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    Home » Chicken Recipes » Crock-Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs

    Crock-Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs

    Published: Nov 3, 2020 · Modified: Jan 27, 2022 by Elaine · This post may contain Amazon affiliate links · As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This blog generates income via ads · 29 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Image with text overlay Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken
    image and text overlay for slow cooker sticky chicken
    Image with text overlay Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken

    This tasty slow cooker sticky chicken is the easiest meal you'll make all week! Juicy slow cooker chicken thighs are simmered in an Asian-inspired sweet and salty sauce in your crock-pot.


    Super-easy Crock Pot Sticky Chicken thighs in an oval serving dish garnished with cilantro and sesame seeds.
    .

    These Crock-Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs are beyond good.

    Get your napkins out and be ready to lick your fingers with one of my favourite easy crockpot meals!

    I'm always overjoyed when there are leftovers of this dish, knowing that I'll get to experience this near-nirvana state all over again. This crockpot chicken thighs recipe is so easy and so tasty.

    Jump to:
    • ❤️Why you'll love this crockpot chicken recipe
    • 🛒 Ingredients
    • 👍🏼 Instructions
    • 👍🏼 Helpful Tips
    • 🍽 Serving suggestions
    • 🗒 More tasty chicken recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    ❤️Why you'll love this crockpot chicken recipe

    • Ten minutes.
    • One pot.
    • No oil.
    • No fussing.
    • Super easy recipe!

    You need to make this slow cooker Sticky Chicken thigh recipe! It's a little salty and a little sweet and a little hot and spicy. The meat falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. It has an Asian-glazed sauce you'll love. It's the easiest meal you'll make all week.

    And if you're pressed for time, you can use my recipe for Instant Pot Sticky Chicken, ready in about half an hour!

    Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken thighs in a white serving dish garnished with cilantro and sesame seeds.

    🛒 Ingredients

    Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken ingredients

    Here's what you'll need to make this easy slow cooker recipe for chicken thighs. Just mix the sticky chicken marinade ingredients together, pour over the chicken thighs and let your slow cooker work its magic.

    • chicken parts: I use chicken thighs because I find that thighs are better in the slow cooker than chicken breasts. Thighs have more flavour, and they don't dry out and get stringy when cooked for a long time. You could also use wings or legs (drumsticks).
    • This recipe is written for bone-in skin-on chicken thighs. While some people shun chicken skin, it adds a lot of flavour and it keeps the meat from drying out. If you prefer to use boneless chicken thighs, this recipe works beautifully as well. You'll have to reduce the temperature and the cooking time to avoid dry and stringy meat. See notes below for cooking time.
    • Tamari soy sauce (or coconut aminos for a paleo diet)
    • balsamic vinegar: adds a necessary acid to balance the flavours.
    • Sriracha sauce: or other hot sauce, or you can substitute dried red pepper flakes
    • honey and coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
    • aromatics: garlic, ginger and onion
    A white baking dish with 10 sticky chicken thighs cooked in a slow cooker.
    The easiest meal you'll make all week!

    👍🏼 Instructions

    1. Put the chicken thighs in your slow cooker.
    2. Combine the sauce ingredients and pour the sauce over the chicken.
    3. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low. If you're using boneless thighs, cook for 3 to 4 hours on Low.
    4. Just before serving, combine ¼ cup of the sauce with a little cornstarch. Stir it back into the slow cooker and cook for 10 - 15 minutes more, or until thickened and glossy.

    👍🏼 Helpful Tips

    Using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs results in tender, juicy chicken. However, the skin will not become crispy in this crockpot chicken recipe. If this bothers you, simply remove the skin before eating.

    You could also add an extra step to this recipe and brown the chicken parts in a skillet on the stovetop before adding them to the slow cooker to help crisp the skin.

    As mentioned above, you can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. However, you'll have to reduce the cooking time to 3 - 4 hours on Low.

    🍽 Serving suggestions

    This Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken is delicious over rice or pasta, or even mashed potatoes. If you'd like, you can serve it with stir-fried vegetables, or with a side of baby bok choy, broccoli, or this Easy 5-minute Sesame Asparagus.

