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5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

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Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs slow-cooked for 4 to 6 hours in a four-ingredient honey garlic sauce of honey, fresh garlic, soy sauce, and ketchup — emerging falling-apart tender and deeply glazed. The cooking liquid is reduced on the stovetop into a glossy, sticky, restaurant-quality honey garlic sauce spooned generously over the chicken and served over steamed jasmine rice. Five ingredients, one slow cooker, and a result that tastes like considerably more effort than it is

  • Total Time: 4 hours 23 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

The Chicken

  • 2–2.5 lbs (900g–1.1kg) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (4 to 6 pieces)

The Honey Garlic Sauce

  • ⅓ cup (110g) honey
  • 8–10 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • ¼ cup (60ml) soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp ketchup

Optional (for thickening)

  • 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

For Serving

 

  • Steamed jasmine rice
  • Sliced green onions
  • Toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

  • Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, minced garlic, soy sauce, and ketchup until fully combined.
  • Optional sear. For extra flavor, heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a small amount of oil. Sear the chicken thighs skin-side down for 3 to 4 minutes until the skin is golden brown. Transfer to the slow cooker skin-side up. Skip this step if pressed for time — the dish is excellent without it.
  • Add to slow cooker. Place the chicken thighs skin-side up in the slow cooker in a single layer. Pour the honey garlic sauce evenly over the top, ensuring all pieces are well coated.
  • Cook. Set the slow cooker to LOW and cook for 4 to 6 hours, until the chicken is falling-apart tender and reads 165°F (74°C) at the thickest part, not touching the bone. Do not cook on HIGH.
  • Rest the chicken. Carefully transfer the chicken thighs to a plate or rimmed baking sheet. Tent loosely with foil while you finish the sauce.
  • Reduce the sauce. Pour the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Alternatively: stir the cornstarch slurry directly into the slow cooker liquid, replace the lid, and cook on HIGH for 20 minutes until thickened.
  • Sauce and serve. Pour the reduced sauce back over the rested chicken. Serve over steamed jasmine rice, garnished with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Notes

  • Bone-in thighs are worth it. The bone and skin fat enrich the sauce in a way that boneless, skinless pieces simply cannot. If you must use boneless thighs, reduce the cooking time to 3 to 4 hours on LOW and check early.
  • Do not cook on HIGH. The honey in the sauce can scorch against the sides of the slow cooker insert on HIGH, and the chicken dries out faster at the higher temperature. LOW is the only setting for this dish.
  • Mince the garlic properly. Eight to ten cloves sounds like a lot — it is not. After 4 to 6 hours of slow cooking, the garlic mellows completely into the sauce and becomes sweet rather than sharp. Finely minced garlic incorporates evenly; large chunks do not.
  • The sauce reduction is not optional for serving. The cooking liquid that comes out of the slow cooker is thin. Reducing it for 5 to 8 minutes on the stovetop is what produces the glossy, sticky, restaurant-style honey garlic sauce. This step takes less than 10 minutes and completely changes the dish.
  • Don’t discard the cooking liquid. Every drop of liquid in the slow cooker is honey, garlic, soy, and chicken drippings — it is the sauce. Pour it all out and reduce it all.
  • The sear is optional but recommended. Searing adds flavor through the Maillard reaction that the slow cooker cannot replicate. If you have 10 extra minutes, it is worth it. If you don’t, the dish is still excellent.
  • Double the recipe easily. This sauce scales perfectly. A double batch fits in a large 6 to 8-quart slow cooker and the cooking time remains the same.
  • Author: Elle
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 4–6 hours (on LOW)
  • Category: Dinner, Main Dish
  • Method: Slow Cooking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free

Find it online: https://slowcookerrecipes.us/5-ingredient-slow-cooker-honey-garlic-chicken-2/