This recipe for Crock-Pot Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken is a great family friendly recipe. So easy to toss together & perfect for any busy weeknight!
Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken
Oh my heavens this has got to be one of my favorite recipes to date. My friend good friend Amanda sent me a recipe a few weeks ago for her recipe for Crock-Pot Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken and said I had to give it a try because it was so yum and her kids loved it when she made it for dinner.
I have to admit because I was kind of skeptical. So many recipes for chicken in the slow cooker come out dry. Not all of them, but quite a few.
Not this recipe the chicken was as moist as moist can be and super tasty.
My husband Russ has a thing (more like an obsession) with garlic. He would put it on ice cream if given the chance. So he LOVED this recipe. And the kids…lets just say they don’t always LOVE my recipe creations. We usually have 1 kid who does not like dinner (and that kid would be Parker, my 11 year old who tends to be the pickest eater. He does not like chicken unless it is nuggets and he does not like casseroles). But all the kids gobbled this dish up!
I am definitely putting this one on the “to make again” list.
Give it a try and let me know if you and your family liked it as much as ours did!
Special Diets
Be sure to check out these yummy slow cooker chicken recipes too:
- Crock-Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Copycat) + Video
- Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
- Crock-Pot Pesto Chicken + Video
- Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls
- Crock-Pot Creamy Chicken And Summer Squash
Crock-Pot Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 Whole Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- â…” Cups Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
- ¼ Cup Apple Juice
- 6 – 8 Cloves Garlic (minced)
- 2 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 3 Tablespoons Cold Water
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, vinegar, apple juice, garlic, soy sauce and pepper and then pour over the chicken in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
- Remove chicken from the slow cooker and set aside on a plate.
- Carefully pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer on the stove-top.
- While the liquid is coming to a simmer, combine the cornstarch and cold water in a small cup or bowl to create a slurry.
- Slowly pour the slurry mixture into the simmering sauce in the pan and simmer while stirring until the mixture begins to thicken, about 2 to 3 minutes and forms a glaze.
- Serve chicken with sauce/glaze over top for a delicious meal.
Notes
- Place all ingredients into a 1 gallon size zippered freezer bag OR FoodSaver bag.
- Place bag on flat surface and seal bag closed while pressing out as much excess air as possible OR use your FoodSaver sealing system to vacuum seal the bag closed.
- Label bag with date prepared, name of recipe, ingredients and cooking instructions.
- Lay bag flat in freezer and allow to freeze for several hours. At that point you can stand the bags upright in your freezer if desired.
- Remove freezer meal bag from freezer and place either in refrigerator overnight OR in a clean kitchen sink filled with cool water for several hours just until the freezer meal is partially thawed enough to dump the contents of the bag into the slow cooker.
- Cook according to the recipe directions adding 1 additional hour cooking time (in this case 7 to 9 hours on LOW or 4 to 5 hours on HIGH from the partially thawed state ).
Nutrition
Linked up at: Hun What’s For Dinner, Chef In Training and Pint Sized Baker
This chicken sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
I couldn’t find rice wine vinegar at the stores I went to. Is there a substitute I could try?
Apple cider vinegar would work just fine too.
This looks great. Do the breasts dry out at all?
Chicken breasts can be hard to cook in the slow cooker for sure, but these came out very moist and yummy!
can I use frozen chicken breast?
I don’t see why you could not use frozen chicken breast. However without proper testing I cannot say for sure that it will turn out the same.
My favorite meatloaf recipe…your manly meatloaf is in my crock as we speak but here’s my question on this chicken recipe…I’ve never seen rice WINE vinegar but our stores here do have the seasoned rice vinegar. Is that the same????
Hi Karen, great question!
Seasoned rice vinegar and seasoned rice wine vinegar are the same thing. So you should be good to go!
Another great addition to my rapidly-growing collection from your site. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that, as a garlic lover, I was going crazy having to wait for it to be done with the aroma wafting throughout my home. Thanks again Heidi!!!
LOL I know Karen…my husband goes NUTS when I cook this recipe. He loves garlic more than me I think. LOL
I love all kinds of foods but I am partial to anything sweet. I especially love the combo of brown sugar and soy sauce. This recipe really hit the mark and I absolutely loved it!! It’s in my personal cook book now and can’t wait to make it again! It had a wonderful depth of flavor!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Andrew!
Could you use chicken thighs in place of the chicken breasts?
While this recipe has not been tested using chicken thighs I see no reason why it would not work. If you try it out Mike, be sure to come back and let us all know how it turned out for you!
I totally messed up on this and combined all of the ingredients (including the corn starch) in the crock pot with the chicken. Is that ok or do I need to start over
You probably need to start over. Sorry!
I made this as a freezer meal and it was a big hit with teenagers and my husband! Dumped all the ingredients in a ziplock and threw in some already frozen chicken breasts. Thawed the night before cooking and dumped all together in crockpot. Tasted so great! Shredded into big chunks and served over rice and added sesame seeds on top for a little extra. The food smelled great cooking and two kids asked me if o was making sloppy joes! Interesting!
That’s awesome Missy! This is one of my favorite freezer meals! Just because it is so easy! I am glad you and your family enjoyed it!
This is on my list for tomorrow. Can’t wait to try it. We love garlic! Question: I’ve always heard that when cooking chicken in a crockpot it’s best to use frozen chicken because it cooks so fast. What’s your thought on this?
I have not actually heard of that before Nellie. However I am okay with using either fresh or frozen. When I use frozen chicken I just add about another 45 to 60 minutes to the cooking time.
If I don’t have apple juice could I use applesauce?
Hi Mable, this recipe has not been tested using applesauce instead of apple juice but it may work. If you give it a try please come on back and let us know how it turned out for you!
I’ll bet this would also be great with 4 nice thick pork chops!
Hi Jimmy, I think pork chops would be fantastic too!