Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken is a set-it-and-forget-it, five ingredient recipe that is sweet, spicy, and full of garlic and ginger flavors!
You’ll savor this sauce served on top of the chicken, but also over rice the next day. I actually sometimes use leftover rice and this thickened sauce as a mix-in for quick fried rice.
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken
Slow-cooker Mongolian Chicken takes almost no effort at all, and you’ll LOVE the dinner you end up with. The leftover sauce is so good that I often add a cornstarch slurry to it and cook it on the stovetop to thicken it. Then I add it to everything! Try it out, you’ll be glad you did! My Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken is another simple dish that you just cant go wrong with for a busy weeknight dinner!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 5 chicken thighs , bone in and skin on
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger , or 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder , or 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
- sesame seeds (optional, for garnish)
- sliced green onions (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients and set the chicken into the slow cooker skin side up.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- Garnish with sesame seeds or green onions (optional).
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Table of Contents
About This Recipe
Mongolian Beef is one of the site’s most popular recipes, so a chicken version is long overdue! I also have a Ground Mongolian Beef recipe coming up. With such an easy set of ingredients, all things Mongolian beef are a huge hit in our house. I’m sure it will be a hit for your family too!
Tips & Tricks
- I used spices instead of fresh ginger and garlic to mix things up and make this a true pantry recipe. In recipe testing, I also found it had a better texture, as minced ginger tends to get chewy in an unpleasant way in the slow cooker.
- Dark brown sugar adds an extra depth of flavor because it contains molasses. Light brown sugar will work, too, but the flavors will be less deep.
- I always use lite soy sauce to keep the sodium/salty flavor in check. Be careful if using regular soy sauce and taste it before you add any salt.
- I keep the green onions out of this dish because they got a bit slimy in the slow cooker during testing. If you add them fresh in the last five minutes, it would be delicious!
Alternative Cooking Techniques
Oven
Keep the chicken in a smaller baking pan, perhaps an 8×8-inch or 9×13-inch pan (if using a few more chicken pieces), and keep things cozy to keep the liquids around the chicken. Cook at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Skillet
You may want to use sliced/diced chicken thigh meat and add some canola oil to the pan first. Then, brown the chicken on medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes on each side and add the remaining ingredients until caramelized and cooked through.
Related Recipes
More Asian Recipes
Images used in previous versions of this post:
I’m making this for the second time. So EASY, so delicious! I make a little more sauce…because it’s so good!
Thanks for sharing this!
You’re welcome Pam and thanks for the five star review.
Can this be made with chicken breasts? Sauce measurements need to be adjusted?
Hi Lin, I don’t recommend using breasts since they can dry out during the cooking process, and will thin out the sauce. You can use boneless skinless thighs, but the cooking time will shorten to 30-60 minutes less. So keep an eye on them towards the end.
We had this for dinner last night. It was delicious, but a bit too sweet for our tastes. Next time I will cut the sugar in half, and add some chili flakes or chili sauce.
We served it over a mix of white rice and cauliflower rice, and peas. It would be great with broccoli too.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Emily and thanks for the great review!
Such a fun twist on Mongolian chicken! It was super easy to prep and turned out with great flavor — slightly sweet, slightly savory, with tons of sauce to spoon over rice. I was impressed that it didn’t feel “just average slow cooker food.” My family absolutely loved it, and I’m already planning to make it again soon.
What ingredient can I use instead of ginger?
Good substitutes for fresh or ground ginger include other spices like allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, or turmeric. Let us know what you decide to go with Timothy! The Mongolian recipe taste will be a bit different with some of these substitutes as you can imagine.
I wanted to share my experience and advice using boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I was lazy and took simply took the repeated advice to reduce the overall low heat cooking setting by 20-30 minutes instead of using my meat thermometers. I cooked exactly 7.5 hours on the low setting and found that while they were quite tender, the chicken was quite overdone and dried out. Next time I will put in a little more effort and use the thermometer, but until then I would advise to plan and start checking around 6 hours on low.
