Name: Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 50 min
Total time: 3 h 5 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 3 to 4 navel oranges); 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (from 1 to 2 of the same oranges); ⅓ cup low-sodium soy sauce; ¼ cup honey; 3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; 3 tablespoons cold water

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Tender bite-sized chicken thighs simmered in a sweet and tangy orange sauce made with fresh juice and zest, then thickened to a glossy finish.

3 hours 5 minutesTotal Time6 servingsServings

By Amanda DavisOCT 25, 202611 MIN

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Instructions

Raw bite-sized chicken pieces covered in orange sauce with garlic and zest in an oval slow cooker, before cooking

Pat the chicken thighs dry, trim off any large pieces of fat and cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Keep the pieces close to the same size so they cook evenly.

Zest the oranges before you juice them. Measure 1 tablespoon of finely grated zest, then squeeze and strain 1 cup of juice.

In a medium bowl, whisk the orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger until the honey is completely blended in.

Put the chicken in a 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, pour the sauce over it and stir until every piece is coated. Spread the chicken in an even layer.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 2½ hours or on LOW for 3 to 4 hours, keeping the lid closed.

Cooked chicken pieces being stirred with a wooden spoon in the slow cooker as the orange sauce thickens

Start checking at the early end of the range. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer reads at least 165°F in the center of several of the largest pieces. If it isn't there yet, cover and check again every 15 to 20 minutes.

If you cooked on LOW, switch the slow cooker to HIGH. In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch into the cold water until completely smooth.

Stir the slurry again, pour it into the slow cooker and stir gently. Cover and cook on HIGH for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the sauce is bubbling at the edges, glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon. Allow up to 30 minutes if the cooker was on LOW.

Taste the sauce and adjust it if needed (see the recipe notes). Serve hot, spooning plenty of sauce over the chicken.

Slow cooker orange chicken served over white rice in a bowl with optional green onions and sesame seeds

Sticky, glossy and bright with fresh orange, this Slow Cooker Orange Chicken is takeout-inspired comfort food you can start in 15 minutes. Bite-sized chicken thighs simmer gently in a sweet and tangy sauce with garlic and ginger, and a quick cornstarch slurry at the end turns the juices into a shiny glaze.

One honest note before you start: slow cooking makes the chicken tender and saucy, not crispy. There's no fried coating here. Think of it as a cozy, spoonable orange chicken that's made to be piled over a bowl of rice.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Fifteen minutes of hands-on prep. Cut the chicken, whisk the sauce and let the slow cooker do the rest.
Tender, juicy chicken. Thighs stay moist in the slow cooker and are hard to dry out.
Real orange flavor. Fresh juice plus zest gives the sauce a bright, true citrus taste.
Balanced sauce. Honey for sweetness, rice vinegar for tang and soy sauce for savory depth.
No frying. No breading, no hot oil and no splatter on the stove.

Ingredients and Notes

You'll find exact amounts in the ingredient list above. A few notes on choosing them:

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Thighs have a little more fat than breasts, so they stay tender over a few hours of slow cooking. Trim off large pieces of fat and cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Even sizes cook evenly. The chicken must be fully thawed.

Fresh orange juice and zest. This recipe uses freshly squeezed juice from 3 to 4 navel oranges, plus 1 tablespoon of zest from the same fruit. Zest the oranges before you cut and juice them, since zesting a squeezed half is much harder. Grate only the orange layer of the peel; the white pith underneath is bitter.

Low-sodium soy sauce. It seasons the sauce without making it too salty once it thickens. Regular soy sauce is noticeably saltier, so see the substitutions below if that's what you have.

Honey. It sweetens the sauce and helps give it a glossy finish. Whisk until no streaks of honey remain at the bottom of the bowl.

Unseasoned rice vinegar. It adds tang without extra sugar or salt. Seasoned rice vinegar already contains both, so check the label.

Garlic and fresh ginger. Mince the garlic finely and grate the ginger on a fine grater so they melt into the sauce.

Cornstarch and cold water. These are mixed at the end to thicken the sauce. The water must be cold; cornstarch stirred into hot liquid clumps.

Equipment

A 3- to 4-quart slow cooker. USDA recommends filling a slow cooker between half and two-thirds full. This batch should fill a 3- to 4-quart cooker roughly halfway. In a 6-quart cooker the chicken sits in a shallower layer and may cook faster, so start checking earlier, or double the recipe.
An instant-read thermometer. The only reliable way to know the chicken is done.
A microplane or fine grater for the zest and ginger, and a citrus juicer if you have one.

Recipe Notes

Times at a glance: 15 minutes of prep, 2 to 2½ hours on HIGH (or 3 to 4 hours on LOW), then 15 to 20 minutes on HIGH to thicken the sauce.
Total time: the 3 hours 5 minutes in the recipe card uses the longer HIGH time plus 20 minutes of thickening. Cooking on LOW takes about 3½ to 4¾ hours in all, because the cooker needs extra time to heat back up on HIGH for thickening.
Optional browning adds about 10 minutes and is not included in the times.
Yield: about 6 servings of chicken and sauce. Rice and toppings are extra.
Cooking times are estimates. Slow cookers vary, so go by the thermometer, not the clock.
Adjusting the sauce: if it tastes too sweet, stir in 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar at a time. If it needs more savory depth, add 1 teaspoon of soy sauce at a time.

