Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken is a delicious dinner with just 4 ingredients. Sweet and tangy chicken thighs with crispy skin in the crockpot!
Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes are an easy dinner with all the flavor of your favorite dishes with hardly any hands-on time. If you like a little heat, be sure to try my Slow Cooker Spicy Honey Lime Chicken. If you are short on time, skip the slow cooking and make Oven-Baked Honey Lime Chicken instead.
Table of contents
- Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken Recipe
- Ingredients
- Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- How to Make
- Nutritional Facts
- Tips for Cooking Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs
- What to Pair With Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken
- How to Store
- Ideas to Serve Honey Lime Chicken
- Frequent Questions
- Recipe Card
- Variations
- Related Recipes
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken Recipe
This Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken is made with sweet honey and tangy lime for a weeknight dinner full of summer flavors. These slow cooker chicken thighs stay juicy, tender with the long cook time and the light sauce means the skin gets slightly crispy just like if you bake them! Since it’s made with ingredients that never go out of season, you can make this Honey Lime Chicken all year long.
I enjoy creating simple go-to dinner recipes that taste good with almost no work. It doesn’t get much simpler than slow cooking chicken thighs, honey, and lime in a crockpot while you go about your day. Plus it’s so versatile! It can be a health conscious meal with brown rice and steamed veggies or a delicious protein for a homemade taco bar. No matter how you serve it, with this Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken, you are guaranteed a flavorful dinner.
Ingredients
- Chicken Thighs: The best chicken for slow cooking is bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs because the dark meat does better with longer cook times. The skin locks in the juices to keep it moist and the bones have so much flavor.
- Honey: The sticky sweet honey wraps around the chicken skin and gives these chicken thighs so much delicious flavor. Make sure to get 100% real honey for the best flavor and so it doesn’t add excess liquid to your slow cooker.
- Lime: Fresh lime juice and zest add a ton of tangy, citrus flavor to the chicken. To get more juice, roll the lime on a hard surface a few times, pressing down firmly. After you roll the lime to loosen up the juice, zest the lime, then juice it.
- Soy Sauce: The salty, umami flavor of the soy sauce helps balance out the bright flavors of the honey lime mixture. It also adds a nice dark golden coloring to the chicken skin.
- Salt and Pepper: You always want to hit your savory dishes with a little salt and pepper. Make the honey lime mixture first, then taste it before adding the salt so you don’t over-do it.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Slow Cooker: You’ll need a 4-6 quart slow cooker to make this slow cooker recipe. You want the chicken thighs to be in a single layer without overcrowding.
- Bowl and Whisk: The only other equipment you need is a small bowl and a whisk to make the sauce. You could also mix the sauce in the slow cooker, but you’ll want to spoon it over the chicken so it gets all over the tops of the thighs.
How to Make
Time needed: 8 hours.
- Make the Sauce
Whisk the honey, lime juice, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Coat the Chicken
Place the chicken thighs, skin side up, in a single layer in the bottom of your slow cooker. They can be touching but they shouldn’t be crowded. Pour the sauce evenly over the tops of the chicken.
- Slow Cook the Chicken
Cover the slow cooker. Cook for 7-8 hours on low heat or 3-4 hours on high heat, until the center of the chicken thighs reach 165 degrees internally.
- Extra Crispy Skin
If you want extra crispy, crackly skin you can pop the cooked chicken thighs in the oven. Preheat the broiler to high heat. Arrange the chicken pieces on a baking sheet skin side up, then place the pan 8 inches below the broiler. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the skin darkens and looks tight.
Can this be made ahead of time?
This is a great recipe for making ahead of time, either in the morning of a busy weeknight or as a freezer meal. To make Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken as a freezer meal, simply place the chicken, lime juice, honey, and seasonings in a freezer safe bag. When you are ready to make Honey Lime Chicken, thaw overnight, dump into your crockpot, and cook as usual.
Nutritional Facts
Tips for Cooking Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs
Don’t Add Extra Liquid
You might be afraid that not adding broth or cooking liquid is going to dry out your chicken but that’s not true! Bone in, Skin on Chicken thighs have a lot of natural fat and juices that slowly release and get reabsorbed into the meat during the long cooking time. If you add extra liquid, all it will do is make the skin soggy but the chicken thigh meat won’t actually be any juicier or tender.
Broil for Extra Crispy Skin
While this recipe does give your chicken crispy skin, if you really want it to have some crackle, you can pop your cooked chicken thighs under the broiler for a few minutes before serving. Just broil a few minutes and don’t place it directly under the broiler or the sugar in the honey glaze will burn.
What to Pair With Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken
Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken is great with easy sides like Mashed Potatoes or Mac and Cheese. For a veggie side, you can’t go wrong with family friendly Roasted Broccoli and Sauteed Green Beans that are ready in less than 30 minutes. If you have some extra time, make tasty Dinner Rolls too!
How to Store
Store: You can keep Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken warm in the slow cooker for up to 4 hours, but the chicken may dry out. Cool any leftovers down outside of the cooker then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheat: It’s best to reheat these chicken thighs in the oven. Place in a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake in the oven at 300 degrees until heated through, about 5-10 minutes.
Freeze: Cool the Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken to room temperature. Place in a sealed container or freezer safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw overnight before reheating in the oven.
Ideas to Serve Honey Lime Chicken
Chicken Tacos: Once the meat is cooked, slice it up and serve it in some warm tortillas with your favorite toppings for some delicious sweet and citrusy chicken tacos. You can also use 2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts and add 2 cups of broth to make shredded chicken for Honey Lime Chicken Tacos.
Bowls: These tangy, sweet chicken thighs also go great with Asian flavors. Slice up the meat and serve it over fresh stir-fried noodles or rice with steamed veggies or shredded cabbage for a healthy, filling lunch bowl. Make some extra sauce to drizzle over top.
Frequent Questions
You could use frozen chicken thighs but keep in mind that it is going to add extra liquid as they thaw and cook. Your skin won’t be as crisp but you can always pop them under the broiler so it is a bit firmer. As always, frozen chicken may take a bit longer to cook so be sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh before serving.
You can use boneless chicken in Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken, like boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts. Using boneless meat is good for making shredded Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos or Enchiladas filling. Just add 1-2 cups of chicken broth so the meat stays juicy as it cooks.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 lime , zested and juiced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- salt and pepper , to taste
- 5 chicken thighs , bone in and skin on
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients (except the chicken) together in small bowl and whisk.
- Place chicken in the slow cooker skin side up.
- Pour sauce over the chicken.
- Cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- If you want the chicken to be even crispier put it 8 inches below the broiler in the oven on high heat for 2-3 minutes.
Nutrition
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Variations
Pork Chops: This recipe works great with bone-in pork chops too. Toss 4 large pork chops in cornstarch mixture before adding the sauce for extra crispy pork.
Dry Spices: Use dry, ground seasonings like thyme, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin or paprika for more flavor without making it saucy. Add 1-2 tablespoons Taco Seasoning or a chile lime blend like Tajin for a Tex-Mex flavor.
Fresh Seasonings: You don’t want to add seasonings that have too much liquid or skin won’t be crispy. Add fresh seasonings like minced garlic, ginger paste, or chili paste for lots of flavor without making the chicken skin soggy.
Spicy: Give Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken some heat with cayenne pepper, hot sauce, a can of diced green chilies(drained) , or a chopped jalapeno.
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