Slow Cooker Chicken and Broccoli
8 Comments Jun 26, 2023
Updated Dec 09, 2023
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Making your own restaurant-style chicken and broccoli just got easier with this slow cooker recipe idea. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are submerged in a homemade sweet and sour sauce made from soy sauce, barbecue sauce, honey, sesame oil, and a variety of seasonings and spices. This is a one-pot meal your family is sure to enjoy.
Create an Asian-inspired meal plan with other slow cooker recipes like my Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken and Mongolian Chicken.
Table of Contents
Why this crockpot chicken and broccoli recipe works
If this is one of your favorite meals to order when eating at a Chinese restaurant, then you’ll love knowing how easy it is to recreate this delicious meal in your own kitchen. You’ll need just a few key ingredients that you can find at any local grocery store and your crock pot.
This meal is versatile and is a great recipe when you are looking to feed a large family or crowd. Keep reading to see just how easy it is to make this your next family dinner.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken Thighs: Bone-in skinless chicken thighs are used for their flavor and they just so happened to be packed with essential nutrients.
- Broccoli: You can purchase a head of broccoli and cut them into florets or purchase a frozen bag of broccoli florets to make it even easier.
- Homemade Sauce: Soy sauce, barbecue sauce, sesame oil, honey, brown sugar, ginger paste, and onion powder are combined to make the yummy tasting sauce.
- Thickening: Combining water and cornstarch is one of the easiest ways to make any sauce thicker.
- Garnish: Green onion and sesame seeds make the perfect garnish for a meal like this.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Combine the sauce ingredients – soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger paste, honey, onion powder, and barbeque sauce – in a large bowl. Give it all a stir.
Step Two – Stir until well combined.
Step Three – Place the chicken into the slow cooker.
Step Four – Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours. In the meantime, make the cornstarch slurry and cook the broccoli.
Step Five – Mix in the slurry and stir. Place the broccoli into the crock pot and continue to cook on HIGH for 1 hour (or until the broccoli has softened).
Step Six – When cooking time is up, serve warm with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. There are also additional serving suggestions below. Enjoy!
How to serve
- This dish is always delicious served with cooked white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, cauliflower rice, or vegetable fried rice.
- If you’re wanting to serve this dish with some sides, try hot and sour soup, mushroom soup, dumplings, or wontons.
- Consider adding a bit of spice with a dash of red pepper.
Recipe FAQs
Keeping in line with Asian cooking, you can add bell peppers and onions.
No. It is never a good idea to try cooking with frozen chicken. Instead, let it defrost completely. Chicken breasts do make a good substitution but make sure they are not frozen.
To thin out the sauce, add a little chicken broth about a tablespoon at a time until it reaches your preferred thickness.
If you can, store them in separate airtight containers and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat refrigerated or thawed chicken and broccoli, transfer it to an oven-safe dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Out of time? You can also use the microwave. Put a portion of chicken and broccoli on a plate and microwave on high in 30-second intervals until heated through.
You most definitely can. Chicken and broccoli freezes surprisingly well. Allow the dish to cool completely before transferring it to a freezer-safe, airtight container. Seal the container and pop it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Read on to learn more about thawing and reheating.
This is an awesome option for a freezer meal. Add the chicken, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger paste, honey, onion powder, and barbeque sauce to a freezer bag. Mix everything together inside the bag to coat the chicken in the sauce. Bag the broccoli separately. Freeze for up to 6 months.
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Slow Cooker Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. chicken thighs, bone-in skinless (about 5)
- 3 cups broccoli florets
Sauce ingredients:
- ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. ginger paste
- 2 tsp. honey
- ½ Tbsp. onion powder
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
For thickening:
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp. water
For serving
- ¼ cup green onion, sliced
- 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, roasted
Instructions
- Combine sauce the ingredients in a large bowl, add the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger paste, honey, onion powder, and barbeque sauce. Give it all a stir.
- Slow cook. Put the chicken in a 6-8 quart crockpot, pour the sauce mixture over the chicken, put the lid on the crockpot and cook on high for 3 hours.
- Add the cornstarch slurry. Whisk together the cornstarch and water and stir it into the contents of the crockpot.
- Stir the broccoli into the crock pot, close the crockpot, and cook on high for 1 hour or until the broccoli has softened.
- Serve warm over rice garnished with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
Sarah’s Notes
You most definitely can. Chicken and broccoli freezes surprisingly well. Allow the dish to cool completely before transferring it to a freezer-safe, airtight container. Seal the container and pop it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Read on to learn more about thawing and reheating. Can I turn this into a freezer meal?
This is an awesome option for a freezer meal. Add the chicken, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger paste, honey, onion powder, and barbeque sauce to a freezer bag. Mix everything together inside the bag to coat the chicken in the sauce. Bag the broccoli separately. Freeze for up to 6 months. How to thaw?
If you chose to freeze this delectable one-pot meal, I suggest allowing it to thaw in the refrigerator before reheating and serving. Remember that it will take about 6 hours to thaw and another 4 hours to cook. I suggest putting it in the refrigerator the night before you plan on serving it for dinner. How do I reheat?
To reheat refrigerated or thawed chicken and broccoli, transfer it to an oven-safe dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Out of time? You can also use the microwave. Put a portion of chicken and broccoli on a plate and microwave on high in 30-second intervals until heated through.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
I’m guessing you meant to have us add the water & cornstarch into the BBQ ingredients mixture first to thicken it up instead of just doing them separately before pouring everything into the crockpot over the thighs? Oh well, I hope this turns out. Ugh!
It will be fine!
Hi, question… the recipe says boneless, but also says bone in. Can you tell me which I should use? Thanks.
Bone-in. Though you can use boneless if you want.
Where do you find ginger paste? Is there an alternative?
It’s in the refrigerated section of the produce section. You can grate your own ginger instead.
You mention to cook the brocoli, do you mean just in boiled water for a few minutes, as it will cook for one hour in the crockpot ?
It gets cooked in the slow cooker, I fixed that.