Slow Cooker Orange Chicken - Balancing Motherhood (2024)

This Slow Cooker Orange Chicken recipe is bursting with amazing, sweet, and tangy flavors. Tender pieces of chicken are coated in a mouthwatering orange sauce for an easy and delicious meal the entire family will love.

Easy Orange Chicken Recipe

This recipe for slow-cooker orange chicken is an incredibly flavorful dish that’s perfect for those who love a combination of sweet and savory Asian flavors. Tender bites of chicken tenders are coated with a tangy orange glaze that has just the slightest bit of heat. The delicious chicken is slow-cooked for hours, giving the flavors time to come together and for the pieces of chicken to become juicy and fall apart tender.

One of the best things about this tasty recipe is how easy it is to make. Just sauté the chicken pieces and add them slow cooker with a few ingredients. Set it on low and forget it. There’s no need to spend hours in the kitchen, fussing over complicated steps. Whether you’re cooking a busy weeknight dinner for the whole family or hosting a get-together with friends, crockpot orange chicken is a crowd-pleaser every single time!

If you love Chinese foods, you should also check out Instant Pot Orange Chicken or this Chinese Chicken Salad.

Why We Love This Recipe

• Easy to prepare: Because your slow cooker does most of the cooking for you this is an easy dinner that doesn’t require a lot of hands-on prep work. It’s perfect for busy weeknights.
• Simple ingredients: Unlike some Asian recipes, you can find all of the ingredients for this tangy orange chicken in your local grocery store.
• Family favorite: This dish is so much better than your favorite Chinese takeout because you can easily tailor the ingredients to the tastes of everyone in the family.

Ingredients

• Chicken tenderloins, cut into bite-size pieces
• Cornstarch
• Vegetable oil
• Sweet orange marmalade
• Low-sodium soy sauce
• Rice wine vinegar (or your favorite vinegar)
• Sesame oil
• Ground ginger
• Fresh garlic cloves, minced
• Red pepper flakes
• Sesame seeds, more for garnish
• Scallions (green onions) for garnish

How to Make Delicious Orange Chicken in the Crock Pot

Step One: Prepare the Chicken

• Coat your chicken pieces in corn starch.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then brown the chicken quickly in the pan.

NOTE: You’re not cooking it until done, just until seared well. This is an important step in giving the juicy chicken a little color on each side.

• Place chicken in the slow cooker.

Step Two: Mix the Sauce Ingredients

• In a medium bowl combine the orange marmalade, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds.

Step Three: Add all the Ingredients to the Slow Cooker

• Pour the tangy orange sauce over the chicken and stir everything to combine.

Step Four: Slowly Cook the Chicken

• Cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours.
• Check and stir after about an hour and a half.

NOTE: Slow cookers cook differently so make sure to stir and make sure your slow cooker isn’t running too hot and burning the sticky sauce.

Step Five: Garnish and Serve

• Garnish with scallions and a sprinkle of sesame
• Serve the chicken with some of the flavorful sauce over hot cooked rice and enjoy!

Easy Slow Cooker Orange Chicken Variations

• Chicken: Swap the chicken tenders for cut-up chicken thighs. You can also use pieces of pork shoulder or pork loin.

• Add veggies: Sautéed carrots, green and red peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli florets can be added to make this a complete meal.

• Adjust the spice: Add extra heat to your orange chicken by including additional pepper flakes or some sriracha sauce. You can also omit it altogether if you prefer no heat at all.

• Garnish options: Instead of sesame seeds and green onions, try garnishing your orange chicken with chopped peanuts or fresh cilantro for a different flavor and texture.

What Side Dish Goes with this Slow Cooker Orange Chicken Recipe?

This dish is typically served over a fluffy bed of white rice or brown rice. If you want to add some veggies to the meal you can serve it with a side of broccoli, green beans or cauliflower rice.

What is the Difference between Orange Marmalade and Orange Preserves?

The main differenceis that marmalade contains small pieces of citrus fruits, whereas preserves contain larger pieces of fruits or even whole fruit that’s mixed in with a jelly type of fruit syrup.

More Easy Slow Cooker Recipes

• Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup
• Crockpot Smokies
• Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki
• Crockpot Beef Stew
• Simple Slow Cooker Chili
• Crockpot Meatballs
• Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken