Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken is full of flavor and easy to make with pantry ingredients and almost no prep! Everyone will enjoy this!
If you can’t get enough of the honey and garlic flavor, you can also make my Honey Garlic Shrimp and Slow Cooker Honey Orange Garlic Chicken recipes. Check out my Slow Cooker page for more no hassle delicious dinner ideas!
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Recipe
When I was pregnant with our first child, I went through a crazy phase where I decided the entire deep freeze needed to be filled with enough meals to get us through the first six months of life with a baby. The slow cooker seemed like the perfect cooking tool to get us through the rough times. This Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken recipe became a staple in our house.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 6 chicken thighs , bone in skin on
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients together in the slow cooker until well mixed.
- Lay the chicken skin side up in a single layer and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
- If your chicken isn’t browned on the top you can put it on a foil lined cookie sheet under a broiler for 2-3 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
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Table of contents
About this Recipe
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken is the perfect weeknight meal, waiting for you when you get home. You can even prepare it in the morning if you’re in a rush! This recipe is made with just a small amount of each ingredient listed leaves you with just enough liquid so the tops of the chicken can brown instead of becoming soggy and grey, and the liquid left over (once you skim the oil off the top that the chicken has rendered off) is the perfect amount to spoon on top of your chicken. Just a delicious meal you can make even fancier with the addition of some parsley or sesame seeds to give the chicken a bit of color.
Can This be Made Ahead of Time?
Yes! If you plan to assemble and freeze the ingredients, you just add them to a freezer bag and freeze flat for more even defrosting. When you are ready to cook, take the bag from the freezer and let it defrost for 24 hours in your fridge first. Then cook according to the directions in the recipe card.
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These photos were in a previous version of this post
Was really easy and turned out great. This is a keeper. Needed a touch of salt but only a hint in my opinion.
Thanks for the great review, Harold. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I brown chicken and then make it a freezer meal?
I haven’t tested the recipe using this method. Let us know how it turned out!
Would it be possible to brown the chicken before cooking?
Yes you can! Brown the chicken in the insert and leave the tasty browned bits to deepen the flavors of this recipe! Enjoy!
I always trust Sabrina’s recipes to the tastiest, easiest and always well received by my family. I have used this recipe many times without fail and just love it. One of our go to when stumped what to do with chicken! On a low sodium diet, so have to tweak recipes to fit my needs. But otherwise, Thanks Sabrina for all your recipes.
Aww Thanks Pat for your kind words.
Hubby cooked this for me, was really nice, fell off the bone but needed more sauce. However, as it cooled down it started to lose its taste. Maybe it was over cooked, but initially on first cook was very nice.
Will encourage hubby to cook again.
Thank you for thos recipe.
The honey mustard chicken was very nice but I missed out on some of the mustards that were required. Next time I will have all the mustards required.
Can I do this with frozen chicken thighs and just cook for a it longer?
Hi! No, using frozen meat in a slow cooker is not suggested. The meat will not cook evenly.
This recipe looks great and super easy. What size slow cooker is it for? I’m new to slow cooking and I’ve read that your slow cooker should be at least 2/3 full when cooking. As mine is large I need to make sure the recipe will be okay (or I can double it). Thanks.
I used a 6 qt slow cooker for the recipe.
I made the Honey Garlic Crock Pot Chicken yesterday for my son and his family. WOW WOW WOW !!! It was easy and when done believe me, I almost didn’t give it to my son. But, before giving away I had to take a bite. Talk about delicious. The sauce was perfect. After done I did place on foil lined cookie sheet under the broiler just for a minute just for a little crispiness. I’m making my own chicken today for my self. And I can’t wait !!!
Than this be made on the stove. I don’t have a crock pot or slow cooker.
I would bake 350 for 30-35 minutes or 375 for 25-30 minutes. It should come out delicious!
Could I do this with ginger instead of garlic I can’t have garlic right now and love this recipe….
I’ve not tested it so if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
Hubby cooked the brown sugar garlic chicken for me, was really nice, fell off the bone but needed more sauce. However, as it cooled down it started to lose its taste. Maybe it was over cooked, but initially on first cook was very nice.
Will encourage hubby to cook again.
Thank you for thos recipe.
Hello I made this tonight. It smelled really good while cooking but I think the time was to long. The sauce taste burned and the chicken really had no flavor under the skin. It was blah. I used everything you said for the sauce. I used thighs with skin and bone. So I think the time was to long maybe 4 hours would have been better. I had it on low. And maybe some salt
Whenever I see an easy recipe I like, it usually one of yours. Keep them coming.
You got it!
Can I double this recipe with equally good results? Would I need to increase cooking time?
