CrockPot Brown Sugar Chicken Recipe

This is one of the favorite recipes of all time from A Year of Slow Cooking. Sometimes called "candy chicken" -- this has been made and pinned over 35,000 times!

Day 231.

It should be noted that this chicken has been named "Candy Chicken" in our house. I don't think my kids have ever eaten so much chicken in their lives. If you are bored with dried out, boring chicken, you must try this.

You simply must.

Go.

Now.

Go to the store and buy the ingredients.

go.

The Ingredients.
serves 4 to 6


12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)
3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat free are GF)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart crockpot for this recipe.

Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

The Verdict.

Seriously. Go to the store. This is what's for dinner.



I have LITERALLY made THOUSANDS of CrockPot Slow Cooker recipes. Not all of them were successful, but these are the Top Ten Reader Favorites. Enjoy!!

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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at August 18, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. I made this last night - SUPERB!!!! I served it over fluffy white rice with a side of steamed carrots and snow peas. What a delicious recipe!!! My toddler LOVES any chicken that comes out of the crockpot because not only is it always infused with delicious flavour, but it is so tender that she just inhales it! This recipe is going into our rotation for sure!

    I am so excited to have found your blog. Every Monday I go through it and find a few more recipes to try that week! It helps to keep our menus exciting and being a working mom with a one and a half year old, I don't have much time to make dinner. I use my crockpot 3-4 times a week and even though it is sometimes a bit of prep the night before it is worth it to have dinner mostly cooked when we get home from work & daycare. Thanks for the blog!

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  2. I am going to make this tomorrow. Thanks!

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  3. This may sound really stupid, but do you mean white wine vinegar, or plain old white wine(like a Chardonnay)? Thanks so much!

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  4. Oh my yummy! I adapted this to be able to use the ingredients we had and posted a link to your recipe and and my adaptation on my blog: http://jonasanddelice.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/candy-chicken-and-nutella-mountain-bars/! It was amazing!

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  5. I threw this together last night for my lunch for work today and OMG its AMAZING! I didnt have soy sauce, so I used hot sauce (salt is salt? lol) and its super yummy! I had random chicken part in the freezer, so some were thighs, legs, wings, etc. All cooked beautifully! Thank you so much for your wonderful blog. As a single girl in the city its nice to have a place to go to make healthy, yummy food :)

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  6. the3rdtwin8/07/2011

    wanted to let you know i got your webiste and this recipe from a friend. I m a bacheloor new toth slow cooking, but this candy chicken is my favorite dish of all time. i will be subscribing and cooking with you constantly

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  7. This did not work out for us. DBF refused to eat. I used plain vinegar and turbinado sugar. If I were to make again, I would double the soda and half the vinegar - it was not sweet at all and was really vinegary. I would also use white wine vinegar.

    As a side note, I wish people would not post - I am going to make it!! - but rather keep it to useful info for people trying to figure out variations and problems. It took forever to scroll through to try and find some help.

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  8. Does anyone know how this would taste with diet soda and brown sugar splenda or other sugar replacement. My husband is on very low sugar. Thanks!!

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  9. This is super duper yummy! I had legs in the freezer so that's what I threw in but I know it'd be even better with boneless skinless breasts! I can't wait to try it again with maybe slightly less sugar and an extra tsp of (coconut) soy sauce!

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  10. This one didn't work for us as is... It seems like it is trying to be Bourbon Chicken but can't quite get there. It wasn't that it was to sweet for our taste, Bourbon chicken is much sweeter, it just didn't seem to have enough other flavor to counter the sweetness. To it's credit, the chicken was wonderfully moist and it's smelled absolutely DIVINE while cooking!

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  11. Had this tonight...absolutely delicious!
    I used chicken tenders, diet soda, and lite soy sauce, and added baby carrots for the last hour (needs to be longer next time) to make a half batch. I also ate it over acorn squash...a small laddle of the sweet liquid over the whole thing meant I didn't need brown sugar on my squash. :)
    I'm already looking forward to lunch leftovers!

