Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

5 from 23 votes

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken cooked in the most incredible sauce. No weird ingredients, just fall apart, tender, bone-in and skinless chicken thighs cooked in plenty of sauce with crispy, charred, sticky edges! A delicious crock pot chicken recipe.

Prep Time10

Cook Time2

REST5

Total Time2 15

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Dinner, Honey Garlic Chicken, Main, slow cooker chicken

Servings: - 6 serves

Calories: 568kcal

Author: Karina

Ingredients

CHICKEN:

6 large chicken thighs skinless and bone-in
1 tablespoon olive oil divided

RUB:

1 teaspoon paprika mild or smoked
½ teaspoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper optional
1 teaspoon coarse salt
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper

HONEY GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE:

½ cup honey
½ cup unsalted butter
6 cloves garlic finely chopped or minced
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 pinch salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper

ADDITIONAL:

¼ cup water or chicken broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch

US - Metric

Instructions

CHICKEN:

Pat dry boneless, skinless chicken thighs with paper towel. Combine ½ tablespoon of oil with rub ingredients. Season chicken, rubbing the mixture into the chicken.
OPTIONAL SEAR: Heat remaining ½ tablespoon oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat. Sear chicken for 2 minutes each side to get a nice sear. (Do not cook chicken all the way through, this step is purely for flavour.)
Transfer chicken thighs to a 6-qt (litre) slow cooker bowl.

SAUCE:

Melt butter in the same pan the chicken was in, scraping up any leftover browned bits in the pan. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in remaining sauce ingredients; bring to a rapid simmer for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.

SLOW COOK:

Pour sauce over chicken in slow cooker bowl, flipping thighs in the sauce to evenly coat. Cover with lid and cook on HIGH heat setting for 2-3 hours, or LOW heat setting for 5-6 hours. Baste with sauce half way through cooking.
Transfer chicken onto serving dish and tent loosely with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes.
While chicken is resting: pour juices from the slow cooker bowl into a pot large enough to fit the liquid. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Whisk ¼ cup water (or broth) with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch/cornflour into a lumpfree slurry. Whisk into sauce and let simmer for a good 2-3 minutes, or until thickend into a syrup-like consistency. (Please note: sauce will thicken as it cools).
For a thicker sauce, repeat this step with 1 teaspoon extra cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water. Add into sauce and cook until thickened. Continue this step until reaching your desired consistency.

BROIL:

Place slow cooked chicken thighs on a lined baking sheet. Baste chicken with some of the thickened sauce, about 2 tablespoons per thigh. Broil briefly for 1-2 minutes each side to char the edges.
Slice chicken and serve drizzled with Honey Garlic Butter Sauce.

Notes

Tip: Use skinless, boneless chicken thighs. Skin on thighs are fine to use, as long as you sear the skin to render some of the fat to avoid too much fat melting into your braising liquid/sauce.

Nutrition