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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Absolutely amazing! My mouth is drooling looking at your pictures and thinking I might just have to make this for our dinner tomorrow night!
Oh great video haha….I missed that ep. gonna watch it now LOL!
I love the ease of this recipe, bring on the slow cooker!
I am now even MORE starving for our chicken dinner. Sadly, it’s not this crockpot honey sesame chicken. But that will be soon. This looks amazing, Chung-Ah.
Ohmahgosh, that video is HILARIOUS. Totally stuck in my head now. 😉
I love the addition of honey in this chicken dish!
So glad you enjoyed this slow cooker favorite of mine, Chung-Ah! Yours looks mouthwatering!
Thanks for the amazing recipe, Georgia! Jason and I gobbled this up for several nights!
Nice recipe. Thank you and have a great week.
love this! slow cooker recipes are the best and love the NEW bowl! so pretty!!
You’re so sweet to notice my new bowl. I was in desperate need of an Asian-type bowl!
This is a favorite in my house! It’s funny how many of us have made it – it’s taken over the internet!
Seriously! I think I might have even posted this years ago with my point and shoot camera!
This sesame chicken sounds so good!
I Love honey sesame chicken, but this healthier and easier version looks even better than any other I have seen! I love that you just throw everything in the crockpot and go! Yes, please!
It’s so easy! And everyone loves it too so it’s a double win!
Do You Put The Chicken In Frozen Or Thaw First?
Imam, I advise using thawed chicken breasts.
Thanks!
Hi there! I do not see a suggested serving size. I see that it makes 6 servings but what would one serving be considered? 1 cup?
Krista, you would have to divide the full amount by 6 servings to get the serving size. Hope that helps!
What setting on the crockpot for the 3 1/2 hours of cooking the honey sesame chicken?
Christine, please refer to the instructions:
Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Hi there! I’m making this recipe for the first time and my slow cooker only has these settings: Low: 8 or 10 hours, High: 4 or 6 hours
Suggestions on how to modify the cooking time? I’m new to crock pot cooking!
That’s so weird that you are limited to only those functions! The recipe calls for about 4 hours on low so you may need to program your slow cooker manually.
Are there any veggies you could add to this to make it more of a complete meal??
missmary68123@yahoo.com
Carrots would be a great addition!
I used a fresh red pepper chopped finely