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  12. Despite following this recipe exactly, it burnt. It cooked on low for 8.5 hours. It's still edible but it would be better without the burnt flavor. I'd say cook on low no longer than 7 hours to avoid the problem I had. I probably will not make it again but wanted to let everyone know.

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  13. 28 pages of paper to print this recipe, they must be a better way

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  14. SaraKate9/28/2011

    My kids LOVE this recipe and but last night, I was out of regular white rice. I had some arborio rice, and so made risotto - using a combination of chicken broth and the liquid from the slow cooker. YUM-MY! And way less messy than using the liquid to just pour over the white rice. LOVE IT!

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  15. This has become our party chicken. Here's how I make a ton of it in the 6-quart:
    Layer:
    12 boneless skinless thighs
    8 boneless skinless breasts
    12 boneless skinless thighs
    (it will seem impossibly full, but it's OK, I swear)
    2 cups dark brown sugar
    1-1/3 cup vinegar (I like to use half white wine vinegar and half red wine vinegar, but maybe I am weird)
    5 T dark soy sauce
    6-8 cloves garlic peeled and smushed with the heel of your hand on the counter
    2 t ground black pepper
    1 can Sprite or ginger ale (NOT diet!!)
    After it's all in there, use a butter knife to sort of move the chicken away from the edges to let the sauce run between the layers.

    Serve with basmati rice and broccoli and/or asparagus. (I like the bitterish vegetable against the sweet chicken).

    I cook this on high for about 7 hours. People come specifically for the candy chicken on game nights when I publicize that's what I'm making for dinner!

    I'm a diet-everything and Splenda person, but because I don't drink the sauce, I use the real sugars in this recipe. I tried it with Splenda and Splenda-based soda, and it was NOT as good. I have probably made this a twenty times or more in almost three years, sometimes using pork, Coca-Cola, and Chinese five spice (instead of pepper) instead.

    If we didn't love any other recipes from your site (and we do!) this one alone was a huge gift to my family. xoxo thanks Steph!!

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  16. Did this about a year ago, when my husband was working out of town. My friend thought it was good, but lacked "zing". Gonna try it again this week (since we are getting our first crock pot weather!) and I'm going to substitute ginger ale for the lemon lime and add some crushed ginger to the mix and see how that plays out! I'll let you know!

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  17. Anonymous10/04/2011

    I have to say....two for two! I made the Shepherds Pie and the Brown Sugar Chicken and both were a hit with everyone including the kids : )
    I have tried various recipes over the years in the crockpot but am usually disappointed.
    Your website is great!!! Thank You!!

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  18. I've been trying some of your recipes lately after a friend referred your blog to me. This one is AWESOME! Perfect for families: simple ingredients found at home, easy to make and delicious!

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  19. I have bone in thighs.....how should I modify the cooking time, if at all?

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  20. I need about 12 servings and am wondering how to double the recipe. Haven't used a crock pot very often; have a 5 quart model. Should I just straight-up double the sauce ingredients if I'm doing 24 thighs? 2 cups of brown sugar? Hmmmm....maybe I should use 2 crock pots! Thanks for your blog...

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  21. I made this for my boyfriend. He loves me even more now. :-)

    Next time I'm going to use less brown sugar and more soy sauce, and I need to add more garlic because I'm a garlic-o-holic.

    Thanks for this blog. Just found it not too long ago, and I've tried about 5 recipes so far and all turned out great!

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  22. Made this for my fiance and his response was "It tastes like Thanksgiving!" I take that as a positive.

    I used Mountain Dew for my drink, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Delicious! Probably cut back on the sugar and add more soy sauce next time, but still delicious!

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  23. WOW is all I can say. Absolutely amazing. Just found out my hubby has celiac and your website of crockpot recipes has made this a bit easier on me because otherwise i don't have a clue. I've been researching all I can and have spent countless hours on the computer researching the past few days. I was already a facebook fan of yours because of your crockpot meals, but didn't realize you were gluten free until I read your story. Thanks for doing this. :)

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  24. I read, I made and I conquered!
    This was soo good! Thanks for keeping this busy econ major simply fed.

