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.
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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!
thank you for this delish recipe ,made it tonight and even got my 10yr old grandson to try it ,he cleaned the plate ,made it with some healthy brown rice ! will be making this again ,thanks once again : )
I was going to do stir fry tonight. I thought, nope! Too lazy this day. There must be a slow cooker recipe for really good sesame chicken (which by a miracle, I had all the ingredients). And look what I found and with great reviews. I used Teriake sauce and added fresh pineapple. Cooking now! Thank you all. Hugs and much love.
Chicken breasts should be fine instead of thighs, right?
By the way, we have made 4 or 5 of your dishes and they were all great! Definitely keepers!
Thanks so much!!
Yes, chicken breasts are fine.
Looks delicious! Do you have a calorie count for this recipe??
Unfortunately, as I am not a registered dietician, I am not comfortable sharing nutritional information for any of my recipes. I recommend utilizing online calorie counters at your discretion to obtain such information.
When you put it in the slow clooker, was it on low or high??
It is best to cook on low heat for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Thank you!!
Can you do this recipe without a slow cooker? It looks amazing and I don’t have enough space for a slow cooker in my kitchen!
Lucy, please understand that it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional slow cooker recipe to be used on the stovetop without further recipe testing. I recommend using your best judgement to convert this recipe to be made without a slow cooker.
Hi! I have a question!
Could I substitute the vegetable oil for olive oil since that is all I have ?
You can certainly try substituting olive oil but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. It is always best to use the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
I made this yesterday using boneless, skinless chicken breast. I seasoned my chicken and added the wet mixture to a zip-lock bag and mixed it around for a little bit. I put my slow cooker on low, dumped the bag contents in the crockpot and went to class. Coming back to my apartment smelling delicious is rare with my cooking skills. This was sooooo good and tasty and yummy! Thank you so much for this great recipe.
Did this today! Used boneless skinless chicken breasts. Ohhhhh myyyyy goooodness! This is amazing! We think it’s better than the restaurant version! Definite keeper and soooo easy!
Can you use chicken breast with it? Do you also double the sauce part?
Yes, you can certainly use chicken breast. And if you are using the same amount (2 lb), there would be no need to double the sauce.
Dark soy sauce or light soy sauce? Clear honey or the other kind? (Food noob!)
Kelly, please use standard ingredients – light soy sauce and the regular kind of honey.
Thankyou I really have no idea what regular ingredients should be but I guessed at light soy sauce and just went for the see through honey as that’s all I had it was very tasty! Was a bit watery what could i add to thicken it a tiny bit?
Thanks! 🙂
You can stir in a little bit of cornstarch mixed with water to thicken it up to taste.