Appreciate the feedback Mark. I will re-visit this recipe.
Made this last night for supper. It was delicious! I used sweetener instead of brown sugar and added half a can of artichoke hearts. Very, very tasty . Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome Nancy and thanks for the five star review!
Can you make this with pork loin?
I suppose you could. I haven’t tested this recipe with Pork Loin. Please let us know what you think if you sub out chicken for pork loin!
Can I substitute honey for the sugar?
yes!
Omg! Yummy
Thanks Susan and thank you for the five star review!
Can boneless, skinless chicken thighs be used in the Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken recipe? If so, would there be changes to the instructions & what are the new information instructions?
Certainly. Cooking times would be shortened by about 20 – 30 minutes. To be sure your chicken is thoroughly cooked use a meat thermometer at the thickest part of the thigh to see if the inner temperature is at least 165 degrees. Enjoy!
Yes I used boneless skinless
My son is making this for dinner now.
I’ve been making this recipe for a very long time! It’s my default whenever I need a quick and ez meal as I almost always have the ingredients, and it’s delicious!
Thank you Peggy and thanks for the 5 stars!
PS, I added a corn starch slurry to get more of a gravy consistency out of the sauce and served it with mashed potatoes! Mmmm good!
Really easy and wonderfully tasty! I served it to friends and they asked for the recipe!
Do you change cooking times for boneless and skinless thighs?
Over all, cooking times remain constant for thighs; however, as a precaution, 30 minutes or so before time is up, I would check the inner temperature of the thickest part of the meat to see if it is at 165 degrees in order to not over cook.
Made this tonight with leg quarters and it was delicious!! Added half can of artichokes just because I had them. Was so good! Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome Nancy and thanks for the five star review!
My husband doesn’t like to try new things but I keep trying to sneak new recipes in! He absolutely loved this recipe! I was busy running around Christmas shopping and forgot to put this in the crockpot so I made it in the oven. Came out juicy and delicious!
Great! So glad you guys enjoyed the recipe and thanks so much for the 5 star review! Happy Holidays!
I loved this easy recipe, I also added 1/2 tsp of Ground chili and garlic, for a little heat. Thank you
Sounds tasty! Thanks Lesa for trying our recipe and for the 5 star rating!
I made this recipe. It was so easy and amazingly delicious.
One of my friends was wondering if it’s possible to cut down on the amount of dark brown sugar.
Sure! And thanks Carole, for the 5 stars!
I used sugar substitute
I seasoned my chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Placed it in my pre heated air fryer at 385. Placed thighs in crockpot and followed the rest of the recipe. Loved it soooo….. will repeat. If you double up with the sauce careful not to double up with the sugar. Thank you!
Delicious! My book club loved it, my grandkids loved it, my husband loves it! EVERYone loves it and so do I. Not only is it easy but it is fabulously flavorful!
thank your sharing your fantastic recipe.
Not:e: I placed thighs on a sheet, drizzled each thigh with some sauce from crockpot, and out under the broiler for 2 minutes. Arranged on a platter, then I added toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Looked beautiful; tasted GREAT!
Delicious!!!
I made a LOT of this dish (using the oven method) for a group of about 40 people that I cook for weekly. I think it was the most well received dinner I have ever made! I highly recommend it! It was on point- restaurant quality!
Hello can this recipe be put in the cooking pot then, into the slow cooker the next day
Very tender chicken! I cooked it in the oven due to deciding that was what is for dinner tonight. I had left over rice from the Chinese restaurant and poured some of the sauce over it. I would highly recommend this recipe!!
This was so easy and delicious. The chicken feel off the bone and the sauce is so good. I added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes because we like it spicy but next time might kick it up a bit with chili sauce. VERY GOOD
I am making this tomorrow for dinner. We like sauce. Will it hurt to double it with 4 bone in chicken thighs?
Made this recipe and it turned out delicious! But the top/skin of my chicken thighs got none of the sauce and stayed color-less. Are we supposed to do anything to the chicken before just placing in the cooker? How does the chicken skin have so much color in the picture?