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  25. I follow orders :) so this was for dinner last night. I used pork chops as I had no chicken. Delish! Thanks for the great blog. I spent HOURS here yesterday exploring. You are amazing!

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  26. Found your website by accident as a result of needing to start cooking from scratch (due to food allergies) and made this chicken. It turned out great. I took some of the extra cooking liquid and reduced it on the stove top (with a pat of butter) to make a nice sauce. Served it with broccoli and rice and everyone loved it!

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  27. i love making this with plain rice and pairing it with oranges. so yummy!

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  28. I made this yesterday and my husband LOVED it, the chicken sort of chunked apart and he ate it on a potato roll. Today I cut up a cold piece and put it over a bowl of spring mix and dressed it with some of the cold sauce as a dressing and it was AMAZING. We will make this again for sure.

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  29. SparkBunny5/23/2012

    The first time i made this, i wasn't thrilled with it. I think it was because i can't do soy very well. If it's too strong of a smell, it turns my stomach. The second time i made it, i used apple cider vinegar and substituted some local honey for the soy sauce. Sooooooo much better! My 3 year old even wanted seconds! My altered recipe just made it into our weekly rotation!

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  30. Oh my, this was a disaster. Not sure what happened as I followed recipe exactly but chicken ended up dry. Sauce was not especially tasty. Maybe the regular vinegar was not the best choice after all. No one will try again, so I will never know. Major disappointment as I had very high hopes. Oh well, I will keep looking!

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  31. Wow, just stumbled upon your blog when I Googled "slow cooker recipes, chicken thighs" lol looks like I'm set for life now! Gonna try this tonight as I have EXACTLY 12 chicken thighs and tons of brown sugar, it was meant to be, thanks!

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  32. Sounds totally Yummy! I am going to try this tomorrow!

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  33. I tried this recipe and didn't really care for the flavor. It was fine once I put barbecue sauce on it. It was really easy to make!

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  34. I have a question about the vinegar. With some crock pot recipes I've tried, the texture of the chicken goes weird with vinegar. Was that the case with this recipe for you?

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  35. Hi Dawna,
    I don't know if it's the vinegar that give chicken that texture you're describing. I think it's when you cook chicken breast pieces for a long time. There is little to no fat in boneless, skinless chicken breast so after it is fully cooked and somewhat "seared" on the outside, it breaks down in the sauce and starts to get that mealy texture.

    if you shred it completely and then stir it up in the sauce, that helps to get moisture back into the meat. But I've found that thighs hold up the best. The dark meat has a bit more fat and has a better mouth-feel after slow cooking all day long.

    I hope this helps a bit! steph

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  36. Thanks, Steph. That does help. :) I've stayed away from chicken recipes with vinegar in them because of one or two experiences, but will make a point to watch how long I cook chicken breasts in the crock pot.

    Thanks for your blog! :)

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  37. I just wanted to note that I've made this before, and it's a *huge* hit! Both with me and my ex-husband!

    I also wanted to say that if you exchange the lemon-lime soda for Mountain Dew, it really elevates it! Something about the flavor of it (probably the tropical 'hint') just makes it that much better. It's absolutely *smashing* that way! I use Canadian, so there is a little caffeine in it, but with only a quarter cup in the whole pot, I think it's a small enough amount not to cause an issue.

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  38. I made this last night and while it was good, for me, it did not rise to the level of description that went along with the recipe. I made no alterations in the recipe other than cutting it in half. I used 2 large chicken breasts which I filleted horizontally. I used a smaller cooker (1.5 qt). I cooked it for 3 hours on high & 2 hours on low. I knew the chicken was done because it broke in pieces as I was removing it from the cooker. With the brown sugar I expected the sauce to have a bit of thickness to it, but the juice was about like water. The breasts were a bit on the dry side so the next time I make this I will use thighs and prepare a cornstarch slurry for the sauce.
    Now for the sequel. Today I made some chicken salad with the left over chicken. It was delicious and quite possibly the best chicken salad I have ever made! So thank you for the recipe.

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