Slow Cooker Chicken Wings simmered in a savory Japanese broth are amazingly fall-off-the-bone tender. Cooking low and slow gives you plenty of hands-off time with surprisingly moist and delicious results.
I’m finally joining the slow cooker bandwagon! Many friends in the US have a slow cooker in their kitchen and they’ve been telling me to get one. However slow cookers are not common in Japan and I did not grow up using them. Maybe it’s because most kitchens are quite small and there is no space for another small appliance.
I received my slow cooker a few months ago and I’ve been testing out Japanese recipes with it and it’s been fun, and amazingly easy! Today I’ll share this Slow Cooker Chicken Wings and Daikon (鶏手羽と大根の煮物).
Making Nimono With A Slow Cooker
In Japan, simmered dishes are called Nimono (煮物) and a typical home-cooked meal usually includes one or more nimono dishes. For simmered dishes that contain both vegetables and meat, we usually cook for 20-30 minutes at most. Sometimes people do use a pressure cooker to cook ingredients “faster” but we don’t really cook them “slowly.”
Before using the slow cooker to test out recipes, I had one big concern about cooking Japanese food in a slow cooker. Will the ingredients become too salty being cooked for such a long time?
For Japanese cuisine, one of the fundamentals is that the taste of the ingredients themselves is very important. We tend to be careful not to overcook the fresh ingredients and not to overpower the original taste of ingredients. Due to this, Japanese food can be considered “bland” for some people especially if you’re used to seasoning food with lots of spices and seasonings.
Despite my concerns, the dish didn’t come out too salty. The chicken wings were really tender and the meat came off the bone very easily after cooking for 5 hours. The daikon was also very tender, yet still kept its shape in the pot and absorbed all the umami juice coming from the chicken and dashi.
If you don’t own a slow cooker, you can simply simmer the ingredients in a regular pot for 20-30 minutes. The meat will not come off the bone, but it’s still delicious and it’s one of my favorite simmered dishes!
What Slow Cooker Do I Use:
If you are wondering what slow cooker I own, I received this IP-DUO60 from the Instant Pot.
It has both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker function. I was hesitant to get it but Mr. JOC heard from co-workers saying they loved this particular model and use it almost daily. Here are my favorite things about this slow cooker so far:
- It has an electric timer, so I can set it and not worry about it.
- There are different modes built-in, including saute so I can brown the meats and ingredients directly inside the pot without using my stove.
- Fairly easy to clean up, just throw the pot and small parts into the dishwasher and wash the lid by hand.
- It also has a pressure cooking function, which I have yet to test.
Ingredients Substitutions
For this dish, you can make it vegetarian or vegan by omitting chicken and egg (for vegan) and replacing them with all kinds of root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, turnips, etc. If you want to add leafy or soft vegetables, add them toward the end of cooking so you won’t overcook them.
In Japan, this particular dish always includes both chicken wings and daikon. You can use other types of meat if you like. Daikon can be found in Japanese grocery stores as well as other Asian grocery stores, especially Chinese and Korean ones. Daikon releases moisture while being cooked, and absorbs all the flavors back so it’s a perfect ingredient for all kinds of Japanese simmered dishes. Try finding daikon for this dish, but if you still can’t find it, you can replace it with other root vegetables of your choice.
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Slow Cooker Chicken Wings
Video
Ingredients
- 1 lb daikon radish (about ½ daikon)
- 1 knob ginger (1 inch, 2.5 cm)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (for blanching the daikon leaves)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- 9 pieces chicken wings (flats/drumettes) (patted dry with a paper towel)
- ½ cup water
- 2 hard-boiled eggs (peeled)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. For a slow cooker, I used my 6 QT Instant Pot. If you don’t own a slow cooker, you can simply simmer the ingredients in a regular pot for 20–30 minutes, let cool for a couple of hours while the ingredients absorb all the flavors, and then reheat again to serve.
- Peel 1 lb daikon radish and cut into rounds ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick. Peel 1 knob ginger and slice thinly.
- If the green leaves are still attached to your daikon, cut it into 2-inch pieces and blanch in salted water (just sprinkle ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in some boiling water before adding the leaves). When the leaves are tender, take them out and soak in ice water to stop cooking further.
- Add 1 Tbsp neutral oil to the inner pot of the slow cooker and brown 9 pieces chicken wings (flats/drumettes) thoroughly.
- Add the sliced daikon and ginger to the pot.
- Add the seasonings: 3 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp mirin, 3 Tbsp soy sauce.
- Add ½ cup water and 2 hard-boiled eggs (peeled). Set the slow cook timer for 5 hours.
