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Easy Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken Thighs

This quick and easy Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken Stir-fry is better than takeout from your favorite joint! The flavor develops in the slow cooker, combining sesame oil with garlic, ginger and more. Using chicken thighs in our stir-fry also helps to keep the cost down for a budget friendly weeknight meal.

Slow cooker chicken thighs are nothing new. In fact, you probably have at least a half a dozen recipes from your childhood that you can avidly remember your mom making for Sunday supper.

What makes our chicken dish better than those of your past is that it is healthier, lower in sodium (no cans of creamy chicken anything here!) and guaranteed to be devoured by even the pickiest eater at your table!

white bowl full of sauced shredded sesame chicken

How do you want it?

The ways to serve this sesame chicken are really endless – but we do have some delicious suggestions for you!

Our favorite way is to enjoy it as a stir-fry served on top a bed of basmati rice and topped with steamed broccoli, red peppers and green onions. This keeps it a healthy dish that will fill your rumbling tummy within minutes of coming home.

You can also choose to serve the cooked, shredded chicken as a sandwich – yep we went there! Simply toast a nice bun (we prefer a Calabrese style) add some slaw and the sesame chicken and voila – dinner in under 10 minutes!

Sesame Chicken Stir-fry in two white bowls with vegetables

Slow Cooker Chicken Deliciousness

Alright, so let’s break down this quick dinner shall we? I mean I SAID it was “healthier” and “lower sodium” but how is that possible you may ask? The answer is so simple – it’s all about the ingredients we use!

We chose to use a low sodium soy sauce for the sesame sauce – while not necessary it does make a HUGE difference in the amount of sodium in the final dish (like the difference of 100’s of mg). And guess what? That is the ONLY time we use “salt” at all for this, no pinch here or dash there.

As for healthier – well that’s easy! There are no processed cans of soup or sauces in this chicken dinner, instead we make a simple homemade sesame sauce by cooking a few basic ingredients with the chicken thighs and then serve with steamed veggies and a little rice.

But don’t worry friends, this slow cooker chicken is NOT lacking in flavor at all!

Be sure to pin this Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry so you have it for later!

Ingredients you will need:

  • 8-10 boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • Sesame oil
  • Brown sugar
  • Rice wine vinegar
  • Soy sauce
  • Sriracha
  • Ground ginger
  • Rice and fresh vegetable for serving

Okay so now that you have your ingredients and are drooling over your screen, let’s go ahead and share this incredibly easy chicken recipe for you to make for dinner tonight!

More Quick Dinner Ideas

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with Sesame Garlic Sauce

Yield: 6 people

Slow Cooker Sesame Garlic Chicken Recipe

Bowl with garlic sesame chicken and steamed broccoli on table

An incredibly easy chicken dish that is cooked in a slow cooker to make weeknight meals quick! Tossed in a sesame garlic sauce and served with rice and steamed vegetables, this chicken recipe is healthy and delicious!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 8 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
  • 6 cloves Garlic, peeled
  • ⅓ c Soy Sauce, Low Sodium
  • 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
  • ⅓ c Rice Wine Vinegar
  • ¼ c Sesame Oil
  • ¼ c Water
  • 2 tbsp Sriracha
  • 1 tsp Ground Ginger
  • 1 tbsp Corn Starch, for thickening sauce

Serve with:

  • Cooked Basmati Rice
  • Steamed Broccoli
  • Thinly sliced Red Peppers
  • Green Onions

Instructions

  1. Begin by whisking the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl; brown sugar, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, water, ginger and sriracha.
  2. Arrange chicken in your slow cooker in a single layer and pour sauce over top along with peeled garlic cloves. Cover and set to low for 6 hours. *You can also cook on high for 2.5-3 hours*
  3. Once finished, remove chicken from the sauce and shred on a plate. Add cornstarch to a small cup with 3 tbsp water (mix well) and pour into pot for thickening your sauce. Set to high and allow to come to a bubble, add chicken back in and mix to coat.
  4. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables, or as a pulled sesame chicken sandwich!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1 cup

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 416Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 183mgSodium: 968mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 39g

*Please note that nutritional values are not always 100% accurate and are to be used as a guide.

Did you make this recipe?

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Mary Ronan

Friday 5th of June 2020

I think you forgot the brown sugar in the recipe above. It is mentioned in the list of "things you will need" before the recipe. Would you please clarify?

oliveblogger

Sunday 7th of June 2020

Hi Mary! Thanks so much for catching that, I guess I was so excited when I wrote the recipe I forgot to include it in the directions (yikes!). You will need to whisk the brown sugar in at the beginning with the sauce - if you had already made it past this point that is OKAY you can simply add the brown sugar to the chicken mixture when it is cooked before you add the cornstarch to thicken.

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