You don’t want to overcrowd the slow cooker. My suggestion is to use 2 slow cookers to ensure it all cooks correctly.
Anyone know what this correlates in WW points?
I’ve made this twice already and really wanted to make it for dinner tonight but all I have on hand is frozen chicken breast or tenderloins… what do you suggest I do when using these rather than thighs?
I love this recipe btw ??
I’m so glad you love the recipe. I would use chicken breast but you’ll want to make sure that it’s completely thawed before adding it into the slow cooker. Enjoy!
Delicious! I did not have lite soy sauce, unfortunately, so I added a bit more of the honey for sweetness to counterbalance the salt. Also had a packet of plum sauce left from a previous takeout dinner, so I threw that in there as well.
I’m thinking some thinly sliced/ribboned fresh scallions with sesame seeds on top as a garnish might be nice. I’ll try that next time. This recipe is so good in its original form, but you can experiment with a few things to take it up a notch. This recipe will be a mainstay in my menu rotation — I stock up on chicken thighs when they are on sale and am always looking for easy and delicious ways to prepare them.
Serve with rice and a salad or green vegetable. YUM
What’s the cooking time using breasts?
Made this last night. The house smelled so good!!
Delicious,easy and very tender chicken thighs. Definitely making this again and again!!
Happy to hear that! Glad you liked them!
Can this also work in a crock pot?
This recipe is made for a crockpot. 🙂 Enjoy!
What type of rice do you suggest with this meal?
Glad you asked Kinsley! Click on my collection of rice recipes to see if any sound good with your Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken! I used the Classic rice recipe. https://dinnerthendessert.com/#search/q=rice. Enjoy!
Sabrina, I made this today with large boneless, skinless chicken breast. I made the sauce with the exact measurements from your recipe. It did not come out looking at all like the picture. The chicken was dried out, I probably should’ve cut it shorter time because it didn’t have skin. The sauce was very watered down. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make it better next time?
The chicken skin of the thighs helps to protect the moisture of the meat. The dark meat itself also performs better in the slow cooker, so using boneless skinless breast meat was the biggest problem. Was your chicken breast frozen when it went in? If not the watery part of this confuses me a little as I only add 6T of sauce ingredients to the recipe. There will be a small amount of liquid (which the chicken releases, but it’s really just enough to spoon over the chicken meat when serving. I hope you give the recipe another chance, it’s one of our go-to recipes.
I accidentally bought boneless chicken thighs. Will the cooking time be less? Thanks!
Maybe a half an hour less. I would check it around 5 hours and watch it from there. I hope you enjoy it.
Um… it’s just 2 tablespoons of everything. The bottom of my cookers is just a thin film of honey, ketchup, and soy sauce. How do you have enough to cover the chicken??
The chicken will cook down and release liquid too. At the end you can spoon the liquid over the top and pop it under the broiler if you want a nice crisp on the tops. I hope you enjoy it!
I was wondering if you could give me the nutritional values for this recipe. This is soooo good and my kids love it which is surprising but makes it even more amazing!!
I’m in the process of updating all the recipes to show the nutritional info. Just completed this one for you. 🙂 So glad you all love it!
All I have is a crock pot, if I want to use this recipe with boneless pork chops, what would timing be and should I brown before putting in crock pot?
Are they lean pork chops or pork chops with a fattier cut of meat in it? It would depend on that and the thickness. I like to brown meat before adding it to the slow cooker first. If I were in your spot I’d wrap them in bacon if possible to keep them moist, if not I’d expect they’re going to end up a bit dry. Try the Oven Baked Brown Sugar Garlic Pork Chops on the site, those don’t take long at all have have a similar flavor.
Can I use boneless skinless thighs and do it on high for 3 hrs?
Yes 🙂 Enjoy!
just curious if this came out the same as it is described when directed to cook it on low for 5-6 hrs?
5 stars!!! Ibe made this now several times at least twice a month now for a few months!!! Its so easy and incredibly tender, moist, and delightfully delicious!!! Easy peasy and mine look just like the pictured ones!!! We have them served up over a bed of rice drizzled with a little sauce and broccoli! Has become a go to meal for us. I like that you can assemble everything ahead and freeze it for later use. Thank you will be making your whole chicke recipe next…have a really good feeling aboit it which I never would have had in the past!!!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this today. Very easy to make and was absolutely scrummy.
Definition will make again.
Made this twice now and was a big hit!!! The chicken is so tender, moist, and scrumptious it’s become a go to in our house at least twice a month!!! Quick, easy, and insanely delicious!!! Served over rice or riced cauliflower (that’s want I used) with a veggie it’s an easy peasy delightful meal!!! Thank you for the recipe!!!
You’re welcome, Debra! Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you’ve enjoyed it!