Optional: Brown the Chicken First

Browning is not required. The recipe works with raw chicken straight into the slow cooker. If you have an extra 10 minutes, a quick sear adds some savory, caramelized flavor:

Heat 1 tablespoon of neutral oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown the chicken pieces in batches for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until golden on the outside. Don't crowd the pan, or the chicken will steam instead of browning.
Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker right away. It is not cooked through yet, so it goes straight in with the sauce and cooks as directed.

Browning adds flavor and color, but it won't make the chicken crispy once it simmers in the sauce.

How to Thicken the Orange Sauce

The chicken releases juices as it cooks, so the sauce is thin when the cooking time is up. A cornstarch slurry turns it glossy and thick:

Check that the chicken has reached 165°F first.
Switch the slow cooker to HIGH if it was on LOW. Cornstarch needs bubbling heat to thicken.
Make the slurry: stir 3 tablespoons of cornstarch into 3 tablespoons of cold water until completely smooth.
Stir it in: stir the slurry again right before you add it, since cornstarch settles, then pour it into the sauce and stir gently.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Allow up to 30 minutes if the cooker was on LOW.
It's ready when the sauce bubbles at the edges, turns glossy and coats the back of a spoon. It thickens a little more as it stands.

Stovetop shortcut. If your slow cooker runs gently and the sauce is slow to thicken, lift the chicken out with a slotted spoon, pour the liquid into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the slurry and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy. Pour it back over the chicken.

Too thick? Stir in a splash of water or orange juice. Still thin? Give it 10 more minutes on HIGH with the lid on before adding more cornstarch. If you do add more, mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of cold water first.

How to Check Doneness

USDA lists 165°F as the safe minimum internal temperature for poultry. Because the chicken is in bite-sized pieces, check the center of several of the largest pieces with an instant-read thermometer. Every piece you check should read at least 165°F.

The cooking times in this recipe are estimates. Slow cookers vary by brand, age and size, and a fuller or emptier pot cooks differently. Start checking at the early end of the time range, and if the chicken isn't ready, cover and keep cooking, checking every 15 to 20 minutes.

Don't use frozen chicken. USDA advises thawing meat and poultry before putting it in a slow cooker, because frozen pieces can stay too long at temperatures where bacteria multiply. Thaw the chicken in the refrigerator first.

Serving Suggestions

These extras are optional and not part of the core recipe:

Rice: steamed white or brown rice, or jasmine rice, to soak up the sauce.
Fried rice: go all out with a side of Freakin' Fantastic Fried Rice.
Toppings: toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onions.
Vegetables: steamed broccoli, snap peas or a crunchy cucumber salad.
Takeout-style sides: Easy Chinese Egg Rolls.

Looking for more sweet and savory slow cooker dinners? Try 2-Ingredient Slow Cooker Teriyaki Pork or 2-Ingredient Slow Cooker Sweet Teriyaki Wings. For more glazed chicken, see Honey Garlic Chicken Bites Over Creamy Rice and Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken.

Storage, Reheating and Freezing

Refrigerator. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of cooking (1 hour if the room is above 90°F). Store the chicken and sauce in shallow, airtight containers so they cool quickly, and use within 3 to 4 days. Keep rice in a separate container.

Reheating. Reheat leftovers to 165°F. Warm them in a covered saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring often, or in a covered dish in the microwave, stirring halfway. Add a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much. Don't reheat leftovers in the slow cooker, which heats food too slowly.

Freezing. Freeze the cooled chicken and sauce in freezer containers or bags for up to 3 to 4 months for best quality. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat to 165°F. The sauce may look a little thinner after freezing; simmer it for a minute or two and it will come back together.

Substitutions

Chicken breasts: use the same weight, cut into 1-inch pieces. Cook on HIGH for about 1½ to 2 hours or on LOW for about 2½ to 3 hours, and check early with a thermometer, since breast meat dries out faster.
Bottled orange juice: use 1 cup of 100% orange juice, unsweetened and not from concentrate. Keep the fresh zest if you can; it carries much of the orange flavor.
Brown sugar instead of honey: use ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar and whisk until it dissolves.
Regular soy sauce: use ¼ cup instead of ⅓ cup, then taste the finished sauce and add more only if needed.
Gluten-free: use tamari or a soy sauce labeled gluten-free, and check the labels of your other ingredients.
Ground ginger: if you don't have fresh, use ½ teaspoon ground ginger.

Variations

Spicy orange chicken: whisk ½ to 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes into the sauce before cooking, or stir 1 to 2 tablespoons of chili garlic sauce or sriracha into the sauce after it thickens. Start with the smaller amount; you can add heat but not take it away.
Toasted sesame: stir 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil into the finished sauce for a nutty finish.
With vegetables: steam or stir-fry broccoli florets, snap peas or sliced bell peppers separately and fold them in just before serving, so they stay crisp-tender and bright.