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.
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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.
How would you adjust this for chicken breasts?
You can follow the recipe as is for chicken breasts, although it is best to use chicken thighs to obtain the best results possible.
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I have everything except ketchup (I know. Weird.) How essential is it to the recipe?
As it requires 1/4 cup ketchup, I do not recommend omitting it. It is best to use all of the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
Can I prep the chicken and sauce in a bag the morning of and then have my nanny throw it in the crock pot at the 4 hour mark so it’s ready for dinner? Does that effect anything?!
I’ve never tried it myself but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. You can also just keep them separate (chicken and sauce in different bags) and ask your nanny to combine them in the slow cooker when it’s time.
I only have skin on,bone-in thighs. I’ve never cooked with thighs. Will they be ok to use? Would it change cooking time or anything else? Thanks for great website.Cant wait to try many of these recipes
That should be fine, but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed to ensure they are completely cooked through.
Just love this recipe, doing it again for tonight….xxxx
I made this last week and doubled the recipe. The time was just about the same. I also added in peppers. The peppers made the sauce a little watery. It was great over rice. I am thinking the next time I will add the peppers later in the cooking where they create water. I also had pineapple as a side and it was great. Thanks for the recipe. It is a definate keeper.
I have made this once and it came out great. Everyone loved it. I like the idea of adding peppers and pineapple. Has anyone tried doubling the recipe? I am going to try it this week. Just curious how much longer to cook?