This easy orange chicken recipe you can make hands-off in a slow cooker ahead of time and enjoy with your family for a weeknight dinner.
If you love Chinese take-out and craving some Panda Express tonight, I have a better option for you that doesn’t require you to go anywhere (or spend lots of money!).
Gina’s Recipe Rundown:
Texture: The chicken becomes incredibly tender and juicy from slow cooking, practically melting in your mouth. The sauce is smooth and glossy, coating each piece with a sticky, flavorful glaze that clings beautifully.
Taste: The taste of Slow Cooker Orange Chicken is a delightful balance of sweet, tangy, and savory flavors.
Ease: With just a few simple steps—like whisking together the sauce and adding it to the slow cooker along with the chicken—you can set it and let it cook hands-free. There’s no need for complicated techniques, making it perfect for busy weeknights or when you want a homemade meal with minimal effort. It’s a foolproof recipe that anyone can master!
Why I love it: The slow cooker makes it so easy—just set it and forget it, and the tender chicken soaks up all the zesty orange goodness. It’s a healthier, homemade alternative to takeout and pairs perfectly with rice or veggies for a complete, satisfying meal.
Grab your crock pot, tonight we will make an American twist on this classic tender chicken with delicious zesty and spiced orange glaze.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Absolutely delicious family favorite and crispy orange chicken with juicy meat inside and sticky sauce on the outside makes it great for busy weeknights.
- Amazing recipe for slow cooker orange chicken that takes 10 minutes of prep time and feeds your entire family. Dump and go, no frying is required!
- A perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and savory flavor. Plus, it is healthier than takeout.
Ingredients Notes
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs. Drumsticks work too, but will take longer to cook.
Sauce
- Fresh orange juice. Grab fresh oranges, first zest them, and then squeeze fresh juice.
- Low-sodium soy sauce. If worried about gluten, opt for gluten-free soy sauce, but note that it may have a normal amount of salt.
- Brown sugar always adds sweetness and caramel flavor. It also helps to make the sauce stick and bring out the Asian notes.
- 1-2 oranges for zest. Make sure to get nice healthy oranges, as organic as possible as skin always soaks up everything.
- White vinegar for added tang and more Asian flavors.
- Minced garlic
- Black pepper
- Ginger powder (ground ginger). If you can buy fresh ginger root, grate it and it will add so much freshness and warmth to the dish.
- Red pepper flakes (chili flakes) optional for added heat
- Slurry: water and cornstarch
Kitchen Equipment
- 6 qt crockpot
- Optional, slow cooker liner for super easy clean-up
- Saucepan
- Medium bowl
- Microplane
- Optional, skillet to brown chicken breasts.
How To Make Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
1: Prep Work
- Cube chicken breasts into 1″ bite-sized pieces, zest oranges, and squeeze juice.
- You don’t have to pre-cook chicken pieces, but you can sear them quickly in some olive oil over medium-high heat to make sure after long hours of cooking you will still have juicy chicken coated in orange sauce and the chicken won’t dry out.
2: Prepare The Sauce Mixture
Combine the orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, orange zest, vinegar, garlic, pepper, ginger, and chili flakes in a small saucepan. Bring all the sauce ingredients to a boil over medium heat.
3: Stir In Cornstarch Slurry
- Once the sauce is boiling, make the slurry by whisking the water and cornstarch together until smooth.
- Whisk the slurry into the sauce to thicken. Once thickened, remove from heat, and set aside.
4: Add Chicken
- Spray the cooker insert with cooking oil. Place the chicken in the bottom of the insert then add the sauce over the top. It is safe to put thawed or raw chicken in a slow cooker.
- Cover and let the chicken cook on high for 4 hours or until the chicken reaches an internal temp of 165ºF.
- Turn off the cooker and let the chicken sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
What To Serve With Crockpot Orange Chicken?
A classic option to serve cooked chicken is over white rice and garnish it with chopped green onions if desired.
Healthier alternatives can be brown rice, coconut rice, cauliflower rice, or veggies like steamed broccoli with bell peppers and green beans. For an Asian-style meal, serve with chow mein noodles.
For a bigger dinner, you can decorate each serving with fresh orange slices and sesame seeds.
Storage
This crockpot orange chicken makes amazing leftovers. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Orange chicken freezes well too. Simply let it cool completely, place it in a freezer-safe bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw overnight and reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
To have more leftovers I suggest doubling the recipe since my original orange chicken and sauce recipe yields only 4 portions.
Substitutions & Variations
- Orange flavor. A go-to ingredient for making orange chicken is actually sweet orange marmalade.
- Add-ons to make a flavorful sauce: sesame oil and sesame seeds, pinches of red pepper flakes, especially slightly toasted, teriyaki sauce (thicker and deeper flavor), tamari, coconut aminos (gluten-free), BBQ sauce, and simple chicken broth.
- You can make it spicy by adjusting the amount of crushed red pepper.
- Vinegar options. You can use regular white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar.
- Make the tangy orange sauce thicker with a little corn starch slurry.
- Serve this delicious orange chicken with a side of broccoli and some brown or white rice.
Expert Tips To Make The Best Recipe For Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Make extra sauce to pour it over the rice. Finger-licking good. If it is too thin, you can also strain it to make it thicker.
- To evenly coat the chicken breasts with seasonings, you can load them all in a zip-lock bag and toss them quickly.
- The easy sign of chicken breasts being done is its internal temperature – aim for 165 F.
- In my crockpot orange chicken recipe, you add chicken last. But it is possible to first cook chicken pieces in the slow cooker for 1.5 hrs and then add the remaining ingredients.
- Instant pot comes in handy if you need to save time making crockpot meals. Cook chicken on manual for 6-7 minutes, then cook sticky orange sauce on saute function until simmers. Combine, garnish, and serve.
- If cooking orange chicken on high, check halfway to make sure the chicken is not burning at the bottom.
- This can also be made on the stove top in a large skillet or saucepan in just a few easy steps.
If you love this Chinese food dinner recipe, you’re going to love these Chinese restaurant favorites too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Chinese Food Options
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Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts large, boneless, skinless – diced into 1” pieces
Sauce
- ¾ cup orange juice fresh
- 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsps. brown sugar
- 1-2 oranges for zest
- 1½ tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
chili flakes optional for added heat
Slurry
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Combine the orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, orange zest, vinegar, garlic, pepper, ginger, and chili flakes in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Once the sauce is boiling, make the slurry by whisking the water and cornstarch together until smooth.
- Whisk the slurry into the sauce to thicken. Once thickened, remove from heat, and set aside.
- Spray the cooker insert with cooking oil. Place the chicken in the bottom of the insert then add the sauce over the top.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or until the chicken reaches an internal temp of 165ºF.
- Turn off the cooker and let the chicken sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
- Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions if desired
Equipment
- slow cooker
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Created by Gina Kleinworth
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