Make this super easy crock pot teriyaki chicken in your slow cooker, and serve over warm white rice for a delicious teriyaki bowl!
Forget Friday night asian takeout! Make this teriyaki chicken in your slow cooker any day of the week. Serve it with some egg rolls and fried rice for a complete meal. You can also try our baked Teriyaki Chicken too!
TRIED + TRUE TERIYAKI CHICKEN
I LOVE chicken and I LOVE Asian food, so it’s probably no surprise that I absolutely loved the Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken my mom tried out a few weeks ago.
We’ve tried a few Teriyaki Chicken recipes and all were pretty good, but this one has been my favorite, by far. Even the hubby who doesn’t like Asian food liked this one {which is saying A LOT!}
And what’s great about this is it’s all made in the Crock Pot, which means – SUPER EASY!! I’m all about easy and yummy recipes, and this one is one of those.
Tips and FAQ
Can I cook frozen chicken in the crock pot? It’s not usually recommended to cook frozen meat in a slow cooker because harmful bacteria can have time to develop before the chicken reaches a safe temperature.
However, if you do decide to cook frozen chicken, you can use the following times as a reference. Once the chicken hits an internal temperature of 165 degrees F it’s safe to eat.
-
- Thawed: high for 3-4 hours and low for 4-5 hours
- Frozen: high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours
Adding Veggies. There are many vegetables such as broccoli, snap peas, bell peppers, and asparagus that can be added. If you’re worried about them getting too soft, add the vegetables when there is about 2 hours left on High or 4 hours left on Low. You can also cook the vegetables in the microwave, or saute them, and add right before serving.
Keep leftovers fresh. Be sure you don’t leave the chicken out for more than two hours. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it for later. Just use a freezer safe airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave or in a pan on the stove.
Make it in the Instant Pot!
Typically if you can make it in a slow cooker it can also be made in an instant pot, but much more quickly. So if you forgot to thaw that frozen chicken, don’t worry! You’ll have it cooked in no time.
- Place the chicken in the Instant Pot. Combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper in a separate bowl. Mix it and pour over the chicken.
- Close and seal the lid. Set to “manual/pressure cook’’ on high. Cook for 7 minutes if chicken is thawed, 12 minutes if frozen.
- Allow the pressure to release and carefully remove the lid.
- Take out the chicken and shred it. Use a mesh strainer or a spoon to remove any fat from the broth in the pot.
- Press Saute on your instant pot. In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch and water. Mix until smooth then add it to the instant pot. Allow the liquid to come to a boil then add the shredded chicken back in.
- If you are adding vegetables, cook separately and add it to the chicken.
Hope you like it as much as we did! It really is so simple and so flavorful!
We like to serve our teriyaki chicken with:
For more Asian chicken recipes, check out:
- Orange Chicken and Asparagus
- Slow Cooker Almond Chicken
- Lemon Chicken
- Honey Chicken
- Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-4 lbs boneless chicken thighs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 4 tsp corn starch
- 4 tsp cold water
- cooked rice
Instructions
- Place chicken in crock pot on lowheat.
- Combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper in a separate bowl. Mix and pour over the chicken.
- Cook on low for 4-5 hours until chicken is tender. Remove chicken, place on a plate and shred with a fork.
- Take the fat out of the reserve liquid left in the crock pot by pouring it through a mesh strainer into a saucepan (or scoop out the fat with a slotted spoon).
- Place liquid in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth and gradually stir into saucepan until it is thick.
- Pour chicken over cooked rice and cover with your thickened teriyaki sauce. ENJOY!
Video
Adapted from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.
Ooooo….This looks awesome… Yummy ❤
Ooooo..it is 🙂 You’ll have to try and let me know what you think!
Anything that goes into the crockpot and produces a fabulous meal is a winner in my eyes. Simple and delicious!
This recipe looks amazing, I will definitely be giving this a try.
Thank you & it is!! Let me know what you think 🙂 Thank you!
I LOVE this recipe, Teriyaki chicken at its finest!
It’s my favorite!! Thanks for stopping by!
