Slow cooker teriyaki chicken is chicken breasts cooked with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and honey, then shredded and drizzled with sauce. Serve over rice for an easy yet satisfying crock pot dinner!
I always order teriyaki chicken when I go to my local Japanese restaurant. This slow cooker recipe is SO simple to make at home and has all the same great flavors of the restaurant version.
Being able to throw a meal into my crock pot for dinner is something I have always been extremely thankful for. This slow cooker teriyaki chicken is one of my go-to dinner ideas because it’s quick and the entire family loves it. Plus, because it utilizes the slow cooker I can throw dinner on earlier in the day and forget about it.
HOW DO YOU MAKE SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TERIYAKI?
Thankfully, this teriyaki chicken is as easy as tossing all your ingredients in a crock pot and leaving it to cook. Chicken breasts are cooked with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and honey, then shredded before being drizzled with sauce. Serve your crock pot teriyaki chicken over rice and you’ve got a satisfying dinner!
Depending on your preferences, chicken thighs or breasts can be used to make teriyaki chicken. One of the best parts about this recipe is that it can easily be doubled to feed a crowd if need be. Not to mention, it only takes about 5 minutes of prep time which makes for a quick meal all the way around.
You can eat crock pot teriyaki chicken as is, but it’s best when served over steamed rice. If you love this slow cooker chicken teriyaki, you’ll also love this chicken teriyaki stir fry which has similar flavors but is ready in 30 minutes.
IS CHICKEN TERIYAKI HEALTHY?
Chicken teriyaki is made with mostly healthy ingredients. That being said, soy sauce is salty, and too much sodium is not good for you. Be sure to use a low sodium soy sauce in this recipe!
CAN YOU COOK RICE IN THE CROCK POT?
Yes, you can cook most things in the crock pot. However, you would have to cook it separate from the teriyaki chicken. Cooking rice in a crock pot makes it take much longer than just making it on the stove, however, it can be done if desired.
CAN VEGETABLES BE ADDED TO SLOW COOKER TERIYAKI CHICKEN?
Vegetables can definitely be added to this recipe. Most popular stir fry vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, snap peas, bell peppers, etc. can be added to this dish to personalize it. However, be aware, those most vegetables will need to be added later in the cooking process or they may get soggy.
If you’re dreading school because weeknight dinners are so stressful, I’m with you. However, I have started preparing for busy nights by pulling out as many slow cooker recipes as possible. I’m definitely adding this slow cooker teriyaki chicken to the weeknight dinner rotation!
MORE CHICKEN SLOW COOKER RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
- Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala
Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Video
Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons sliced green onions
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in a slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, ginger, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce sesame oil and rice vinegar.
- Pour the soy sauce mixture over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5-6 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred with two forks.
- Pour the teriyaki sauce from the slow cooker through a strainer into a saucepan.
- Place the saucepan on the stove over medium high heat and bring to a simmer.
- In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with the water until dissolved.
- Pour the cornstarch into the pan and bring a boil. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until sauce has just thickened.
- Pour the sauce over the shredded chicken and toss to coat the chicken. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions, then serve.
Will sugar or brown surgr work just as well?
Brown sugar is the best choice!
I love your recipes and am looking forward to trying this today. I was wondering if you could substitute Coconut Aminos for the soy sauce. If so, I’m planning on making a double or triple recipe. Would I increase that as well (I read a comment that suggested not doubling the soy sauce). Thank you!
You should be able to use coconut aminos. Coconut aminos has a lot less sodium than soy sauce, but I’d still avoid doubling it, you could always add a little salt at the end if needed.
Can I make this without the brown sugar?
You’d need to substitute more of another sweetener!
My family loves this. I do like to add in some vegetables to make it a meal. Great flavor
Yum!! so good and easy, i added snap peas and broccoli to mine around the last 25-30 mins of cooking and it worked out great
Made this tonight and was soooo good. However, I used thighs and dark brown sugar. Could that be the reason my sauce came out so dark? It didn’t have that reddish color yours has. Thanks
That’s definitely a possible reason!
Going to make tonight. I have all the ingredients except fresh ginger, so I will use 1/2 the amount of ground ginger. After mixing I noticed that you replied on an older comment to use 1/3 the amount. It is a good thing we like ginger. Thank You
Can you make ahead and freeze?
I think that should work but I haven’t tested it myself.
A great recipe — turns out I didn’t have the whole amount of soy sauce so I improvised, and as another person suggested with substituting the rice vinegar for ACV I cut the quantity in half. Since it needed more salt, I added a sazon Goya packet for the umami salty flavor and it came out great. As another person mentioned, I also wish I had more sauce (but it’s also because I had 2lb chicken breast, not 1.5.) It was still just enough sauce to coat the shredded chicken all the way so I skipped the cornstarch step. Yes, I modified the hell out of this recipe lol BUT the base was such a great starting point so def recommend! I’ll try to make this again with accurate measurements. Def worth trying this recipe even if ur winging some of it.
Anyone try this with less honey or sugar? Love the flavors but 17g is too many sugars for us.
Yes I use half the amount.
I made this today with only 2 changes. I cooked it on high for 2 hours, then removed the chicken. While my husband was shredding it, I made the water / corn starch slurry in my mason jar & just added it to the crock pot. I realized then that we wanted more sauce, so I added 3/4 cup of Apple Juice. Yep. Apple Juice. It blended perfectly with the flavor profile. Added the chicken back in & cooked it on low for another hour. It gave us the amount of sauce we wanted. So, really, I barely deviated from your recipe. It was DELICIOUS! We will put this into our rotation.
could i make this with skinless, boneless thighs?
Yes, that would work fine.
This was absolutely AMAZING! My husband would never go for Asian food of any kind and he liked this!!
Made this tonight. Delicious and so easy in the slow cooker!! I especially loved making my own sauce and skipping the store bought jarred stuff. Thank you! 😊
Is the soy sauce mixture the teriyaki sauce or do I add that as well and how much?
The soy sauce mixture is the sauce!