Korean Slow Cooker Gochujang Chicken

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Make this flavorful Korean inspired slow cooker gochujang chicken with just 10 ingredients and enjoy it with rice, on tostadas, or for tacos!

If you’re a fan of sweet and savory Asian flavors and easy slow cooker chicken recipes, you’re going to love this Korean inspired slow cooker gochujang chicken! Made with just 10 ingredients, this shredded chicken packs a flavorful punch. You can serve it with rice and veggies, use it for tostadas or tacos, or put it on a sandwich – the possibilities are endless.

Inspired by our crockpot chicken tinga recipe, we first made this Korean style gochujang chicken for spicy Asian tostadas and tacos. Korean-Mexican fusion is becoming more and more popular these days, and it’s one of our favorite unique mashups! If you haven’t hopped on this trend yet, you’re going to want to make this chicken recipe.

What This Recipe Entails

To make crockpot Korean gochujang chicken, you’ll need to prepare the ingredients, add them to the slow cooker, let it cook, and then shred the chicken before returning it to the sauce.

• Prep time: 10 to 15 minutes
• Cook time: approximately 4 hours
• Resting time: 15 to 30 minutes

We recommend letting the shredded chicken rest back in the crockpot for at least 15 to 30 minutes, on the warm setting, to let it soak up the extra sauce. You don’t have to do this step if you want to serve it right away, but we think it helps impart even more flavor into the chicken.

Slow Cooker Korean Gochujang Chicken Ingredients

You’ll need 10 simple ingredients to make our Korean Mexican fusion inspired chicken recipe:

• Vegetable oil
• Chicken breast
• Crushed tomatoes
• Yellow onion
• Light brown sugar
• Gochujang
• Soy sauce
• Rice vinegar
• Garlic
• Ginger

If you’ve never used gochujang before, you can find it in any Asian market or the international aisle of your grocery store. It’s also available on Amazon here! This thick chili paste usually comes in a red tub.

We love slow cooker recipes for their simplicity – so make this recipe easy on yourself and use store-bought minced garlic and minced ginger instead of fresh ingredients. You won’t notice much of a difference in flavor. 

But of course, if you want to go through the effort of mincing these ingredients fresh, you absolutely should! It’s totally up to you.

How To Make Slow Cooker Korean Chicken Breast

Making Korean crockpot chicken breast is as easy as adding the ingredients to a slow cooker, turning it on, and then shredding the chicken once it’s cooked!

Here’s a step by step breakdown to guide you through this recipe:

1. First, add the vegetable oil to the slow cooker, then lay the chicken breast down in a single layer if possible.
2. Next, add the crushed tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, gochujang, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger.
3. Cover the crockpot and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches about 160 degrees F.
4. Then, remove the chicken from the crockpot using a slotted spoon or spider strainer. Transfer to a cutting board and shred with two forks.
5. Finally, return the shredded chicken to the crockpot and stir to combine with the sauce. Keep warm until ready to serve, optionally letting the chicken rest for about 15 to 30 minutes to soak up the sauce.

Serving Suggestions

When you’re ready to serve, we recommend using a slotted spoon or spider strainer to get the chicken out of the crockpot. Then, you can spoon extra sauce on top of your dish! Depending on how you serve it, you may want a more saucy – or less saucy – chicken.

Here are some of our favorite ways to use crockpot Korean gochujang chicken for lunch or dinner:

• Make steamed brown or white rice and serve Korean crockpot chicken over it, topped with fresh scallions
• Use it in our Korean gochujang rice bowl recipe instead of sliced chicken breast
• Pair Korean crockpot chicken with mashed avocado, pickled carrots and cabbage, and sriracha aioli for a unique fusion style tostada
• Try making slow cooker Korean chicken tacos with flour tortillas, green cabbage, and toasted sesame seeds
• Add Korean gochujang shredded chicken to a sandwich or wrap with pepper jack cheese and your favorite aioli

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

This crockpot recipe makes quite a large batch of shredded chicken, so you’ll want to store anything you don’t eat right away in the fridge or freezer.

To store in the fridge, transfer the chicken and extra sauce to an air-tight container and store for up to 5 days. Reheat single servings in the microwave for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring halfway through.

To store in the freezer, we recommend portioning out chicken and sauce into these 1-cup Souper Cubes trays so you have perfect portions for reheating at a later time. When you’re ready to eat, simply pop out a cube and defrost in the microwave, then reheat as usual!