    Add a simple, nutritious fruit crisp for dessert, like Cherry Crisp with Frozen Cherries.

    🗒 More tasty chicken recipes

    • Easy Thai Baked Chicken
    • Sheet Pan Chicken and Roasted Harvest Vegetables
    • Easy Baked Lemon Chicken
    • Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Thai Mango Chicken

    This post was originally published in 2014. It has been updated with new information to make it more helpful to you.

    When you make this slow cooker sticky chicken recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below. I love hearing when you've made one of my recipes. Thanks in advance!

    Subscribe to my newsletter and have new recipes delivered straight to your inbox once a week.

    📖 Recipe

    a white serving dish with Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken thighs

    Crock Pot Sticky Chicken

    Looking for the most tender chicken that falls off the bone? This lick-your-fingers Sticky Chicken is the easiest one-pot meal you could imagine.
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Entrée/Main
    Cuisine: American, Asian
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 7 hours
    Total Time: 7 hours 10 minutes
    Servings: 12 thighs
    Calories: 264kcal
    Author: Elaine
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    slow cooker

    Ingredients

    • 3 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on (about 12 thighs)
    • ⅓ cup tamari soy sauce, or coconut aminos for paleo diet
    • ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
    • ⅓ cup coconut sugar, or brown sugar
    • ¼ cup honey
    • 2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • ½ inch knob fresh ginger, grated or 1 teaspoon powdered ginger,
    • 1 teaspoon onion powder
    • 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
    • 2-4 tablespoon cornstarch
    • 1 tablespoon water

    Garnish

    • fresh cilantro, sesame seeds

    Instructions

    • Put fresh or thawed chicken thighs in slow cooker.
    • Mix all remaining ingredients except the cornstarch, water, and garnish.
    • Pour over chicken thighs, turning to coat all pieces.
    • Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook 3-4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low. Note: if using boneless thighs, cook 3 to 4 hours on Low.
    • When cooked through and tender, mix the cornstarch with the water and a little of the sauce. Pour over the chicken, stir and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes until thickened.
    • Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and sesame seeds.

    Notes

    Using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs results in tender juicy chicken. However, the skin will not become crispy in this slow cooker chicken recipe. If you like, you can simply remove the skin before eating. You could also add an extra step to this recipe and brown the chicken parts in a skillet on the stovetop before adding to the slow cooker.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 466mg | Potassium: 225mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 75IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.9mg
    Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @enessman or tag #flavourandsavour!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Deanna

      February 04, 2022 at 7:20 pm

      5 stars
      Easy-peasy. Kids loved it! 5 stars.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 04, 2022 at 7:47 pm

        Thanks so much for the 5 stars, Deanna!

        Reply
    2. Sandy

      November 30, 2020 at 2:13 pm

      5 stars
      Awesome recipe! Made it today. Did not change a thing. Used chicken thighs (boneless) will make again! Thx!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        November 30, 2020 at 2:53 pm

        That's great to hear! Thanks for the five stars, too.

        Reply
    3. Coral

      July 11, 2018 at 12:42 pm

      So what is the serving size? 1 thigh, 2 thighs? I want to try this but the carbs are high for one thigh. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        July 11, 2018 at 1:10 pm

        Hi Coral, The nutrition info is for 1 thigh. Hope this helps! Thanks for your question.

        Reply
        • Coral

          July 11, 2018 at 1:46 pm

          Thank you

    4. Flavour & Savour

      June 21, 2018 at 11:02 am

      Hi Karen,
      You could substitute sambal oelek if you have it (start with just a teaspoon) OR add a teaspoon or two of dried red pepper flakes for a little heat. I haven’t tried it with chili powder but if you don’t have these first two suggestions, you might try it. Just start with a little as you can always add more later if you like your food spicy. Thanks for your question!

      Reply
    5. Sarah

      March 21, 2017 at 12:09 pm

      How long should 2lbs total of mixed boneless skinless thighs & bone-in wings cook? (I'm new to crockpot cooking) Making this for dinner tonight, looks delish!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        March 21, 2017 at 12:16 pm

        Hi Sarah,
        There are lots of variables to consider, such as the size of the wings, the thickness of the thighs, the type of slow cooker you have, etc. but I would estimate that they would need 4 - 6 hours on High or 2 - 3 hours on low. Great question! Good luck.

