This website may contain affiliate links and advertising so that we can provide recipes to you. Read my disclosure policy.
This delicious and tangy orange chicken is made right in your slow cooker and is better than takeout. It’s coated in an irresistible sauce that will keep your family asking for this at least once a week!
If you love delicious homemade food that actually tastes better than takeout. You should make this into a meal and add in some sides like this Easy Fried Rice, these delicious Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and these Air Fryer Cream Cheese Wontons!
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken Recipe
Orange chicken is one of my family’s all-time favorite foods. It has just the right blend of flavors that combine tangy and sweet. And if you want to really make this the best, then you cook it in the slow cooker! This gives the chicken a change to really absorb the flavors making it taste so delicious when you are ready to eat it at dinner time! It tastes like its from a restaurant!
This crockpot orange chicken recipe is so easy and delicious, and it only takes about 15 minutes of prep time. Then you can pop it in your slow cooker and let it cook all day, and you will have an insanely delicious meal to eat at the end of the day! We love eating it with some delicious fried rice or some chow mein! It’s a recipe that will become a staple, and you will definitely want it on your regular dinner rotation!
Ingredients in Orange Chicken
This slow cooker orange chicken is simple to make. You will love the flavor combination and the orange marmalade really brings out that citrusy flavor that we all know and love! Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all of the exact measurements.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: Cut these into cubes that are similar in size so that they cook evenly.
- Cornstarch: This helps to coat the chicken so that you end up with that deliciously crispy outside.
- Vegetable Oil: The oil is what you will cook the chicken in before placing it in the crockpot.
- Rice Wine Vinegar: This adds a tangy flavor to the sauce.
- Soy Sauce: This adds a delicious salty flavor that goes well with the other ingredients.
- Sesame Oil: Sesame oile brings in that traditional Asian flavor. If you don’t have any on hand, you can use olive oil instead. It will just have less flavor in the dish!
- Sweet Orange Marmalade: In order to get that classic orange chicken flavor, this marmalade is a must!
- Brown Sugar: This adds a sweetness to the dish and brings all of the flavors together.
- Salt and Pepper: These will enhance all of the ingredients in the orange chicken!
How to Make Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
This recipe is a breeze to make, only uses a few simple ingredients, and is insanely delicious! I love how tender the chicken is on the inside. It’s cooked to perfection with a crispy outside edge that is drenched in the sauce!
- Make Sauce: In a small bowl, mix the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, marmalade, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Coat and Brown the Chicken: In a ziplock bag, add the cornstarch and chicken. Shake to coat. Pour vegetable oil into the skillet and brown the sides of the covered chicken. The chicken doesn’t need to be fully cooked. It will finish cooking in the slow cooker.
- Add Chicken and Sauce to Crockpot: After the chicken is done cooking, add it to the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with the sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.
- Cook: Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
Pro Tips for Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Extra Sauce: If you have extra sauce in your slow cooker, then you can dish that out and add it to any veggies or rice and really soak in that deliciously tangy flavor!
- Easy Clean Up: To make clean-up a cinch, go ahead and use a slow cooker liner for cooking this in. Then, you can just remove it, and your cleanup is all done!
- Garnish: Garnish your finished dish by adding some sesame seeds and chopped green onions. It gives it a professional look!
How to Store Leftovers
This slow cooker orange chicken tastes great the next day for lunch or dinner! Heat it up and make yourself a rice bowl, add it to a stir fry or eat it plain!
- In the Refrigerator: Once your chicken has cooled, then you can store any leftovers in an airtight container. Place it in your fridge, and it will last for 4-5 days.
- To Reheat: You can reheat any leftover orange chicken on your stove or in the microwave!
More Asian Chicken Recipes
If you loved this orange chicken then you have got to try a few more of my Asian chicken recipes! There are so many varieties that have delicious sauces, crispy outsides and go with yummy fried rice!
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 boneless chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3/4 cup orange marmalade
- 3 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pinch of pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, marmalade, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- In a ziplock bag, add the cornstarch and chicken. Shake to coat. Pour vegetable oil into the skillet and brown the sides of the covered chicken. The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it is going in the crockpot.
- After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crockpot. Then cover the chicken with the sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.
- Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
When cooking chicken in the pan first can I also dip the pieces in egg before browning?
I have tried it this way but I feel like the breading got a bit soggy with the egg while in the slow cooker.
