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    Bless This Mess > Recipes > Easy Dinners > Chicken

    5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs

    Published: Jan 30, 2023 · Modified: Jan 30, 2023 by Melissa · 173 Comments

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    pin for crock pot chicken legs
    pin for crock pot chicken legs
    pin for crock pot chicken legs
    pin for crock pot chicken legs

    This 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs recipe is flavor-packed and easy to prepare with a few simple ingredients. These chicken legs, made with soy sauce, require almost no effort - dinner is done in 10 minutes!

    cooked chicken legs in a plate

    Easy 5 Ingredient Crockpot Chicken Legs Recipe

    This meal is super simple and a major crowd pleaser, and it all comes together with 10 minutes of prep time, 5 ingredients, and a slow cooker. Slow cooker chicken drumsticks are going to be a super easy kid friendly meal that makes it onto your meal rotation in no time!

    Ingredients:

    • Chicken legs or drumsticks: I love using this cut of meat, it's inexpensive and easy to fine, plus it's fun to eat! You can always use chicken thighs too.
    • Jam or jelly: I like something without seeds like a peach, apricot, apple or other light jam
    • Ketchup: this adds a tomato base to the sauce
    • Soy sauce: this adds so much great salt and flavor to the dish
    • Minced garlic or garlic powder: this is the flavor of the dish

    How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Legs

    1. This is so easy! Just pop the chicken in the slow cooker.
    2. Mix all your sauce ingredients together and pour it over the chicken.
    3. Let it cook! Serve and Enjoy.
    4. Don't waste the sauce, serve it over rice and cooked veggies. It's very flavorful and good to eat!
    slow cookers in a black crock pot with lots of sauce

    Tips and Tricks for Making Slow Cooker Chicken Legs

    • You can add so many things to these crock pot chicken legs! Add a tablespoon or three of Siracha or other favorite hot sauce for some spice, add a teaspoon of Montreal Steak Seasoning for a little bit of smokiness, or throw in some favorite spices like onion powder, cumin, or ginger. It's very flexible and very versatile.
    • You can use all kinds of jams and jellies for this recipe. My favorites are grape, apple, apricot, or peach. They have a nice flavor and sweetness without being too fruity. I normally avoid jams with seeds such as blackberry.
    • The sauce that the cooking chicken creates is delicious. Feel free to serve it over rice. Add a side of steamed veggies and you have yourself a complete meal.
    • I normally plan on two chicken legs per person as a serving size. This is a great recipe for a crowd and scales up and down really nicely.
    • If you like your chicken legs a little crispy on the outside, you can remove them from the slow cooker after they're finished cooking and put them on a rimmed baking sheet. Brush them with additional sauce left in the slow cooker. Broil them in the oven for around 5 minutes until you reach your desired crispiness.
    cooked chicken legs with red sauce on white plate

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What Do You Need to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Legs?

    This recipe to make chicken legs in the slow cooker is a joy because you only need FIVE ingredients: 3-or-so pounds of chicken legs or drumsticks, 1 cup of jam or jelly, ½ cup of ketchup, ⅓ cup of soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons minced garlic.

    How Long Do the Chicken Legs Last?

    If you have leftover chicken legs, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can cut the leftover chicken from the bone and use it in a stir fry and a salad to remix the meal. Store leftover sauce separately in an airtight container for up to 5 days, as well.

    How Can You Customize Slow Cooker Chicken Legs?

    There are PLENTY of ways to make this recipe your own! You can use all kinds of jams and jellies in the recipe, but I particularly like grape, apple, apricot, and peach. They add a really nice flavor without being too fruity or seedy (I usually avoid seedy ones, like blackberry or strawberry).

    You can also add a couple tablespoons of Sriracha or another favorite hot sauce to amp up the spice levels, or throw in some smoky seasonings to make it even richer. It’s super versatile, so add whatever flavors you love!

    You can pair this with just about any sides that you like! It’s pretty rich and so very delicious, so even a nice and simple side salad would go well, or some steamed, rice, or mashed potatoes to soak up that yummy sauce with steamed veggies.

    Storing Leftovers

    Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. These reheat well in the air-fryer or the microwave.

    Bowl of slow cooker chicken legs

    More chicken recipes:

    • The Best Baked Chicken Leg Quarters
    • Chicken Kabobs
    • The Best Baked Chicken Legs
    • One Pot Coconut Chicken and Rice

    If you’ve tried this Slow Cooker Chicken Leg Recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories.

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    Bowl of slow cooker chicken legs

    Slow Cooker Chicken Legs


    ★★★★★

    4.8 from 45 reviews

    • Author: Melissa Griffiths
    • Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
    • Yield: Serves 6-8 1x
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    This 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs recipe is flavor-packed and easy to prepare with a few simple ingredients. These chicken legs, made with soy sauce, require almost no effort - dinner is done in 10 minutes!


