Slow Cooker Sweet Chili Chicken

Fall apart tender, juicy, and loaded with flavor, this slow cooker sweet chili chicken requires just 6 ingredients! Perfect to use in quesadillas, rice bowls, tacos and more.

One of my favorite ways to get a head start on dinner is to cook a big batch of protein in the slow cooker, then use it up in multiple meals through the week! Like my slow cooker honey lime chicken recipe, this slow cooker sweet chili chicken makes a great base recipe to use up in different meals.

Meal prep gets a lot easier when one recipe can turn into several different meals. This slow cooker sweet chili chicken takes less than 15 minutes of hands on work and uses just 5 ingredients, keeping both the shopping list and cost down.

The slow cooker does the work while the chicken becomes tender and flavorful in a sweet and savory Asian inspired sauce. Make a batch and use it for rice bowls, wraps, tacos, salads or whatever you have planned for the week.

You can swap in other proteins, making this an easy base recipe to keep in your back pocket when you want simple, affordable meal prep.

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Ingredient notes

• Chicken breasts: I've used boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe; you can swap for an equal weight of boneless skinless chicken thighs, increasing the cook time to 4-5 hours on low
• Sweet chili sauce: found in the Asian food aisles of most grocery stores, sweet chili sauce is sweet and slightly tangy, but not very spicy.
• Soy sauce: I prefer using reduced sodium soy sauce, as I find regular to be too salty. Swap for tamari, coconut aminos, or liquid soy seasoning if preferred.
• Cornstarch: helps thicken the sauce at the end of the cook time; swap for arrowroot starch if desired.

More slow cooker chicken recipes

• Crock Pot Salsa Chicken
• Crock Pot Whole Chicken
• Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas
• Sticky Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
• Tuscan Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
• 7 No Sautee Slow Cooker Recipes

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Slow Cooker Sweet Chili Chicken

5 from 33 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 3 hours hrs

Total Time: 3 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

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Fall apart tender, juicy, and loaded with flavor, this slow cooker sweet chili chicken requires just 6 ingredients! Perfect to use in quesadillas, rice bowls, tacos and more.

8

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts see note 1
• ▢ ½ cup sweet chili sauce (I used sugar free to make this low carb)
• ▢ 1 cup chicken stock
• ▢ ¼ cup soy sauce see note 2

After Cooking:

• ▢ ¼ cup water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Garnish:

Instructions 

• Stir together the sweet chili sauce, chicken stock, and soy sauce in the insert of a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
• Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cook on low for 3 hours.
• 30 minutes before serving, stir together the water & cornstarch. Add to the slow cooker and stir. Do this quickly and get the lid back on as soon as possible.
• Turn the slow cooker to high and cook for 20-30 minutes until slightly thickened (keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn).
• Pull the chicken out of the slow cooker and shred using two forks.
• Pour as much sauce as you'd like over the shredded chicken (I used just over half), and stir to coat.

Tips:

1- This is roughly 4 large chicken breasts; swap with boneless skinless chicken thighs and increase the cook time by 1 hour.

2- I recommend using reduced sodium soy sauce. You may swap for coconut aminos, tamari or liquid soy seasoning to make it gluten-free.

Storage

Cool completely, then store in an air tight container in the fridge (4 days) or the freezer (3 months).

Reheating

Heat in a frying pan over medium heat, using tongs to stir and flip the chicken until it is heated through evenly.

Crockpot Freezer Meal

This recipe works to assemble ahead and freeze (before cooking) as a crockpot freezer meal. 

1. Assemble the boneless skinless chicken breasts plus all remaining ingredients (except for the cornstarch and water) in a gallon-sized freezer bag, reusable silicone bag, or meal prep container.
2. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
3. Freeze flat for up to 3 months.
4. Thaw completely, then cook as directed above.

*G. Hughes makes a sugar free sweet chili sauce. 

Nutrition Information

Serving: 4ounces + sauce, Calories: 150kcal, Carbohydrates: 2.6g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 415mg, Sugar: 0.4g

Author: Annie Holmes

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Thai

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Annie

Hi, I'm Annie. With a Bachelor of Science degree, a minor in nutrition and nearly 20 year of both classical training, and self-taught experience, I've spent my career proving that home cooking can be practical, delicious and inspiring. What started in 2013 as one food blog has grown into a full-time business. Today, my husband Clayton and I run five food websites that connect with millions of home cooks every month.

When I'm not in the kitchen or behind the camera, I'm using fueling my love of travel, or chasing down new ideas that keep food fun and fresh.