Slow Cooker Orange Chicken (Gluten Free, Paleo, AIP)
Thank you, Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own.
This slow cooker orange chicken tastes just as good as what you’d find in a restaurant! It’s easily made in the slow cooker, and is paleo, gluten-free, AIP, and all around healthier!
Growing up, I was always the teriyaki chicken lover in the family. That’s why I made my slow cooker teriyaki chicken, and why it remains one of my favorite ways to eat chicken. While I was eating teriyaki chicken to my heart’s content, it was my younger brother who was the orange chicken fan. He probably ate his weight in orange chicken once every quarter when we were kids. I don’t remember my mom ever making it at home, but I remember the takeout!
It’s no secret that takeout leaves a lot to be desired. Not only can it be a hit or miss flavor-wise, but very rarely is it actually healthy. Takeout or restaurant orange chicken is loaded with soy, gluten, MSG, sugar, and just isn’t exactly health promoting.
This slow cooker orange chicken is made with all real ingredients and is made quickly in the slow cooker, so you won’t even miss takeout!
Why I love this Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
It’s so easy to make
Just add everything to the slow cooker, set it, and forget it!
It’s great for weeknights
I made this in the slow cooker in two hours, so it’s perfect to start to make right when you come home from work and have a fresh dinner in two hours with minimal work!
It’s made with all real ingredients
Chicken, fresh orange juice, honey, and other real food ingredients. Orange chicken from restaurants is loaded with junk, and most homemade versions are made with sugary orange marmalade… not this one!
The Ingredients You’ll Need For This Cooker Orange Chicken
Chicken breast
Fresh orange juice
I don’t recommend orange juice from concentrate from the store. You can either get fresh orange juice from health food stores or make your own. All you need is 1/4 cup!
Honey
This gives the dish that sticky and delicious consistency!
Coconut aminos
This is the swap for soy sauce that makes this recipe soy and gluten-free.
Arrowroot starch
I use Bob’s Red Mill arrowroot starch, which is one of my secret ingredients for making sauces without the junk! It thickens just like cornstarch, but it’s grain free paleo, and AIP friendly.
I use arrowroot starch in baked goods, sauces, soups, and for crisping up proteins. It’s one of those ingredients that I never let myself run out of and always find myself using regularly.
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 4-5 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast, cut into cubes
- 3 tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Arrowroot Starch
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (optional for color)
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP)
- Green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Add the coconut oil to the slow cooker and set to high.
- Stir in the chicken and arrowroot starch and stir to evenly coat the chicken pieces.
- Stir in the coconut aminos, honey, orange juice, salt, pepper and ginger and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Cook on high for 2 hours or low for about 4 hours. Check towards the end that the chicken has reached 165 F internal temperature. Turn off the slow cooker once the chicken is cooked.
- Mix the chicken well with the sauce and top with green onion. Serve with steamed broccoli, cauliflower rice, or bok choy.
Notes
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 120
- Category: slow cooker
- Method: slow cooker
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 304
- Fat: 9g
- Carbohydrates: 24g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 30.8g
AIP
Low Carb
Paleo
Whole30
Looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it!!! Would this recipe work using an instant pot?
You could probably set it to the poultry setting. I haven’t tried it but let me know if you do 🙂
Looks delicious. How would you modify if you wanted to make it in an instant pot? Thanks!!
You could probably set it to the poultry setting. I haven’t tried it but let me know if you do 🙂
Any ideas on Instant Pot conversion for cooking time?
You could probably set it to the poultry setting. I haven’t tried it but let me know if you do 🙂
Can youu please tell me , what are coconut aminos.
DIANA
Coconut aminos is a soy and gluten free substitute for soy sauce 🙂
Use the slow cooker setting on the instant pot
Would this work with sugar instead of honey? My nephew can’t have honey?
You can use coconut sugar 🙂
This looks fabulous. could you admit the honey or substitute it for something to make this whole30 approved?
It would be less sticky without the honey but you can try to leave it out and just add a bit more orange juice 🙂
This recipe looks super yummy! I can’t wait to try it in my slow coooker. I don’t have arrowroot, can I use instead tapioca starch?
I can’t wait to try this recipe over the weekend. Would tapioca starch work instead of arrowroot?
★★★★★
Tapioca gets kind of gummy in recipes like this. I would still opt for arrowroot 🙂
The flavor of this recipe was really good!
However my “sauce” wasn’t very saucey. It ended up being almost gummy. I did use cornstarch instead of arrowroot (I couldn’t find it at my grocery store).
And my coconut oil was in a solid state.
Would you say either of these could be the culprit?
Like I said, flavor was great! Even after scraped the gummy stuff off, the chicken still had plenty of flavor!
Sorry that happened, AJ! I haven’t cooked with cornstarch in years, so it may have been that the amounts don’t swap 1:1 very well. If that ever happens, you can add some chicken stock to the sauce to thin it out a bit 🙂
Looks so good! Can you tell me if you use fresh ginger or ground ginger?
Hi Christine! Thank you! I used ground but you can experiment with fresh too:)
Love this recipe, Make it often! The flavor is divine and pairs well with roasted broccoli
★★★★★
Thank you so much Sarah!!
This recipe was awesome! I was skeptical that the sauce would really thicken in the crockpot because it seems so liquid-y when you initially start it. To my surprise, it thickened to the perfect consistency- reminiscent of takeout orange chicken without the nasty ingredients, stomach ache, and the guilt! Next time, I think I’ll add some orange zest and maybe a Tbsp of vinegar for a little extra brightness/tang, but otherwise it was delicious and will definitely be in regular rotation at our house. Thanks Michelle!
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Sara!! Those sound like awesome additions 🙂
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Is there a substitute for the coconut oil and aminos. My daughter is allergic to coconut and my son wheat. I do have a gluten free soy sauce, can I use that instead of the aminos and veg oil instead of coconut oil?
If you can tolerate GF soy sauce that’s a great sub 🙂
I was planning to do this for our large beach vacation. Have you tried making it and the freezing (so I can trasport)?
I haven’t but it should probably work! Check this out too!
SO Delicious and easy! I would not order Orange Chicken at a restaurant – just not my choice because of all the junk restaurants use, but this recipe sounded like something my family would like and I wanted to try something different. We ALL loved it!!
★★★★★
This turned out so good!! So easy- the hubby’s FAVORITE is orange chicken and he loved it! 🙂 win!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!! So glad it’s a hit!!
This looks so good! If I wanted to double the recipe, would I need to make any changes at all? Thanks!
You should just be able to double all the ingredients! Enjoy 🙂
I made this for dinner but in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes. It was excellent and we will be making it again! Served with rice and steamed veggies!
★★★★
Delicious and super easy! Love this included ingredients we already have around. 10/10 everyone loved this recipe.
★★★★★
Could you use chicken thighs instead of breast?
This was so good. I didn’t have coconut oil so i replaced with olive oil. I replaced the onion powder with a half of a chopped sweet onion and it was amazing.
So glad you enjoyed!!
Soo good! My favorite AIP meal so far!
★★★★★