This Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken recipe is sweet, spicy, and easy to make! Serve it over rice or noodles for an easy weeknight meal.
Making crockpot honey sesame chicken is a hands-off way to prepare dinner for your family! To finish off the meal, add some instant or ready-made rice, cream cheese wontons, and a salad.
How To Make Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Step One: Chicken
For the chicken, I chose boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can also use chicken thighs. Cut the chicken into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes and place them in a greased or lined slow cooker.
Step Two: Honey Sesame Chicken Sauce
In a small bowl, mix together honey, low-sodium soy sauce, barbecue sauce, olive oil, minced onion, minced garlic, sesame oil, and crushed red peppers. Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
Step Three: Crockpot
Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours until it reaches 165˚F. Start checking the temperature of the chicken after 3 hours. Or you can cook it on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and start checking the temperature after 1 1/2 hours.
Step Four: Sauce
Remove the chicken from the crockpot and transfer the sauce to a saucepan. Combine cold water and cornstarch together before whisking it into the sauce. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. This only takes a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat down to low, add chicken to the sauce, and break any large pieces into smaller chunks. Stir to coat while simmering.
Tips For Making Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
- You can choose chicken breasts or thighs for this recipe. I’ve tried both, and the chicken thighs are dark meat and have more fat. This will help keep the chicken moist if that has been an issue for you.
- Get to know your crockpot or slow cooker. Each brand and price point can vary significantly. Check the temperature of the chicken after 3 hours when cooking it on low or after 1 1/2 hours when cooking it on high.
- For extra sauce, increase the sauce ingredients before adding them to the slow cooker.
Make Ahead and Storage
- Make Ahead: To prep crockpot sesame chicken ahead of time, cube and season the chicken. Place it in an airtight storage bag in the fridge overnight. Whisk the sauce ingredients in an airtight container and store them in the fridge overnight. Then, prepare the recipe as directed.
- Storage: Store the cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to four weeks.
More Crockpot Recipes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Tortellini
- Slow Cooker French Dip
- Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Meatballs
- Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed or chicken thighs
- 1 cup honey
- ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced onion
- 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoons sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red peppers more or less as desired
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon sliced green onions
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Put the cubed chicken in a greased or lined slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, mix together honey, low-sodium soy sauce, barbecue sauce, olive oil, minced onion, minced garlic, sesame oil, and crushed red peppers. Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
- Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Start checking the temperature of the chicken after 3 hours and cook until the chicken reaches 165˚F. Or cook it on high for 1 1/2-2 hours and start temping the chicken after 1 1/2 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the crockpot and pour the sauce into a saucepan. Combine the cold water and cornstarch before stirring it into the sauce. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. This only takes a couple of minutes.
- Turn the heat down to low, add chicken to the sauce, and break any large pieces into smaller chunks. Stir to coat while simmering.
- Garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over rice or noodles.
Betty J Scott says
Way, way…..TOO SWEET! HARD TO STUMACH!
Robert says
Very tasty and several of our guest loved the Honey Sesame Chicken on a bed of rice. The next time we will reduce the amount of honey from 1 cup to 1/2 cup. It was too sweet for me!
Cedar says
I enjoyed this recipe, though admittedly, I misread the instructions and used only .500 kg instead of a full 1kg+ for this recipe. So I was a bit lost in the sauce when this was done… Next time will be different!! Since I don’t like pepper flakes, I opted for cayenne pepper instead which gave it some good heat. I also don’t like mincing onions so I used onion powder instead, worked out nicely I just eyeballed it but I’m sure the typical 2 tbsp of onion powder would work just fine? Maybe a bit less than that…? This recipe also doesn’t really specify what type of bbq sauce is asked for but I bought some brown sugar bbq sauce at the market while I was there and I also kinda used 1/2 cup of it instead of 1/4 cup. I love bbq sauce though so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Still, a good recipe and I think I’m going to try it again… With the proper amount of chicken this time!
Tonia says
I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed it!
Cedar says
I’ll have to look through the rest of your recipes! I really liked this one and I’m sure it’s one I’ll lean on for a while. Thanks for the recipe!