Just a handful of simple ingredients and you have this amazing Crock-Pot Maple Dijon Chicken. It comes out both sweet and tangy and full of great flavor!
Slow Cooker Maple Dijon Chicken
This recipe for Crock-Pot Maple Dijon Chicken came about because I found a spectacular sale on chicken thighs at my local grocery store at just 60¢ per lb. So I snatched up a couple of packages and came home and started to try and come up with some recipes to use these up.
Now normally our family cooks a lot of boneless skinless chicken breasts and drumsticks are always popular with the kids but I don’t really cook with chicken thighs all that often. I don’t know why when they are rather inexpensive and the meat is moist and tender. In fact I would rather have chicken thighs over drumsticks (less weird tendons and stuff). Maybe it is the whole dark meat is not as healthy as white meat thing or that we have been conditioned as a society to just eat boneless skinless chicken breasts. But whatever the case may be I am putting in a vote for chicken thighs more often.
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Maple Dijon Chicken:
- Gallon Sized Zippered Freezer Bag
- Tongs
- Large Skillet
- Measuring Cups And Spoons
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- 3.5 Quart Casserole Slow Cooker OR 6 Quart Slow Cooker (Or Larger)
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe can easily be adapted to using chicken breasts. Either bone-in or boneless. Skin on or off. What you need to keep in mind with white meat chicken is that it can dry out in the slow cooker if it is cooked too long and there is not enough liquid in a recipe. There is just not much in the way of connective tissue in boneless skinless chicken breasts to melt down and make moist meat. If you can tolerate chicken breasts with the bone and skin you will have a much more flavorful and juicy meat.
I know some folks balk at having to do ANY of the steps in a slow cooker recipe on the stove top and if you want to skip this step you totally can. But first, let me tell you why I opted to dredge in flour and brown instead of just putting the chicken in the slow cooker raw and adding the dijon maple sauce. Because browning the chicken creates a little crust, seals in moisture and flavor and the browning adds a different savory flavor dimension to the dish, more richness or umami if you will.
I strongly suggest you try the browning bit…it isn’t too much extra work and the flavor profile is worth it! But if you insist on no stove top prep for a crock-pot dish then skip the flouring bit and browning bit and just put your chicken in the slow cooker, whip up the sauce and spoon it over and cook per the rest of the directions.
Check out these slow cooker chicken thigh recipes too!
- Crock-Pot Chicken Potato Bake
- Slow Cooker Easy Chicken and Stuffing + Video
- Crock-Pot Teriyaki Chicken
- Slow Cooker-Pot Lemon Chicken
- Crock-Pot Pineapple Verde Chicken + Video
Crock-Pot Maple Dijon Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 8 Whole Chicken Thighs (Bone-In Or Boneless)
- ¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
Maple & Dijon sauce
- 1 Cup Real Maple Syrup
- ¼ Cup Prepared Grainy Dijon Mustard
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh Sage (Roughly Chopped)
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh Rosemary (Roughly Chopped)
Instructions
For The Chicken:
- In a gallon sized zippered plastic bag place the flour, salt and pepper and mix to combine.
- Place 2 chicken thighs at a time in the bag with the flour mixture and zip close the bag. Shake the bag to coat the chicken with the flour. Open bag and remove chicken from the bag, shaking off the excess flour and place chicken on a large platter and set aside.
- In a large skillet on the stove-top heat vegetable oil on medium heat until hot.
- Place 2 to 3 pieces of chicken in the hot oil and cook for about 3 minutes until lightly golden brown. Flip chicken over and cook an additional 3 minutes until lightly browned. The chicken will still be raw inside.
- With a pair of tongs carefully remove the chicken from the frying pan and transfer it to a 3.5-quart casserole slow cooker OR a 5 quart or larger oval or round slow cooker.
- Continue cooking with the rest of the chicken placing the chicken in your slow cooker.
For the Sauce
- In a small bowl mix together the real maple syrup, dijon mustard and fresh herbs.
- Stir to combine and then spoon over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.
Nutrition
I would to try that but it contains maple syrup in it. I can’t stand the taste of maple syrup. I would use sorghum syrup, a classic southern syrup readily available here in Lakeland FL. I will not eat any thing if it contains maple sugar, syrup or flavorings, I just can not stand the taste.
you can just substitute honey….
Wow Julia….Coming from New Hampshire where we make our own REAL Maple Syrup it’s hard to believe you don’t like it.
Just funny to me…that’s all.
Do you think instead of putting in crock could put in a ziploc freeser bag, freeze ?
Hey Claudia, because the recipe as written requires you to partially cook the chicken thighs when you brown them I am hesitant to recommend freezing them in a partially cooked state. However, if you want to skip the whole dredging in flour and browning part and just add the raw chicken and the sauce ingredients to a freezer bag and going from there I think it would work just fine. I have not personally done this so I cannot vouch for the end results but I think it will work.
Thanks for the recipe, should the crock pot be on high, medium or low heat?
Hi Laura, the recipe instructions state “Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.”
Hope that helps!
This recipe was delicious! I tweaked it a little By using more of each ingredient. I also added thyme. Very good!!!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Heather!