- After cooking for 5 hours, the chicken is done. Serve the chicken wings, daikon, and eggs along with the blanched daikon leaves.
This recipe is fantastic! I made it for my boyfriend and I but using chicken thighs instead of wings and the chicken just fell off the bone and was so tasty he asked me to make it again tomorrow!
Hi Sadie! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe! Thank you!!
For your slow cooker chicken wings recipe, what substitute can I use it I don’t have sake?
Thanks!
Hi Anita! Chinese rice wine or dry sherry would be great! If you don’t have it… then maybe water. It helps to remove the unwanted gamey smell. 🙂
Hi Nami. I doubled everything in this recipe, except for the water (still only 1/2 cup) because I read in the comments here that some people had theirs come out pale. But mine came out very pale as well. Now I’m wondering if I want to double the chicken wings, maybe I don’t have to double the daikon?!? What do you think? Or maybe I should just skip the water altogether?!? Or any other possible reasons mine came out very pale? Thank you.
Hi Juliana! Japanese don’t have “dark soy sauce” like the Chinese condiment, so we can’t make it like Chinese dishes that have a dark color.
This is a pretty standard menu and you can see the color is like this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E9%B6%8F%E6%89%8B%E7%BE%BD%E3%81%A8%E5%A4%A7%E6%A0%B9%E3%81%AE%E7%85%AE%E7%89%A9&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS727US727&sxsrf=ALeKk01hrrkd7mFcNWEVIRI70XEqO5uYXQ:1584329958901&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj82qCDiZ7oAhWSKH0KHZY8CM8Q_AUoAXoECAwQAw
Was yours even paler?
If you keep the chicken soak in the cooking liquid overnight, it can get darker… but it also gets salty…
Yes, it was even paler – almost white. Today I tried again using Mingh’s suggestion (the comment above mine) and the color and taste were much better. So I doubled the chicken wings (I browned them in batches as per your recommendation), kept the daikon the same at 1lb, and doubled the sauces (except for sugar kept at 1tbsp). When 5 hours was up, I then removed the wings, and sauteed the sauce for another 15 minutes (with the daikon and eggs in it). Yumm.. Next time I will try to slice the daikon thinner at 1/4″ and only slow cook for 4.5 hours because I notice the daikon was a little tough for my kids and husband and the chicken broke down too much.
Hi Juliana! Thank you so much for sharing your detailed response! My readers will find it helpful too. 🙂
I really liked this recipe. Thank you for posting this!
I used 6 chicken wings along with 7 rounds of daikon. I doubled the sauce but kept sugar at 1 tbs. And I only used 1/4 cup of water because I knew the daikon and chicken would release a lot of liquid. After it was done slow cooking for 5hrs, I put my instapot on sautee and let the excess liquid boil out. That took about 15 minutes. I was left with a thick yummy sauce. So good!
Hi Mingh! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. And thank you for sharing your tip with us!! xoxo
I tried this today and followed the directions but doubled it and it doesn’t look like the picture at all. It smells great and it very tender but it did not take on that great color. I’m not sure what I did wrong. I’m going to make some more sauce and give them a quick simmer.
Hi Kayla! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Hmm I’m using Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman organic soy sauce) and maybe due to the different brand? You can let it absorb more soy sauce once it’s cooked too. 🙂
Hi, I made the slow cooker chicken wings but omitted sake as my 4 yr old son would be having it as well. The gravy of the final product has a hint of bitter aftertaste. Do you know the reason? Hope you can help. Thanks.
Hi SC! When you omitted sake, did you add water? When sake is used as seasoning (instead of steaming, cleaning fish etc), you will need to use water to replace the consistency of the sauce.
Other than that, I’m not sure of “bitter” aftertaste. Maybe from daikon? If you use lower end of daikon, not the green top part, the daikon taste bitter and bitter. Hope that helps a little….
I am cooking this for a party. Do you double the sauce if you are making more wings? Thanks!
Grace
Hi Grace! I would recommend so. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Hello! I love your site! I have tried several recipes and you continue to inspire me!
I have a question regarding this chicken wings recipe. Can this work well with a pack of frozen wings? I have a pressure cooker/slow cooker as well similar to yours.
