Easy Honey Garlic Chicken
Published 7/16/2023 • Updated 3/17/2024
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This 5-star Honey Garlic Chicken is made in the slow cooker and is perfect for any weeknight meal. It’s kid-friendly and made with 5 simple ingredients.
This honey garlic chicken (crock pot) is a Fit Foodie Finds reader favorite. So many of you have made this dish time and time again and we hope you love it!
Honey garlic is a favorite flavor of mine. It comes together with honey, minced garlic, and soy sauce and is literally good on everything. I love eating this honey garlic chicken over rice next to broccoli. It’s just
This crock pot honey garlic chicken is flavorful, sweet, and spicy all at the same time and is made with just 5 ingredients. Slow cook the chicken in the sauce on high for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-5.
Featured Comment
“I have been making this recipe for a couple years and it is one of my absolute favorite meals because it is so convenient and delicious!! It’s made with ingredients I always have on hand and is very low effort with the crock pot. I also recently started to make it as a freezer meal to give to friends with newborns and have gotten asked for the recipe multiple times! You won’t regret making this one!!!” -Kenna
What is in honey garlic chicken?
You read that correctly, this amazing crock pot honey garlic chicken is made with only 5 ingredients.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: we’re using chicken breast, but you’re more than welcome to use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.
- Minced garlic: you’re going to need 3 whole tablespoons of minced garlic. Trust us.
- Honey: we love that honey is an all-natural sweetener. Plus, it pairs quite nicely with soy sauce and garlic.
- Soy sauce (or tamari): soy sauce adds a great savory flavor and also has a decent amount of salt in it.
- Red chili garlic sauce: want to add some heat, but not too much spice? A little red chili garlic sauce goes a long way.
our favorite
Slow Cooker
If you need a slow cooker, we love our 7-qt. crock pot!
FAQ
This honey garlic chicken recipe is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. The honey balances out the chili sauce to make a sticky and delicious sauce.
We use chicken breasts for this honey garlic chicken recipe. If you are a dark meat kind of person, feel free to use chicken thighs (boneless or bone-in).
There is no need to brown the chicken before it cooks in the slow cooker.
As your chicken cooks inside the covered slow cooker, it lets off steam. This steam condenses on the bottom of the lid and drips back onto the chicken making it seem “watery.”
Honey garlic chicken is a simple, yet flavorful recipe made with chicken breasts, garlic, honey, and soy sauce, and a little chili garlic sauce for heat.
Most honey garlic chicken recipes are mild in spice, but you can add chili garlic sauce or sriracha to kick up the heat.
Check it out!
6 Crockpot Chicken Recipes
Looking for more crockpot chicken recipes? Look no further! Check out 6 similar recipes below. And for an added bonus, check out our Crockpot Freezer Meals post where we teach you how to turn all of these slow cooker recipes into freezer meals.
Honey Garlic Chicken Instant Pot Instructions
- Place chicken breast and honey garlic sauce into your Instant Pot.
- Cover the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 8-10 minutes. Quick release.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and use 2 forks to shred.
- Thicken sauce by removing 1/4 cup of sauce and whisking it with 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch. Pour the sauce and shredded chicken back into the Instant Pot and mix.
- Turn on the sauté feature and bring the sauce to a boil to activate the cornstarch.
- Once thickened, serve immediately.
Instant Pot
Chicken Thighs with Honey Garlic Sauce
If you love this recipe, check out our Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs recipe for a slightly different variation.
How to Store Honey Garlic Chicken
Store this honey garlic chicken in an air-tight container for 5-7 days in the refrigerator. We recommend keeping the honey garlic chicken separate from other ingredients (rice, veggies, etc.).
Freezer Meal Instructions
This honey garlic chicken is a great freezer meal if you are meal-prepping for yourself or any loved ones.
- Create honey garlic sauce by mixing together minced garlic, honey, soy sauce and red chili garlic sauce until the honey has dissolved.
- Then, place the chicken breast into a freezer-safe gallon-sized bag and pour sauce on top.
- Remove as much air from the bag as possible and seal tightly.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
Want to learn how to reheat this freezer meal? Check out how here.
Serving Suggestions
You can easily turn this slow cooker chicken breast recipe into an amazing chicken meal prep by pairing it with your favorite grain and stir-fried veggies.
- Grains: brown rice, chicken fried rice, white sticky rice, quinoa, chicken fried rice, or cauliflower rice
- Veggies: green beans, steamed broccoli, or peppers and onions.
- Sides: pork dumplings, chicken lettuce wraps, or papaya salad.
Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, thighs work, too
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce, or tamari
- 2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, optional
Instructions
- First, create your honey garlic sauce. Whisk together minced garlic, honey, soy sauce, and red chili garlic sauce un the honey has fully dissolved.
- Next, place chicken breast onto the bottom of your slow cooker. Then, pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Turn slow cooker to high and cook for 2-3 hours OR low and cook for 4-5 hours.
- Once your chicken is fully cooked (165ºF internally) and tender, remove the chicken from the slow cooker and use 2 forks to shred.
- If you wish to thicken the sauce, remove 1/4 cup of the liquid from the slow cooker and whisk in 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch until it dissolved. Then, pour that back into the slow cooker and mix until combined.
- Then, add the chicken back into the crockpot and mix it with the sauce. Cover and let cook for 10 more minutes on high so that the sauce can fully thicken.
- Serve with your favorite grain and vegetable. Top with sesame seeds and green onion.
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition is just for the chicken.
- Cornstarch is optional, but your sauce will be thin if you don’t use it.
- This recipe was slightly updated on January 19, 2022. Nothing major was changed.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made this last weekend and we all loved it! Perfect for leftovers as well. This was so easy to make but full of taste so I will definitely make this again. I found your blog just last week and already tried two recipes and I’m planning next week’s meals by going over your blog.
YAY!! So glad you loved it!
Looks delicous!! Just curious what kind of rice you used?
We used long-grain brown rice for this recipe, but any kind works!
What is red chili garlic sauce? Would it make it spicy? If so, is there a substitute so it wouldn’t be spicy? Thank you!
Hi! It is like a hot sauce and can be found in most grocery stores in the Asian section. Feel free to omit, but it doesn’t make it too spicy! Here’s a link for the product we use on Amazon: https://rstyle.me/n/dewq5zb6pp7
Cant find the red chili garlic sauce. Can you use chili sauce and add extra garlic?
Did you look in the Asian section of your grocery store? That’s where it would be!
I just want to recommend after
Removing chicken from crock pot, pour liquid into a sauce pan on the stove and do the cornstarch method there. Otherwise you don’t get the proper high heat consistency to making the corn starch a nice Clear thick sauce. It will simply be with a starchy background flavor of yuck!
Is this recipe freezer friendly?
This is! We have directions coming this weekend <3
Would tapioca flour work to thicken? Mostly bc I already have it in the pantry…☺️ Thanks! Looks so yummy!
Yes, tapioca flour should work! We haven’t tried it yet, but let us know how it goes! Start with a small amount and go from there!
This was delish! Husband licked his plate lol! Love that it is easy and healthy. Can’t wait to see more crockpot recipes this week!
YAY! Husband approved <3
Can you do this in the instant pot
Hey Lisa! I am sure you can, but have not tested it yet!
This sounds delicious! The recipe is correct but in the blog post it says this:’You can either cook this recipe on high for 6-8 hours or on low for 2-4 hours. ‘ It’s early here and I had to look at it a few times to realize it was not quite right.
Must have been early when I wrote this too 😛 Just fixed that! Thanks for catching that!