Ugh. I hate to alter recipes but the store literally had every kind of oil but sesame. Do you think I could use olive oil instead??
you could use olive oil, but i would probably use a more neutral one like canola.
The sesame oil is often in the asian foods section of the store rather than with the other oils
What does t or T mean?
Teaspoon or tablespoon?
Tablespoon. 🙂
standard recipe abbreviations are T=Tablespoon; t = teaspoon.
When you say t or T in recipe is it tablespoon or teaspoon??? Don’t know why others aren’t asking. It cd make a difference!!
It means Tablespoon! Sorry I will have to fix that. 🙂
I’m hoping to try this recipe tomorrow. I was wondering if you use roasted sesame oil or just the regular light coloured one?
Thanks 🙂
I just used regular sesame oil.
I’m hoping to try this recipe tomorrow! I was wondering if high use toasted sesame oil or the regular light coloured one?
Thanks 🙂
Regular sesame oil.
First of all – ONE STAR!!!!!!! – IF YOU TRY TO RATE THIS RECIPE, IT WILL -NOT- ALLOW ANYTHING LESS THAN 5…SCAM!!!!!!
I Followed the instructions to a tee. First of all, the picture this lady used for this recipe doesnt resemble the actual, true product at all…its a copy and paste. 2nd of all, the cornstarch doesnt create a “breaded coating” and if you actually KNOW how to cook, you woudnt claim that. But, humorously, I still didnt deviate. The end result, is basic, pan fried chicken, with a soppy, non-stick orange “glaze”. Thanks, Alyssa. I just wasted over $10, and looks like Ill be ordering pizza…
PS: Im a pitmaster, and have been cooking fairly complex dishes for 2 decades. Just an FYI to the other recipe-goers.
Dee I am sorry it didn’t turn out for you. But other people have been commenting saying that the recipe is delicious and better than takeout. So something had to go wrong on your end. The picture that I used is the exact same recipe. I would never just copy and paste and make and photograph every single recipe that goes onto my blog.
PS I added a clove of crushed garlic & 1/2 tsp of ground ginger to the sauce.
I made this Orange Chicken recipe today & while it tastes absolutely beautiful I found that it was almost burnt after 3 hours on low in the slow cooker. Luckily I saved it just in time, with only a couple of bits starting to burn. My cooker does seem to be fairly hot compared the slow cookers of old so perhaps that was the reason. I would advise keeping an eye on things the first time you try this recipe just in case. Apart from all that it’s going to be a keeper & I can see myself making this gorgeous dish quite frequently.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious! Way better than takeout and so simple to make. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!
I have this cooking right now but when I
read the comments, people talk about ketchup and orange concentrate and non of these are an ingredient in this. Really confused?….
I agree was gonna make this tonight for supper but like you there are no ketchup or ornge juice concetrate listed …what the heck….so far i have seen any reply from the blogger
I just discovered this recipe, and it’s currently sitting in my slow cooker. Can’t wait to try it! However, when I tried to mix the raw chicken and cornstarch in a ziplock bag, the chicken ended up clumping together and the cornstarch wasn’t evenly distributed. Should I have washed and dried the chicken before this step? It was difficult to brown in the pan because they were stuck together as well. Thanks!
hi, it seems the recipe ingredients above are different from comments I’ve seen. The above recipe does not mention anything about orange concentrate nor ketchup. Have some ingredients been omitted on this page?
Yes. I just updated the recipe a couple of weeks ago and adjusted it according to the comments. 🙂
Thank you. I was wondering the same thing.
I was wondering if my eye sight was bad because I didn’t find orange juice concentrate nor did i see ketchup? Thanks
I don’t see ketchup or juice concentrate, are we seeing the same recipe?
Does it has to be concentrate? Can I use fresh orange juice?
Hi Thanks for this recipe. Can’t wait to try it. However I was wondering what I could use if I couldn’t find orange juice concentrate. We are craving some ‘American’ style Chinese food. Thanks
I cut the orange juice concentrate in half for this recipe like other suggested and it was still too sweet. It literally tasted like orange juice concentrate. I added a few cloves of garlic, some ginger, soy sauce and honey like others suggested on the original recipe but the orange flavor still dominated this dish. I added some red and green peppers in the dish for color and so I didn’t have to make a veggie with it. Would not make this again.