Hi Delores! Thank you so much for reading my site and trying out my recipes! 🙂 Yes, you can use frozen wings. I recommend defrosting overnight to a day in the fridge. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Aloha Nami,
I tried your recipe tonight, but on the stove top for 30 minutes as you suggested. I used about 12 chicken wings/drumettes and 3 medium daikon. Even though I omitted adding water, it was too much daikon ????! The dish turned out moist and tasty, but the liquid from the daikon diluted the broth too much and I think that made it an unattractive light brown. Next time I will follow your proportions better, or increase the shoyu if I use more daikon. AND I will do it in the slow cooker so that the meat falls off the bone and maybe the flavors will be stronger. Just wanted to share my experience so readers don’t make the same mistake I did. We still enjoyed the dish, especially how the daikon soaked up all the flavor and the boiled egg complemented the tastes. Thank you for sharing another great recipe, Nami. I’m looking forward to trying it again ????????????!
Hi Amy! Daikon has so much water inside, so when you simmer, all the juice comes out. I think the meat will fall off bone nicely either pressure cooker or slow cooker but I also feel like slow cooker has more time for daikon to absorb flavors. Thank you for kindly sharing your tip with JOC readers. xoxo
Hi, can i replace sake & mirin with some other alternative? Thanks ????
If you can take alcohol, you can use (Chinese) rice wine or dry sherry to replace sake. If you can’t take alcohol, you have to use water in this recipe.
For mirin, please follow the substitution direction here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/mirin/
Any way to make this with the pressure cooker setting?
Hi Stacy! 10 minutes is good! 😉
Hi, I just wanted to ask if the setting would be medium or low?
Hi BF! At 1:43 on my video, you will see I just set the time, and the slow cook function is “normal”. Hope this helps!
I was following every step of this recipe closely using my newly purchased Instant Pot. My last step was covering the pot with the Instant Pot glass lid and then turned on the slow cook function. I didn’t make any adjustments to its setting. The power level was at “normal” and the time was set to 4 hours by default.
To my disappointment, the wings fell apart and broke into pieces within just two hours of slow cooking, and the color of the wings were light! On the contrary, the wings in your pictures look plump and intact, and are golden brown in color, I wonder what have gone wrong… I did double the recipe (about twenty pieces) and the seasonings; as for daikon I only used a small piece left in my fridge. The wings were bought from Safeway with half of them were mid joints and the other half drumettes, The wings were average in size, unlike the big ones they sell in the Ranch 99. I ended up only kept the daikon. They were soft and has more flavor than the broken chicken wings 🙁 Let me know if you can think of anything that I might has missed.
I still want to try this recipe again. The dish looks so delicious. May be I can try a lower heat setting. But I will definitely start checking the wings before the first hour ends. Otherwise, I will just simply cook them in the regular pot; I think the chance of success will be higher!
Hi CK! Thank you for trying this recipe! I never knew that Instant Pot has a glass lid sold separately. I don’t think that’s the reason though. I’m not sure what went wrong or it’s due to ingredients difference, but here’s my guess.
When you were at Step 3, did you brown the chicken wings in batches? I don’t think 20 wings would fit, so I assume you have to take some out when they were brown. If you didn’t do in batches, maybe chicken wings were tossed around too much with your tongs? I don’t know but it’s maybe one part that could be different from mine?
Another reason can be just simply the difference in chicken wings, but that’s just hard to tell.
The amount of daikon might matter – it releases lots of moisture during the cooking. Wonder if you had enough liquid in the pot. Maybe that might cook the meat gentler?
I wish I know the answer, but I really don’t know. You could cut down on time, or I would use pressure cook for maybe 10-15 minutes instead. 😀
Mine comes off the bone easily too (that’s what I was aiming) but it’s only after I touch the wings so much. I could pick up gently and plate it (to take a picture above). But when you bite, the meat comes off or falls off easily.
Hi, this happened to my wings as well. The meat all fell off the bones, nothing held together, everything was very light colored, and the whole thing was drowning in liquid. And yes, I did brown the chicken wings first. Usually your recipes turn out so well but this did not work for me.
Namiko,
I am preparing your dish with a Crockpot brand slow cooker. Can you clarify if the dish should be cooked on low or high heat?
Thank you,
Kacy
Hi Kacy! Please cook on high. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hi Nami,
My husband doesn’t like chicken, do you think it’s equally good if I use pork ribs or beef?
I also need to confirm with you that it is 5 hours on low temperature? You didn’t mention whether it is low or high temperature.
Thank you.
Hi Star! I have short ribs recipe coming soon using a pressure cooker (same instant pot). 🙂
At 0:33 in the video, you see it’s set up as “Normal”. 🙂 And for 5 hours.
I didn’t make this recipe with pork ribs or beef, so I’m not sure if the seasonings will be good after swapping the ingredients. You probably need to adjust – if that’s okay, sure, you can swap the ingredients!
Hope this helps!