Creamy, sweet and tangy chicken that falls apart and melts in your mouth. Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Chicken is something a little different to cook in your slow cooker and an easy meal that the whole family will love. Perfect served on top of fluffy mashed potato for a hearty and comfort meal, with very little effort.
Just 7 ingredients go in to making this easy honey mustard chicken cooked in the slow cooker. The chicken just falls apart when it is cooked low and slow and the sweetness of the honey and tanginess of the mustard go together perfectly. Less than 5 minute prep time, this is the kind of meal you need when you don't have much time.
If you are looking for some other ways to use chicken in the slow cooker, then why not try our Slow Cooker Chicken Chasseur, Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken, Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas, or Slow Cooker Chicken Casserole?
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Why you will love it
- A delicious way to use chicken - It can be easy to get stuck in a rut with the same old chicken recipes. But this is an easy way to make chicken a bit more exciting.
- Easy - Although there is a little bit of prep to brown the chicken, this is a very easy recipe with minimal ingredients.
- Comforting - There is just something about and honey and mustard sauce that is comforting. Forget the store bought sauce, this is so easy to make and has all those same comforting flavours. Serve it with mashed potato or rice for the ultimate comforting dish.
- Freezable - This freezes really well, so make sure you make extra. Portion it up with some mashed potato and you have yourself a full freezable meal for busy nights.
Ingredients needed
- Chicken - We used boneless and skinless chicken thighs as it keeps this nice and juicy. You could swap it for chicken breasts which would keep this leaner.
- Butter - We like to brown the chicken in a little butter before putting it in the slow cooker, as it adds a lot of flavour, and we like the slight crispy texture on the chicken.
- Stock - This is what makes up most of the sauce. We used vegetable stock, as we like the flavour, but you could use chicken stock. If you are making this for young children then use a low salt stock.
- Honey - The classic flavour in this dish. You will need a runny honey, and try to use the best quality that you can. Remember children under 1 can't have honey.
- Mustard - We used Dijon mustard, as we like the creaminess of it. But you could swap it for English or wholegrain mustard.
- Garlic - We crushed our own garlic, but you could use frozen garlic, or pre-crushed in a tube.
- Creme fraiche - We add a little bit of creme fraiche to thicken up the sauce and makes it nice and creamy.
- Cornflour - This is used to make a slurry at the end to thicken it up.
A full ingredients list with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step by step
One: Put the butter in a large pan and once melted, add the chicken. Brown on both sides.
Two: Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the stock, honey, garlic, Dijon, salt and pepper.
Three: Put the chicken in the slow cooker and pour the honey and mustard sauce over the chicken. Cook on high for 3 hours.
Four: Once cooked, add the crème fraiche and carefully stir, so you don't break up the chicken.
Five: To thicken the sauce, take a ladle of liquid out and put in a cup with the cornflour and mix well. Add the mixture back to the slow cooker and stir. Serve with mashed potatoes.
Variations
Think of this as an easy base that you can adapt in lots of different ways. We love anything that we can add lots of different vegetables to, and this is exactly one of those recipes. You can give this slow cooker honey mustard chicken a green veggie boost by stirring in some spinach about 15 minutes before serving. You could use kale or chard too.
When browning the chicken, you could add some finely diced bell pepper, mushrooms and courgette too. Peas are also a good addition to this dish and they will add some colour too.
Chunks of cauliflower are also good with this, as they kind of disguise themselves amongst the chicken. Once everything is coated in the sauce, you won't really be able to tell the difference.
If you didn't want to serve this with mashed potato, then you could add some cubes of sweet potato or butternut squash directly to the dish to make it more filling.
Serving suggestions
This is total comfort food, which is why it should be served with mashed potatoes. Why not try our Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes or Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes?
You could also serve it with rice or roast potatoes. Check out our Easy Roast Potato recipe to find out how to make the perfect crispy roast potatoes.
Equally, I love serving it with some Garlic Potato Wedges and Grilled Little Gem Salad.
