Juicy and tender chicken, crunchy coleslaw and a delicious sweet savory sauce make these sliders finger-licking good!
Experimenting with American-Chinese food became my new hobby after moving to the US. At first I was a bit resistant to the idea of trying out “Chinese dishes” that I’d never heard of in China, Mongolian beef or orange chicken for example. When I started to cook them in my kitchen, I finally understood why they are so popular – because these dishes are absolutely delicious!
Today I want to share my latest kitchen adventure with you — a slow cooker adapted honey garlic chicken served in sliders with coleslaw.
I came across this recipe in The Asian Slow Cooker by Kelly Kwok. Kelly is the talented lady behind the food blog Life Made Sweeter. She shares easy dinner ideas that are very practical to make on weekdays, including slow cooker dishes, one-pot meals, and sheet pan recipes.
Since I’m still new to slow cookers, her latest slow cooker book became of my favorite sources to get inspired.
The slow cooker honey garlic chicken sliders caught my eye when I flipped through the book the first time. I’ll let you in on a secret: I had previously never had honey garlic chicken before. But the recipe sounded so delicious and the picture had my mouth watering, so I decided to give it a go.
Preparing the slow cooker is super easy. All you need to do is mix the sauce and pour it over the chicken. Then you can mix the coleslaw while the chicken is cooking, which takes 3 to 5 hours. But if you are out for work and need to serve the dish a few hours later, it works out even better; the chicken will absorb more flavors in the broth and become even more heavenly.
Not only is this a perfect dish for your weekday dinner, it’s also a great party dish or a snack for game day. You can easily prepare everything ahead of time and assemble super fast. For a family dinner, I prefer to serve it the components separately, because assembling the sliders is a part of fun as well!
The Asian Slow Cooker Book Giveaway
Today I’m happy to announce that I’m giving away two copies of The Asian Slow Cooker cookbooks to two lucky winners!
The cookbook includes various Asian dishes, from noodles to stir fries. These simple and delicious recipes will have your favorite Asian dishes waiting for you right when you get home. There are chapters such as One Pot Dinner, 5-ingredients or Less, and Meatless Mondays, that allow you to have fast, delicious meals every day of the week the easy way.
Go to this page and enter for a chance to win!
Cooking notes
- You can use any variety of cuts to make this dish, for example, chicken thigh or breast, bone-in or boneless.
- Experiment with your slow cooker to find the perfect time setting. According to American Test Kitchen, chicken meat only suits low settings. Chicken boneless pieces will take as short as 3 hours to cook through, so be careful not to overcook and you’ll achieve the succulence you’re looking for.
- If you are in a hurry, toss the shredded chicken in the cooking liquid before assembling.
- Do thicken the sauce if you have an extra 5 minutes. It makes a flavorful and scrumptious sauce that’ll make your sliders completely irresistible.
- Use a julienne peeler to shred the carrots and cucumber for fuss-free cutting.
More recipes for game day
- Cheesy Shrimp Baked Spring Rolls
- Oven Fried Chicken Wings with Korean BBQ Sauce
- Honey Soy Chicken Wings
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
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Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Sliders
5 from 5 votes
This recipe is slightly adapted from the Honey Garlic Chicken Sliders from The Asian Slow Cooker by Kelly Kwok.
Author: Maggie Zhu
Course: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours hours
Total Time: 3 hours hours 5 minutes minutes
Servings: 6 sliders
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Ingredients
Slow cooker
- 1 1/2 to 2 lbs (700 to 900 g) chicken thighs , or breasts (skinless, bone-in or boneless)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce (or homemade hoisin sauce)
- 3 tablespoons homemade Thai sweet chili sauce (or store bought sauce)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 medium onion , minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (Optional)
Coleslaw
- 1/2 cup green cabbage , shredded
- 1/2 cup red cabbage , shredded
- 1/2 cup cucumber , shredded
- 1/4 cup carrot , thinly shredded
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Serve
- 6 slider buns (or butter dinner rolls)
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
- Sriracha (Optional)
- Sesame seeds for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
Place the chicken into the slow cooker. Arrange the chicken so there is minimum or no overlapping.
Combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, honey, garlic, and onion in a bowl. Stir to mix well, and pour evenly over the chicken.
Cook on low. For bone-in breast and thighs, cook for 4 to 5 hours. For boneless breast and thighs, cook for 3 to 4 hours. Once the chicken is done, you can leave it in the cooking liquid before serving, so it will further absorb the flavors.
When you’re ready to serve, transfer chicken to a cutting board and shred into thin strips using two forks.
(Optional) To make the sliders even tastier, you can use cornstarch to thicken the sauce to create a gravy. Drain the cooking liquid over a fine mesh into a small saucepan and discard the solid pieces. Cook until brought to a gentle simmer. Turn to low heat. Mix cornstarch with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl until completely dissolved. Pour into the sauce and stir immediately to mix well. If the sauce is still not thick enough, you can add a bit more cornstarch slurry until it reaches desired thickness. Remove it from the stove and cover to keep warm.
While the chicken is cooking, combine all the ingredients for the coleslaw in a big bowl and mix well. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
To assemble the sliders, add a handful of shredded chicken onto the slider bun, top with slaw, drizzle with a spoonful of sauce, garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds (if using). Enjoy!
Did You Make This Recipe?Don't forget the last step! Leave a comment below, and tag me @OmnivoresCookbook and #OmnivoresCookbook on Instagram!