        Reply
        • Justin

          January 09, 2018 at 9:32 am

          Hope you get this soon. I was going to use boneless skinless chicken breast cut into cubes for this recipe. Will that change the cooking duration? I was hoping to be able to get away with cooking it for 6 to 7 hours on high.

        • Flavour & Savour

          January 09, 2018 at 9:36 am

          Hi Justin,
          I'm afraid that would be much too long for boneless chicken breast cubes and they'd be overdone. You may want to cook it on low for half that time.

    6. Ruth

      March 21, 2017 at 6:28 am

      All I had was chulula in the house...looked everywhere for the Sriracha as we were SURE we had it in stock! 🙂
      The dish is currently cooking in the slow cooker as I type. Do you think it will turn out okay with the chulula? I hope so!

      Thank you!!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        March 21, 2017 at 7:17 am

        Hi Ruth--It should be fine--the flavour will just be a little bit different. Enjoy!

        Reply
        • Ruth

          March 21, 2017 at 8:35 am

          Thank you so much! I appreciate your reply. I'll let you know how it goes down with the hubby. 🙂

    7. Christa Groen

      March 11, 2017 at 2:31 pm

      5 stars
      My son, who lives in Florida bought me a crockpot. So i was looking for recipes and found yours.
      Today my daughter and i enjoyed your sticky chicken in the Netherlands,
      Definitely gonna make it again. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        March 11, 2017 at 6:17 pm

        Hi Christa!
        That's so great to hear my recipe is loved on the other side of the world! Thanks so much for commenting.

        Reply
    8. Nikki Manago

      November 12, 2016 at 2:53 pm

      5 stars
      Making it right now....SMELLS DELISH SO FAR!!!!!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        November 12, 2016 at 8:34 pm

        Mmmm . . . I can smell it from here! 🙂 Enjoy!

        Reply
    9. OregonLaura

      April 13, 2016 at 8:36 pm

      5 stars
      Had this for dinner tonight and we all enjoyed it. While the flavor in this was outstanding, next time I will use more Sriracha sauce as I like more kick. I used BLSL chicken breasts cut into chunks which did get a little dry but I poked all pieces with a fork several times before adding the cornstarch and that helped rehydrate the chicken. I will definitely be adding this to our dinner rotation.

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        April 13, 2016 at 8:40 pm

        Thanks for commenting and sharing your great idea to use boneless skinless chicken breasts. I know what you mean about wanting an extra kick--the older I get, the spicier I like my food! Glad this one will become a regular in your home!

        Reply
    10. Dottie

      December 12, 2015 at 7:57 am

      Hi. This looking quite tempting. But how does the thigh skin turn out ? Most of my slow cooker recipes either brown the chicken first or put it under the broiler after finished to make the skin more "edible".
      Thank you.

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        December 12, 2015 at 8:47 am

        Hi Dottie,
        Great question! I know just what you mean about chicken skin in slow cookers! The skin will not be crispy without browning it first or putting it under the broiler afterward, but in this recipe, the sauce is quite strongly flavoured and it tends to flavour the skin too. You could always remove the skin before cooking. Thanks for your question!

        Reply
    11. Susie

      December 07, 2015 at 7:02 pm

      5 stars
      Thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        December 07, 2015 at 7:49 pm

        You're welcome! Glad you liked it!

        Reply
    12. Jane Amstutz

      November 06, 2014 at 9:48 am

      Looks so delicious--and I have all the ingredients for the sauce! Just need to get the chicken.

      Reply
      • Flavour & Savour

        November 06, 2014 at 3:54 pm

        Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! This is bound to become a favourite in our house.

        Reply
        • tracey

          September 01, 2015 at 5:39 am

          5 stars
          i always find that the water from the chicken makes it too runny?? but im deffo going to try this!!

        • Flavour & Savour

          September 01, 2015 at 9:34 am

          Hi Tracey,
          I haven't had that problem. If you mix the cornstarch and water with some of the sauce and cook it for a little longer, it thickens right up. We love this chicken dish. Thanks for commenting!

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    Welcome! I'm Elaine

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