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This Crockpot Orange Chicken is easy to make and tastes so much better than take-out! No breading, no frying – just throw a few simple ingredients in your slow cooker and you’ve got a delicious batch of Orange Chicken that will satisfy the whole family!
Serve this slow cooker orange chicken over white or Egg Fried Rice. If you love better than take out recipes you can make at home, you’ll love these other favorites, like Beef and Broccoli and Honey Chicken.
Table of Contents
Easy Orange Chicken in the Slow Cooker
Orange Chicken is definitely a contender when it comes to everyone’s favorite Chinese take-out. Everyone in my family loves it – it’s probably the one take-out food that we can all agree on. A little tangy, a little spicy and a little sweet, Orange Chicken is super crave-worthy and all around delicious!
My crockpot Orange Chicken combines the flavors you love with a healthier way to cook it – no breading and no frying!
Why You’ll Love This Crockpot Orange Chicken Recipe
- It’s healthier than take-out.
- It’s super easy to make right in your slow cooker.
- Just add a side of rice for a complete meal!
How To Make Crockpot Orange Chicken
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
To make this Orange Chicken in your slow cooker:
- Dice up the chicken into 1-inch chunks and season with salt and pepper.
- Add some onions and bell peppers if you like, and cook it all together for about an hour and a half on high or 3 hours on low. The chicken and veggies put out a lot of liquid, so you’ll need to drain that before adding the sauce.
- To make the sauce, combine spicy barbecue sauce, orange marmalade, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and cornstarch. Whisk the sauce together until it’s nice and smooth.
- Pour the sauce into the slow cooker and stir to coat the chicken and veggies, then cover and cook on low for about an hour.
We love orange chicken served on a bed of sticky white rice and garnished with sesame seeds and green onions.
Pro Tips
- For a spicier sauce, add a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
- If the sauce isn’t thick enough, you can add more cornstarch. Spoon out a little of the sauce into a dish and whisk with a teaspoon or more of cornstarch. Stir into the sauce.
More Asian Inspired Recipes
- Honey Lemon Chicken & Green Beans
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl
- Sushi Bowl
- Kung Pao Shrimp
Crockpot Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 small onion
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup spicy barbecue sauce
- 1 cup orange marmalade
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and place into the slow cooker.
- Removes seeds and membranes from bell peppers and cut into bite-sized pieces. Cut onion into bite-sized pieces.
- Add the chicken, vegetables and ½ teaspoon of salt to the slow cooker and cook on low for 2 ½ hours or on high for 1 ½ hours. Drain juices.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together barbecue sauce, orange marmalade, soy sauce, ginger, red pepper flakes, garlic and cornstarch until smooth. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker and stir to coat well. Cover and cook on low for 1 more hour.
- Sauce will seem thin, but will thicken as it stands.
- Serve hot over a bed of rice with veggies on the side.
Question, have you ever cooked it all together from the start in the crockpot? I need to leave for a few hours.
I have not – the juices from the chicken and vegetables would add liquid to the sauce and make it runny.
Anyone use chicken thighs instead of breasts?
For the ginger is that fresh or ground?
Fresh ginger.
How much ginger powder would you use?
I’m assuming you mean in place of the fresh ginger? It’s not exactly the same thing, but you can use 1/4 teaspoon or so.
Hi there! Recipe looks delicious. Do you happen to have instructions on how to make this in an Instant Pot? TIA!
Hi! This is a great recipe for the slow cooker, but it wouldn’t translate perfectly to the instant pot. I’d recommend searching for one specific to the IP (sorry, I don’t have one).
Hi, in the text of the recipe you list Worchestire sauce but I don’t see it in the recipe ingredients. Is it included in the sauce? If so, how much? Thanks
Hi Jessica, no, there is no Worcestershire sauce in the recipe. Looks like it was mistakenly added to the post.
What’s the serving size?
Approx 1 cup.
Can you clarify what “spicy barbeque sauce” is? I’m not sure what to look for!
It will say on the label “spicy bbq sauce.” I usually buy Sweet Baby Rays. If you can’t find spice, use regular sauce and add some red pepper flakes.
Made the Orange Chicken for my family tonight. It was a hit! They loved it…and the best thing, it was pretty hands off. YEAH! Thanks so much for the recipe!
You are so welcome Aubrey! Thanks for stopping by.
Could you use orange juice thickened with corn starch in this recipe? I don’t have orange marmalade and don’t want to run out and grab some, but I have an excess of orange juice. 😀
I’m not sure that would work, but you could try it! I’m all for making the recipe work for you!