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 3 to 3.5 pound chicken legs or drumsticks
    • 1 cup jam or jelly, see notes
    • ½ cup ketchup
    • ⅓ cup soy sauce
    • 2 teaspoons minced garlic (or ½ teaspoon garlic powder)

    Instructions

    1. Place the chicken legs in the bottom of the slow cooker.
    2. In a small bowl add the jam or jelly, ketchup, soy sauce, and garlic. Mix to combine well.
    3. Pour the sauce over the chicken legs.
    4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 5-6 or until the chicken is cooked through.
    5. Enjoy the chicken hot.

    Notes

    • You can use all kinds of jams and jellies for this recipe. My favorites are grape, apple, apricot, or peach. They have a nice flavor and sweetness without being too fruity. I normally avoid jams with seeds such as blackberry.
    • You can add so many things to these chicken legs! Add a tablespoon or three of Siracha or other favorite hot sauce for some spice, add a teaspoon of Montreal Steak Seasoning for a little bit of smokiness, or throw in some favorite spices like onion powder, cumin, or ginger. It's very flexible and very versatile.
    • The sauce that the cooking chicken creates is delicious. Feel free to serve it over rice. Add a side of steamed veggies and you have yourself a complete meal.
    • Prep Time: 5 minutes
    • Cook Time: 4 hours
    • Category: Dinner
    • Method: Slow Cooker
    • Cuisine: American

    Keywords: chicken legs recipe, easy chicken legs recipe, slow cooker chicken recipe, slow cooker chicken legs recipe, easy chicken crockpot recipe, easy chicken dinner recipe, best chicken legs recipe

    Did you make this recipe?

    Tag @blessthismessblog on Instagram and hashtag it #blessthismess

    Other Chicken Leg Recipes You’ll Love

    • Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken Legs
    • 4-Ingredient Honey Mustard Baked Chicken Legs
    • Crispy Panko-Crusted Baked Chicken Legs
    • The Best Baked Chicken Legs
    • 8 Must-Make Recipes for Chicken Legs
    • The Best Oven Baked Chicken Leg Quarters

    A few more recipes you'll love:

    • Slow cooker pork tenderloin: if you like using your slow cooker, you'll love this recipe!
    • How to cook asparagus on the stove top: goes great as a side for the chicken!
    • Deli-Style Broccoli Salad
    pin for crock pot chicken legs

    So many great chicken and slow cooker recipes! I hope you have time to make this one because it's a keeper. You'll love making crock pot chicken drumsticks because they are so easy to make and your whole family will love them too.

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    Melissa is dedicated to helping parents figure out the nightly questions, "What's for Dinner?!" with her no-fuss approach to cooking. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Lorraine M

      March 17, 2023 at 11:20 am

      Is the chicken skin on or off?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        March 18, 2023 at 9:42 am

        Skin on

    2. Rebs

      February 03, 2023 at 12:03 pm

      I’m making this today but I always panic with “walking away” and letting it cook. Do you Stir the sauce or “recover” the chicken as it cooks? Do I need to flip the chicken at all?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        February 04, 2023 at 5:50 pm

        I don't do anything... just let it cook. When it's done I'll remove the chicken and reserve the sauce to serve over rice.

    3. Bob

      December 09, 2022 at 2:24 pm

      Great recipe for people (like me ) who don't really care for chicken legs. I made this with BOTH legs and thighs with plum jam and a touch of Korean Gochujang paste and it came our great! I thickened the remaining liquid with chicken stock and corn starch.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Melissa

        December 09, 2022 at 7:17 pm

        That sounds incredible! Thank you for sharing!

    4. Lina

      September 06, 2022 at 1:18 pm

      Hello Melissa, can you please tell me if I can make this recipe in an electric roasting oven? only because I have to make 18 to 20 chicken drumsticks and I don’t think that amount would fit in a crockpot?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        September 07, 2022 at 12:25 pm

        Yep, I think it would work great!

    5. Dave

      August 21, 2022 at 12:15 pm

      I want to try this, but in the picture, it shows alot of liquid? From the ingredients, that doesn't seem to cover it? Do you add water? I'm new to this slow cooker business!!

      Thanks

      Reply
      • Melissa

        August 27, 2022 at 12:42 pm

        No you won't add water, you'll love it! Give it a go!

      • Bonnie

        January 13, 2023 at 4:50 pm

        I don’t care for dark meat. Can I use boned or bone-in breasts?

      • Melissa

        January 15, 2023 at 10:11 am

        Yep, you'll just have to adjust the cooking time for different larger cuts of meat.

    6. Kenny

      August 04, 2022 at 3:32 pm

      Orange marmalade?

      Reply
      • Melissa

        August 05, 2022 at 7:53 pm

        It's great in it!

    7. Sandra

      August 02, 2022 at 10:58 pm

      I like how simple your recipe is. I am diabetic, so I will have to use sugar free catchup and sugar free apricot jam with the soy sauce and garlic. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

      Reply
      • Melissa

        August 03, 2022 at 8:41 am

        Great adaptations, I hope you love it!

    8. Marga Reardon

      July 04, 2022 at 8:44 am

      I made this last night. Really liked it. Will make it again.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    « Older Comments

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