ingredients
 

  • 5 chicken thighs , bone-in, skin-on
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar , packed
  • 2 tablespoons Sriracha Sauce
  • 1/4 cup green onions , sliced - optional (for garnish)

Instructions

  • Rub chicken all over with Sriracha, salt and pepper then place into slow cooker.
  • Top with garlic and brown sugar over the chicken thighs.
  • Cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
  • For crispy skin, put chicken on a baking sheet, 8 inches below the broiler in the oven on high heat for 2-3 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 403kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 324mg | Potassium: 337mg | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 125IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

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Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Sriracha Chicken collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Simple, easy, and tasty. Good without out the broiling step at the end too. Served with rice and steamed broccoli. Will make again. Thanks!

    Reply

  3. Used boneless skinless thighs and added additional sriracha on top….served on top of noodles as another reader suggested. Simple and great!

    Reply

  4. This turned out perfect! Made mashed potatoes so we could soak up every last bit of the sauce. This will be going into our regular rotation.

    Reply

  5. Hello,

    I am very excited to try this recipe for meal prep with brown rice and a veggie. I was wondering what other parts could I use besides thighs and the breast, are skinless drumsticks an option? Just trying to mix up my options. Also was wondering if I cut up the breasts before I put them in the slow cooker if that would make them dry out? Thank you for all your help.

    Reply

    1. I don’t think there’s enough meat on drumsticks for this to work. I’d be afraid they might dry out. You’re right to be worried about cutting the chicken prior to putting it in the slow cooker drying out. I wouldn’t recommend it.

      Reply

  7. Really excitement, I didnt have bone-in with skins so I used boneless skinless and it had the same effect, really mouthwatering. I also used with buttered noodles also complimented the meal.

    Reply