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Korean Slow Cooker Gochujang Chicken

ByNicole Langdon Hours Updated on
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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.

Saucy shredded Korean gochujang chicken in a serving tray.

Inspired by our crockpot chicken tinga recipe, we first made this spicy slow cooker chicken with the idea of gochujang chicken tostadas or tacos in mind. But it has quickly turned into an easy protein that we use in so many ways. Sandwiches, pizza, pastas, bowls, we’ve used it in many different dinners. Basically anytime we want a flavorful, fusion, saucy chicken, this recipe hits the spot.

What To Expect

  • Great for: An easy and unique batch protein for meal prepping and easy dinners.
  • Ready in: 4 hours and 30 minutes
  • Serves: About 6 servings. It’ll be just over 1 pound of shredded chicken once cooked.
  • Flavor profile: Spicy and savory with a bold punch of gochujang.
  • How to make it: Add vegetable oil into the slow cooker followed by the chicken. Dump in the rest of the ingredients and give them a stir. Cook on low for 4 hours before shredding the chicken and adding it back into the sauce.

We hope you love this recipe!

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Featured Review

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This Korean slow cooker recipe was delicious and reminded us of our dining experiences during our trips to Korea. We’ve actually made it twice, once with chicken and once with boneless pork ribs. In both cooks we added chunks of potatoes and carrots, (and it still turned out fabulous!) And rather than mincing the onion, we just sliced it into wedges. The recipe received high praise from my sister-in-law who is originally from Busan. Highly recommend the recipe, so yummy! And for foodies that love cheese, this was great reheated on the second day with melted mozzarella on top. We just put it under the broiler for a few minutes. So good!

– Jenn

Slow Cooker Korean Gochujang Chicken Ingredients

Ingredients for making gochujang chicken: chicken breast, crushed tomatoes, vegetable oil, rice vinegar, gochujang, soy sauce, light brown sugar, minced onion, minced ginger, and minced garlic.
  • Chicken – We trim the chicken breasts to remove any fat or unwanted bits, but after that, the whole breasts can be put into the slow cooker. We believe that the less work, the better when it comes to slow cooker recipes. Note: the chicken in the photo above is cut, we didn’t have any whole chicken breasts on hand, and the cut chicken worked perfectly well too.
  • Gochujang – Gochujang is a fermented chili paste that has become popular enough that you should be able to find it in your local grocery store without any issue. If you can’t find it, however, it’s available on Amazon.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make Slow Cooker Korean Gochujang Chicken

A crockpot with raw chicken breast sitting in it.

Step 1: Add the oil to the bottom of the slow cooker and then place the chicken on top, preferably in a single layer. Note: this recipe works best with full chicken breasts, but we only had sliced chicken in our freezer, so that’s why it’s cut up in the image. It also worked perfectly well!

A crockpot with crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, gochujang, and chicken in it.

Step 2: Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker and give it a little stir. Cook on LOW for 4 hours.

Freshly cooked gochujang chicken being shredded on a blue cutting board.

Step 3: Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker and shred.

A black slow cooker with freshly cooked shredded gochujang chicken in it.

Step 4: Add the shredded chicken back to the slow cooker and keep warm until you’re ready to serve.

Expert Tips

  • Let it sit – 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.
  • Freeze it – 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!
  • Meal prep – Crockpot proteins are perfect for weekly meal prep. We love to make a batch of this recipe on Sundays to use throughout the week for easy lunches and dinners. Alex loves using it for simple yet flavorful sandwiches with a little pepper jack cheese.
A crockpot full of freshly cooked gochujang chicken.

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:

Other Slow Cooker Protein Recipes

Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:

Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

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Shredded Korean gochujang chicken.

Korean Slow Cooker Gochujang Chicken

Nicole & Alex Langdon
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.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Resting Time (Optional) 15 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Course Dinner, Ingredient, Lunch
Cuisine Asian, Fusion, Korean
Servings 6 servings
Calories 199 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1½ pounds chicken breast
  • 14 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
  • ½ medium yellow onion minced
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons gochujang
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger

Instructions
 

  • First, add the vegetable oil to the bottom of the slow cooker. Then add the chicken breast in a single layer if possible.
  • Next, add the crushed tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, gochujang, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger.
  • Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees F.
  • Use a spider strainer or large slotted spoon to transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Shred with two forks, then return to the crockpot and stir to combine with the sauce.
  • Optionally rest for about 15 to 30 minutes on the warm setting to let the chicken soak up the extra sauce. Serve hot, or store in the fridge or freezer.
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Notes

Gochujang: 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.
Storing and reheating leftovers:
  • 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.
Meal prep: This crockpot chicken is perfect for weekly meal prep. Make a batch on Sunday and use it throughout the week in different ways (see serving suggestions above or in the blog post).

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 199kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 26gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 414mgPotassium: 674mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 187IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 1mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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90% of Nicole’s thoughts are about food. She’s had a passion for cooking (and eating) for as long as she can remember! Growing up, she started cooking with her mom at a young age, learned family recipes from her Italian grandmother, took every opportunity to make cookies (so many bake sales), and always loved going out to restaurants to try new foods.

Nicole currently works part-time as a marketing professional for OmieLife while also working nonstop on The Candid Cooks. As a former mechanical engineer, Nicole has consistently found herself at the intersection of creativity and logical reasoning. She credits not only her passion for photography, design, and writing, but also her problem-solving nature and desire to learn, as the foundation on which The Candid Cooks was built.

Nicole’s hobbies include anything that gets her moving - mainly hiking, skiing, ice skating, and dancing - as well as reading fantasy novels and scrapbooking. Her favorite food is a big plate of nachos, as long as they’re cheesy enough!

5 from 2 votes

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Recipe Rating




 

5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This Korean slow cooker recipe was delicious and reminded us of our dining experiences during our trips to Korea. We’ve actually made it twice, once with chicken and once with boneless pork ribs. In both cooks we added chunks of potatoes and carrots, (and it still turned out fabulous!) And rather than mincing the onion, we just sliced it into wedges. The recipe received high praise from my sister-in-law who is originally from Busan. Highly recommend the recipe, so yummy! And for foodies that love cheese, this was great reheated on the second day with melted mozzarella on top. We just put it under the broiler for a few minutes. So good!

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and that it brought back memories of your trips to Korea. Adding potatoes and carrots sounds delicious, we’ll have to try that next time we make it!

      Reply

  2. 5 stars
    Slow cooker chicken recipes make meal prep so much easier. I like having a Korean inspired gochujang chicken that can be made in the slow cooker because it allows for so many different recipes. I love simply serving this with some rice and pickled cabbage and carrots for an easy lunch.

    Reply

  3. I just tried you Chicken Marinated in Salsa and it was TOTALLY FANTASTIC. I used chicken breasts and added some EVOO to the marinade and served it with a caeser salad. Great Meal. (Sorry, I saw that I could not comment on the recipe.,,,,so here I am.
    Thank You!!

    Reply

    1. Hi Jean, thank you so much! We’re so happy to hear you loved our salsa marinated chicken recipe and we appreciate you finding a way to let us know!

      We’re sorry you weren’t able to comment on the original post – we’ve fixed this issue now, so you should be able to go leave a rating and a comment there if you’d like! Thank you for alerting us to this glitch!

      Reply