Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
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Dump everything in the crockpot for a family-friendly meal! Best served over rice. Sweet, savory & so easy.
Featured Comment
This crockpot honey sesame chicken has saved me so many times. Even with the busiest of days/nights/weekends – this slow cooker recipe is always coming to the rescue, and has never failed me.
The ingredient list is short too – reduced sodium soy sauce (highly recommend using reduced sodium as the dish will be substantially less salty), honey, ketchup, garlic, ginger, s+p. All pantry staples. And I have definitely been guilty of skipping the onions half the time.
Chicken breasts and thighs can be used interchangeably here but thighs are much fattier (and thus more flavorful). The hardest part though is shredding the chicken! When ready to serve, serve over rice with all the juices. You’ll want that rice to soak up alllllll the goodness here.
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt slow cooker
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken.
You can serve this with white rice or our favorite no-fuss sheet pan fried rice!
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, diced
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine onion, soy sauce, honey, ketchup, vegetable oil, garlic, ginger and red pepper.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken thighs into a 6-qt slow cooker. Add soy sauce mixture and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
- Remove chicken thighs from the slow cooker and shred the chicken before returning to the pot with the juices. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Just made this in my slow cooker and considering how little fuss the recipe is it was absolutely delicious!
I used chicken thighs with the bones still in and skin still on (very cheap cut of meat in the UK), the meat was SO tender after cooking the skin came right off and the bones pretty much fell out, making the shredding a piece of cake.
The fiancée was thrilled and this will be made frequently 🙂
To freeze cook what would you recommend?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Good afternoon,
I apologize in advance if this question has already been asked…I did not take time to read all the comments.
I was just reading through some “crock-pot freezer meals” posts from another site, and really liked the concept of preparing a meal ahead-of-time…she compared it with, “cooking a store pizza that had been taken from the freezer, just much better/healthier.” So, I was wondering if it could be done with this recipe?
Many thanks,
Michele
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Where is the Sesame in the Honey SESAME Chicken? Just the seeds sprinkled on at the end?
That’s exactly right!
I poured the extra sauce over fresh baby spinach leaves making an instant bed of wilted spinach for the chicken…amazing!! Thanks for the recipe!
I am not a fan of soy sauce, would it be possible to omit the soy or replace with something else?
Denise, the soy sauce is a crucial part of this dish so if you are not a fan of this ingredient, then I do not recommend this recipe for you. But please feel free to browse through my other slow cooker recipes here that may better suit your preferences.
If I wan add broccoli and rice do I have to Cooke separate or can broccoli go in slow cooker
I recommend adding the broccoli during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
Hi, just to mention about the tedious part of shredding the chicken, if you own a stand mixer with a flat beater it’s now real easy, just put the chicken breast in the bowl (or boneless thigh) in the bowl and let it run on the lowest setting for about 30 to 90 seconds, voila instant perfect shredded chicken !
All week I have been wondering what to make on Monday night for our life group meeting from church. This is it!! Looks super easy and will feed our group of twelve. Thanks for all your delicious recipes. I have made a few of your one pot recipes and they always turn out yummy!
White onion? Thanks again for all the great recipes 🙂
Can something be used in place of vegetable oil?
Canola oil should also work just fine.
I absolutely love this recipe but was wondering if there would be anyway to pressure cook this? If so for how long and what setting
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried using a pressure cooker myself. Please use your best judgment.
Have you or anyone else successfully cooked this on low for 8 hours? I so want to try it for a meal during the work-week but will have to wait until the weekend if it can’t cook for 8 hours.
I have left it for 7 hours and it was fine, so i think 8 hours on low will be fine.
This was delicious! I sauteed broccoli and added it at the very end. I’ll be making this again for sure.
My family loves this. With the kids going in all directions for practices, I make this all the time. After it’s shredded and back in the crock pot, all they have to do is put it on some cooked rice, add the green onions and sesame seeds if they want. This is a good meal for nights we can’t eat together. Thank you!
I made this and it was wonderful! The chicken thighs kept it from being dry. I will make this again . Thanks!
I’m not an onion fan…do you think skipping them in this dish will ruin the flavor? Thanks in advance!
If you are not an onion fan, it would be best to omit.
Mine burned
Alicia, could you provide more information? I’m not entirely sure how it’s possible for the chicken to burn on low heat only after 3 hours and 30 min as directed in the recipe. Did you set your slow cooker to high heat?
I am gone all day. Would this turn out ok bring cooked on low for 8-10 hours?
I’m not entirely sure – at 8-10 hours, the chicken may dry out and be overcooked.
Hello,
I would like to know if you recommend adding a vegetable(s) to the crockpot to cook with the chicken in the sesame sauce. if so, what kind would you recommend?
Thank you,
You can add broccoli but I recommend adding it 30 min before the end of cooking time. If you add it with the rest of the ingredients in the beginning, it will turn into mush!