Give this recipe a bit of a nutrient boost by serving it with some vegetables. Some of our favourite veggie packed side dishes to serve this with are Roasted Butternut Squash, Air Fryer Broccoli, Roasted Lemon Asparagus and Broccoli Salad.
FAQs
This is a protein packed dish that has a homemade sauce and nothing processed added. It is quite high in sugar due to the honey, but it is a low fat dish. Add lots of vegetables on the side to make this more nutrient dense.
There are 444 calories in this dish. That is just for the honey mustard chicken, without any side dishes. So if you are mindful of calories, then watch the side dishes, as they can really add up.
There really is no rule here, just make sure that the ingredients you are using can fit in your slow cooker. We use a Crock Pot DuraCeramic Slow Cooker and we love it. What I love most about it is that you can put the bowl insert on the hob too. So, you can brown the chicken on the hob, in the slow cooker bowl. I also love that it has a clear lid, as I am so impatient that I want to keep looking and seeing what it is doing. If you don't have a clear lid, then lifting it to see will release lots of the heat and add to the cooking time.
The chicken should be perfectly cooked in the slow cooker after 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low. However, we always like to use a food thermometer to check. The cooked temperature of chicken is 75°C/165°F. However, if you don't have a food thermometer, then it is best to use your judgement and stick a knife in it. It shouldn't be pink inside.
This is a great batch cook meal, so make extra and keep it in the freezer for those buy nights. Leftovers can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for 2 days.
Yes, once you have let it fully cool, you can transfer it in to a freezable container and then it will keep for 3 months.
Make sure to fully defrost this in the fridge overnight and then you can reheat it in a saucepan over a medium heat until piping hot all the way through. You could also reheat it in the microwave.
If you want a thicker sauce, then you could take the lid off and leave it cooking for 30 minutes. We wouldn't recommending any more cornflour, as it would totally change the flavour.
More slow cooker recipes
If you’ve tried this honey mustard chicken, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
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Recipe
Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2.25 lb) Chicken thighs - boneless and skinless
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 150 ml (0.66 cups) Chicken stock
- 5 tablespoon Honey
- 4 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 Garlic clove - crushed
- 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper
- 6 tablespoon Creme fraiche
- 4 tablespoon Cornflour (corn starch)
Instructions
- Put 1 tablespoon Butter in a large pan and once melted, add 1 kg Chicken thighs. Brown on both sides.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together 150 ml Chicken stock, 5 tablespoon Honey, 2 Garlic clove, 4 tablespoon Dijon mustard and 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper.
- Put the chicken in the slow cooker and pour the honey and mustard sauce over the chicken. Cook on high for 3 hours.
- Once cooked, add 6 tablespoon Creme fraiche and carefully stir, so you don't break up the chicken.
- To thicken the sauce, take a ladle of liquid out and put in a cup with 4 tablespoon Cornflour (corn starch) and mix well. Add the mixture back to the slow cooker and stir.
- Serve with mashed potatoes.
Notes
- You can give this an extra protein boost by adding some quick cook lentils at the same time as the sauce.
- We used chopped fresh chives, but coriander (cilantro) would work well too.
- We kept the chicken whole when serving it up, but you could shred it all and mix it in to the sauce.
- Add a kick of spice to this by sprinkling some red chilli flakes on top before serving.
- You don't have to thicken the sauce with a cornflour slurry, as it does take away some of the flavour, but you might find it too runny without it.
Charlotte
How long would the chicken take to took on a low setting? 5 hours?
Dannii
On low we would cook it for 6-7 hours. Always use a meat thermometer to check chicken is fully cooked.
Heather Johnson
yum - this was so good - i love chicken thighs and honey mustard - my two faves! perfect dish!
Biana
Looks amazing! I like honey and mustard together, so honey mustard chicken is a total winner.
Keri Bevan
I love a good slow cooker recipe. This looks fab!
Elizabeth
This recipe is just easy to make snd the whole family loved it! Will definitely be adding to our weekly rotation!
Lima Ekram
Oh my goodness - this was absolutely delicious - the chicken was so tender and juicy. The whole family loved it!