Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
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Look no further for the BEST Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken recipe! Chicken breasts are slow cooked in a delicious homemade teriyaki sauce, then shredded and served with the sauce over steamed rice. Hands off, fuss free, 10 minutes of prep time, and you’ll come home to a delicious, ready meal! And for some more bulk and nutrition you can easily add your favorite veggies.
What is Teriyaki Chicken?
Teriyaki chicken is a Japanese dish consisting of tender pieces of chicken in a sweet, savory, and sticky sauce that consists of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, mirin, and brown sugar and/or honey and served with rice. It’s a one of the most popular takeout dishes. You can also try our classic stovetop Chicken Teriyaki and for a vegetarian version try our Teriyaki Tofu.
How to Make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Making this crock pot teriyaki chicken is as simple as placing all of the ingredients in the slow cooker, turning on the heat, and walking away. Then after a few hours you’ll remove the chicken, shred it, thicken the sauce with some cornstarch, return the shredded chicken to coat it, and then serve it over steamed rice. That’s it! It doesn’t get any simpler and it tastes as good as your favorite Chinese takeout.
Teriyaki chicken is something almost everyone loves. That familiar combination of sweet and savory is a flavor practically anyone will enjoy. This recipe is super easy to make with only 10 minutes of prep time. It’s after making meals like this that I ask myself why I don’t utilize my crock pot more often, and so I’ve renewed my commitment to doing so. Slow cooker meals are also a really easy and fuss-free way to get your kids involved in the kitchen: There’s no boiling pots of hot liquids, splattering oil, or open flames. It’s just adding ingredients to the slow cooker, closing the lid…and waiting!
Can I Add Vegetables?
You sure can! This slow cooker teriyaki chicken recipe provides the perfect foundation for building upon – i.e., add some of your favorite veggies like broccoli, bell peppers, carrots or bean sprouts and make a complete meal out of it.
Depending on the veggies you’re adding, you’ll add them in during the last 20-30 minutes until they’re tender. Bean sprouts will be added during the last 5-7 minutes so they retain some of their crunch. Etc. Or simply make a basic teriyaki chicken as shown here and serve it with your favorite steamed or stir-fried veggies and rice.
Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Let’s get started!
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir until the brown sugar is mostly dissolved.
Place the chicken in the slow cooker. I’m using chicken breasts but you can use any chicken pieces of your choice.
Pour the sauce over the chicken.
Cook the chicken on LOW for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Transfer the chicken to a plate and shred the meat. Discard the bones if you’re using bone-in chicken.
Carefully pour the sauce into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and pour in the cornstarch mixture, stirring until slightly thickened, about a minute.
Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and pour the sauce over it. Stir to coat. Cook on HIGH for a few minutes until heated through. Add salt to taste.
Your crock pot teriyaki chicken is ready to serve! Serve it over steamed rice garnished with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Enjoy!
For more great crock pot recipes be sure to try my:
- Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Slow Cooker Pineapple Orange BBQ Chicken
- Slow Cooker Greek Chicken
- Slow Cooker Peach Crisp
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Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breast or chicken pieces of choice (see Note for adding veggies)
- For the Teriyaki Sauce:
- 1/2 cup tamari , or low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons mirin , can substitute sherry or white wine
- 2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- or brown sugar alternative (for low sugar option)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger root
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
- For Serving:
- toasted sesame seeds, chopped green onions for garnish
- Note: If you prefer more sauce simply double all the sauce ingredients including the cornstarch slurry
Instructions
- Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir until the brown sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cook the chicken on LOW for 5-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.Transfer the chicken to a plate and shred the meat. Discard the bones if you're using bone-in chicken.
- Carefully pour the sauce into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and pour in the cornstarch mixture, stirring until slightly thickened, about a minute.Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and pour the sauce over it. Stir to coat. Cook on HIGH for a few minutes until heated through. Add salt to taste.Serve over steamed rice garnished with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet on March 28, 2017
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Great recipe! We’re vegetarian, so I used tempeh, and don’t have a slow cooker, so I broiled the tempeh separately and reduced the sauce by simmering it ever so slowly on very low flame, then heated them together before serving.
I used fresh lemon juice for half of the rice vinegar, and threw in some zest for good measure. Even though I used low-sodium soy sauce, I did find it too salty to taste, so threw in 1/3 C of sake… really added an interesting depth to the flavor.
Fantastic, Bea, I’m so glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate the feedback!
Everyone in my family loved it, thank you!
Thank you so much, Tara!
Prepared this before heading out for a few hours yesterday and when I came back later and walked in the house, oh the yummy smell that met me. Dinner was a breeze thanks to this and my husband and my picky child and teenager all loved it.
I’m so glad it was a family hit, thank you Teresa!
I made a large batch of your teriyaki sauce (which is great!) and have some in the freezer that I would like to use. How many tablespoons/cups would you say could be used to substitute here in place of the sauce from scratch ingredients?
Thank you, Kymberli! The equivalent amount will be just over a cup of teriyaki sauce, about 1 1/4 cups. Happy cooking!
Under nutritional comments I do not see serving size for calories, fats etc.
Can you post typical serving size pertaining to the nutritional data.
Thank you
John eccleston
Just my opinion, my family and i thought this dish was just too salty! I had to add some pineapple juice just to cut the salt…I doubt I will use this recipe again but I would certainly omit the dose of salt when using that much soy sauce. Just my preference, I would also cut the amount of toasted sesame oil in half. I really overpowered the dish.
I recognized the sauce recipe as the one I make that is so far superior to any other I’ve had that I had to check and, sure enough, the recipe I use is also yours. I added shredded carrots that I had on hand and broccoli. I had already cooked chicken so I made the sauce while I put the vegetables in the pot with the shredded chicken and cooked for 20 minutes. Then added the sauce and, voila, simple dinner! Thank you so much for these recipes!
Thank YOU, Kerry, I really appreciate your feedback!
Teryaki and sweet and sour sauce recipes are the best ever, both are perfect thank you
Thank you so much, Sharon! :)