That is what I was wondering. Putting fresh chick w skin in crock doesn’t look or taste as described
Hi Buggs and Candice, were the chicken pieces skin side up and covered in the spice mixtures?
Does anyone know what would be the cook time if I used boneless skinless chicken breast cut up into pieces?
I made this last night for dinner. I did use b/s breasts instead of thighs as we did not have any thighs. I think next time, and there will be, and if I use breasts, I will slice them first. I served with plain rice however next time, I may try pineapple rice.
Thanks for the recipe, I have all the spices required. Seldom do I have fresh ginger. You know my pantry!!!
Great recipe, love the simplicity! I unfortunately did not have enough sauce, so I will probably double it next time. Paired this with rice.
Will try the recipe soon but before I even cooked, I wanted to say thank you for including both the fresh and powdered options for the garlic and the ginger. Small things like that make life so much easier.
Not to be stupid but do you put the sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker or pour the sauce over the chicken before cooking. I assume the latter.
Mix the sauce ingredients first in the crockpot then place chicken on top. I flip around the chicken to get sauce on all its sides then arrange them skin side up.
Hi, Sabrina
This sounds a very tasty recipe, as do others in your collection. However, I have a question: can this, and your other recipes be frozen? I ask this because, as a single man in my 70s, this amount of food would be far too much for me and I know I am not a good enough cook to reduce the volume of food without ruining the recipe; freezing it is better.
Hi! Yes most of my recipes can be frozen, I love saving portions for later!
I will be making this again! It was so easy to put together and came out delicious!
Only had light brown sugar, but it was wonderful! Grilled baby boc choy and basmati rice finished dinner!
I’m so excited to make this! How do I adapt for an instant pot?
I haven’t tested it in an instant pot but I’ll add it to my research list. Thanks for the suggestion.
Just look up Instant Pot Mongolian chicken, and adjust the cooking time using Sabrina’s recipe. That’s what I did.
When I poured the mixture over the chicken it slid right off. Do I need to turn the chicken over into the mix maybe halfway thru?
You don’t need to but you can. It’ll all reduce down and cook into the chicken while in the slow cooker. I even like to spoon mine over when served.
Hello, I don’t normally post, but wow! This was a great recipe! Really loved it and the chicken was so tender! I did put it in the oven for 15 minutes after and it gave it a slightly more glazed chicken.
Wish I could send a pic!
Anyway, thanks again for a great recipe.
Yay!! I’m glad you enjoyed it! You can always post to instagram and tag @dinnerthendessert
I love seeing what everyone is making!
any recipes for diabetics
I don’t have anything specific so you’d have to figure out the nutritional information.
Going to make this with bones chicken thighs should I cut back the time in the slow cooker
I made this using swerve brown sugar as my husband is diabetic. Served with cauliflower rice and steamed broccoli. It was delicious.
After I made your leftover Christmas Ham (bone-in) and Bean soup, I bookmarked your site. It’s the first place I look for a recipe. It was that delicious! Once again, this dinner was so mouthwateringly good, once again proving your talents as a chef. Bravo!! PS I followed exactly, however my new slow cooker was really hot so it was done in a little over 2 1/2 hours. And I added broccoli and mushrooms I cooked in the wok. Served over rice. I wish I had some this morning.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes, Sherrill! Slow cookers can be tricky at times so I’m glad you know yours runs hot.
Hi, I’m trying this recipe for the first time! As I’m using chicken breast do I need to add any liquid eg stock to stop it drying out?
Helen
No need to add anything additional but I could suggest cutting back on the cook time.
Making this for the first time, using boneless skinless thighs #10. Should I adjust the other ingredients? And how long should I cook in slow cooker on low? Thank you
If you’re using 10 lbs of chicken, I’d suggest splitting it into multiple slow cookers or making this in the oven.
Can I use a combination of breast and thighs and of so how long???
Sure, you might need to cut back the cook time by around 30 minutes. You don’t want the breasts to dry out.