Sweet & Spicy Slow Cooker Chicken

A little sweet plus a bit of heat, this sweet and spicy slow cooker chicken is super simple and requires very little hands-on time. Serve over rice with a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro.

I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.

You may also be interested in my apple cranberry chicken salad and my bourbon jalapeño chicken thighs recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my chicken recipes in one place.

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Why you should make this recipe

• Easy – Mix sauce ingredients together and combine with chicken in slow cooker. It’s that simple.
• Make ahead – This Crock-Pot meal can be made ahead and re-heated.
• Versatile – Serve this sweet and spicy chicken over rice, noodles or with stir-fried vegetables.

Sweet & spicy slow cooker chicken

My friend Stacy from Food Lust People Love wrote this recipe for the blog several years ago while I was recovering from surgery. I’ve updated it and changed a few things since, but the heart of the recipe is hers.

I love the simplicity of this meal. It is packed with flavor, it’s mostly hands-off cooking and you can easily scale it up to feed more people.

It’s also a perfect meal prep recipe, because it will last week in the fridge and it reheats very well.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs – I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.
• Sweet soy sauce – This thick, syrupy sauce adds amazing flavor to the dish.
• Ginger – Ginger not only provides great flavor, it provides heat. It’s a different kind of heat than you’d get from chilies, but it is still heat. Adjust as needed.
• Water – The sauce needs a bit of water to prevent it from becoming too thick.
• Cornstarch – This will help the sauce to thicken.
• Brown sugar – Sugar will help to balance the heat in the sauce.
• Honey – It sweetens the sauce.
• Hot sauce – You can use your favorite brand. I use sambal oelek, because I love it and I think the flavors pair perfectly here.
• Soy sauce – Look for a reduced-sodium version to control the amount of sodium.
• Garlic – Garlic belongs in almost every recipe. It’s magical.

How to make

Here’s a quick summary of how to make sweet and spicy slow cooker chicken. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe. 

1. First, mix together the ingredients for the sauce. Stir together until cornstarch and sugar are dissolved.
2. Next, place chicken thighs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over chicken thighs.
3. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, then flip chicken thighs over and give it a stir. Replace cover.
4. Cook for an additional 1 1/2 hours. Serve with lime wedges and fresh herbs.

Spicy slow cooker chicken FAQ’s

Variations and substitutions

If you prefer to use skin on, bone-in chicken thighs, that also works here. You can also use chicken breast, but please use bone-in. Skinless, boneless chicken breast will dry out and it won’t be as good.

You can substitute sambal oelek for your favorite hot sauce. Swap out the honey for agave, date syrup or a sugar substitute.

Sweet soy sauce, called kekap manis, is a thick, sweet sauce. It has amazing flavor. I use it all the time. You can substitute molasses, if you can’t find it.

Serving suggestions

We like to serve this over rice, but it would also be delicious over rice noodles. Think outside the box a little and use this as a filling for bao or tacos.

As a vegetable side, my sautéed Bok choy would be perfect.

Helpful tools and equipment

• Slow cooker – This is the exact slow cooker that I own and used with this recipe.
• Measuring spoons – This set of measuring spoons has both metric and Imperial measurements, they have a rounded end and an oval end to get into narrow jars, plus they are magnetic. Basically, the perfect set.

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Questions? Send me an email, I’m happy to help. I’d love to send you weekly tips and recipes, so you can get updates about what’s happening in the kitchen!

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