I like this recipe a lot. It’s a bit heavy on the apple cider for my liking. I’d love to use fresh ginger next time as well. Is there a way to use mirin instead of so much sugar? I also wanted to add some broccoli. Do you think I could “steam” it the last 30 minutes in the crock pot? Do you think the broccoli flavored water that is released during cooking would change the taste of the sauce too much? Do you think I would need to add more sauce to accommodate for the broccoli? Anyway, love the recipe and have made this several times as is. I just wanted to see what you thought. My husband loves my cooking but hates the fact that they never taste the same because I substitute a lot with what I have and it’s sort of an art to me. But, I am making dinner tonight and have everything already going, just trying to see if I should do broccoli separate or not… don’t really feel like experimenting tonight lol.
Love that you experiment!! Sorry to not have responded sooner! Adding broccoli would be a great idea. I don’t think it would change it too much 🙂 I haven’t tried adding mirin, so I am not sure about that. I’d love to know how it all turned out 🙂
It worked out. I added 1/4 of sliced raw onion at the bottom. Then an hour before cooking was finished, I added 3 heads of broccoli florets. It was quite delicious. My husband said “You out did yourself!” #Win. Thanks for the recipe and replying.
I’m glad it did! 🙂
I’ll be making the Teriyaki Chicken. Sounds and looks real good. Looks like you have some green onion on top. I will be using fresh ginger root. It is so much better then the canned stuff. If you don’t use it much, you can freeze it and slice it off when needed. YUM!
Perfect!! I hope you love it, as much as we do! Enjoy!!
I just made this last night and it was absolutely delish!
Thank you so much for trying it & for letting me know 🙂 I am so glad you liked it!!
I make this reciePe often! The family
Loves it. If i needed to rUsh the reciepe and Cook onhigh how long Should i go?
Half the time, so maybe 2-2 1/2 hours 🙂
I made this as a new recipe the same night we had company over — it was a hit! My husband told me that it’s going to have to become a staple recipe. He likes a lot, but not generally enough to eat it twice, so I KNOW this is good!
I love hearing that!! I am so glad you let me know! Thank you!
I would like to use chicken breast for this recipe. How long should I cook them?
I would use the same amount, but you could always add more time. It would be on the longer side of cooking. Enjoy!!
I would like to try this but am using frozen chicken breast is that okay and if so is there any extra steps I need to take for water and add more time I need to add to the cooking this is my first time using a crock pot
It’s not usually recommended to cook frozen meat in a slow cooker because harmful bacteria can have time to develop before the chicken reaches a safe temperature. However, if you do decide to cook frozen chicken, you can use the following as a reference: Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Once the chicken hits an internal temperature of 165 degrees F it’s safe to eat. Crockpots are amazing! Hope you enjoy using yours and the recipe too!
nice recipe .. i will try it soon
Hope you like it!
Awesome Recipe. Tried last night with bone-in thighs and everybody loved it. Thanks so much.
Fantastic, best I have ever made…
Awe, thank you so much for saying that!
I’ll be honest, I changed this recipe quite a bit before even trying it as is so my rating is based on my experience and my own tweaks.
I didn’t see the 3/4c sugar when I originally planned to make this. I panicked, not wanting all the added refined sugar, and made the decision to only add 1/4c sugar plus a squeeze honey. This worked perfectly fine and I’m curious to what it would taste like with even less sugar.
I also made substitutions and additions based on what I had on hand:
1. I threw in frozen stir fry veggies on top of the meat during the cooking time.
2. I served this meal right cauliflower rice because that’s all I had at home.
3. I used all purpose aminos instead of soy sauce.
I wish I would have drizzled the sauce onto each individual serving because I mixed it in all together and it was too saucy for my liking.
Overall I’d make this again but would still make the changes.
I’m curious, how does it taste with more sugar? What am I missing by reducing it?
Well, we all have different tastes, but I love it & haven’t tried adding less sugar, so I can’t say for sure what it adds, since I don’t know how it tastes with less. Thank you for trying it!
My hubby’s favorite!! This crock pot version is so easy & the flavor is amazing!! I’ll be making some this week.
Thanks a bunch for this very flavorful and delicious teriyaki chicken recipe! Will surely have this again! Well done!
Yummy! This was such an easy dinner to dump and go. And it turned out wonderful. Tasted like I had been working on it all afternoon. Thanks for such great recipes!
We use your recipe at least once a month. And, I can get a couple uses from it & use the chicken in different recipes. I cook a bunch up. My family really enjoys it!
I’ve been looking for a good teriyaki recipe with homemade sauce. its really good in the crockpot. The sauce can also be used as a marinade before grilling the chicken. Thanks for sharing!
So simple to make and so flavorful! We love putting over rice too.!