Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

This is the recipe I make when I want the house to smell amazing by 5 PM with roughly three minutes of actual effort at 8 AM. You dump everything in the slow cooker before school drop-off, and by dinner time you have tender, sticky, caramelized chicken thighs in a sauce your kids will want to drink. I am not kidding. My son once tried to lick the slow cooker insert. Serve it over rice with steamed broccoli and you look like a person who has it together. Nobody needs to know the slow cooker did all the work.

Ingredients

• 2.5 to 3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 to 8 pieces)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons ketchup (this sounds weird but trust me, it adds sweetness and body to the sauce)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (or 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, leave out for sensitive eaters)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water (for thickening at the end)
• Sesame seeds and sliced green onions for topping (optional)
• Cooked white or brown rice for serving

Instructions

Step 1: Place the chicken thighs in the slow cooker in a single layer, skin side up. If they overlap slightly that is okay, but try not to stack them completely on top of each other.

Step 2: In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, rice vinegar, minced garlic, sesame oil, ground ginger, onion powder, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Pour this mixture evenly over the chicken thighs in the slow cooker.

Step 3: Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or HIGH for 2.5 to 3 hours. The chicken is done when it is tender and cooked through (internal temperature of 165 degrees F). The meat should be pulling away from the bone slightly.

Step 4: If you want a thicker, glossier sauce (and you do, trust me), carefully remove the chicken thighs from the slow cooker and set them on a plate or baking sheet. Pour the cooking liquid into a small saucepan, bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stir in the cornstarch slurry (the cornstarch and water mixture), and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Step 5: Optional but highly recommended: for crispy skin, place the cooked chicken thighs skin side up on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil on high for 3 to 5 minutes, watching carefully, until the skin is golden and crispy. This step takes the recipe from great to incredible.

Step 6: Serve the chicken over cooked rice, spooning the thickened sauce generously over everything. Top with sesame seeds and sliced green onions if you have them.

Notes and Tips

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work too if that is what you have. Skip the broiling step and reduce the cooking time by about 30 minutes. The sauce makes a lot, which is intentional because it is amazing over rice. My kids basically use the rice as a vehicle for the sauce. Leftovers reheat beautifully the next day. This also works great in the Instant Pot: use the manual/pressure cook setting for 15 minutes on high pressure with a 10 minute natural release. For meal prep, you can mix the sauce ingredients the night before and store in the fridge, then just pour over the chicken in the morning.