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, and lazy weekends, this slow cooker recipe is always coming to the rescue, and has never failed me.
reasons to make slow cooker honey sesame chicken
- Set and forget. This is one of those great slow cooker recipes that you can simply dump-and-go – there’s no searing, no cooking beforehand, no nothing. Come home from a long day to the coziest (and easiest), sauciest sesame chicken with zero hands-on cooking. The hardest part is shredding the chicken!
- Short ingredient list. Chicken, onion, soy sauce, honey, ketchup, garlic, ginger, s+p – most are pantry staples. And I have definitely been guilty of skipping the onions and garnishes half the time (and it still turns out oh-so-perfect).
- Flexible recipe. Use breasts or thighs and add in as little or as many vegetables as desired (perfect for those picky eaters). Serve over rice or your favorite grains with all the juices to sop up all the saucy goodness.
- Leftovers taste even better. The leftovers make for great lettuce wraps, and the leftover chicken + juices can be frozen as needed for quick meal prep for the busy weeks ahead!
tips and tricks for success
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Use dark or white meat. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs can be used interchangeably here but thighs are much fattier (and thus more flavorful).
- Add vegetables. Mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers or snow peas can be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time for a more heartier meal.
- Serve with your favorite grains. White rice, brown rice, fried rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa or farro are all great options.
what to serve with slow cooker honey sesame chicken
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!
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Leftovers are also great as lettuce wraps!
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop until warmed through.
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.
Video
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Hi! This is in the slow cooker right now. 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast, whole. The liquid isn’t covering all the breasts-is that an issue? Also, any suggestions on when to addFROZEN broccoli? I know you said 30 mins prior to the end of cooking time, it I’m not sure if that was for frozen or thawed broccoli. I’m a new cook so I’m just trying to get my head around the sciences of cooking! Thanks!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Hi Sara!
If it was me I would double the sauce. I like sauce.
IMO I think that fresh broccoli would have more taste than the frozen.
Frozen tends to have a watery taste to it.
I made this tonight and it was soooooo delicious! Our picky eater scarfed it down and loved it! So glad I found your blog! I have tried several of your recipes and every one has been a huge hit! Thank you!
Do you think you could make this with chicken wings? I’m searching for possible Super Bowl recipes
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Would it be OK to add sliced green and red peppers? Should I put them in with the chicken in the beginning or add them partway through ? Thanks!
Yes, those sound like great additions! You can try adding them in halfway as needed so that they are not overcooked. But as always, please use your best judgment.
You can easily shred chicken with a mixer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utn4rqfogIE
What if I wanted to add a veggie like broccoli? Could I just use less chicken and throw in a veggie? Or should I use the same amount of chicken and more sauce?
Yes, you can add less chicken.
Help!! I am making this right now but there is not enough liquid to cover the chicken in the slow cooker. What liquid should I add to it so it doesn’t get too dried out? Thanks!
Diana, you can try to double the sauce as needed.
Made this tonight. It turned out wonderful! My husband loved it. I’m definitely keeping this recipe for later.
Do you have Nutrition Information for this? Making tonight!
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, I recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
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.