This recipe is the perfect set and forget meal with a delicious homemade teriyaki sauce. Best of all, just 10 minutes of prep made in a crock-pot or your Instant Pot pressure cooker.

For chicken teriyaki couldn’t be easier to make. It’s a simple set and forget meal with just 10 minutes of prep making it just perfect for busy weeknights.

Skip the bottled sauce by making this homemade teriyaki sauce. It’s super easy to make with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, Mirin, garlic and ginger.

Mirin is pretty easy to find these days in the International section of most large grocery stores and online but you can definitely leave it out or use dry sherry or rice wine instead.

For a keto friendly version of teriyaki chicken, swap the honey for a low carb sweetener and leave out the Mirin.

Everything gets tossed into the slow cooker while the chicken soaks in all that amazing sweet and savory sauce. Once the chicken is nice and tender, just grab two forks and shred them into bite-sized pieces.

You can serve this over your favorite rice, zoodles, quinoa or noodles. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and scallions and you’ve got a delicious meal that can easily rival your local take-out restaurant.

This Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken would also make great leftovers or if you prep this on your Sunday meal prep, you can have yummy work or school lunches for the rest of the week. You could even pack some chopsticks to make it an authentic Asian meal.

Prep Time

    •    Prep time: 10 minutes
    •    Cook time: 3 hours 10 minutes
    •    Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

    •  1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
    •  2/3 cups low sodium soy sauce or can use tamari or coconut aminos for gluten free or paleo
    •  1/3 cup honey or low carb sweetener for keto
    •  1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar for paleo
    •  1 tablespoon Mirin or dry sherry (optional)
    •  1 teaspoon sesame oil
    •  2 garlic cloves minced
    •  2 teaspoons freshly grated or minced ginger

Optional:

    • salt and black pepper to taste
    • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper chili flakes or Sriracha sauce optional

Corn Starch Slurry:

    • 2 tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot/tapioca starch for paleo or leave out for keto
    • 3 tablespoon cold water
    • For garnish: sliced green onions sesame seeds
    • For lunch bowls: cooked rice quinoa or noodles, cooked shelled edamame beans, roasted or stir-fried broccoli (or other vegetable of your choice), lunch containers

Method

For Slow Cooker Method:

1. Place the chicken in the bottom of your slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, garlic and ginger and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours.

To thicken sauce, combine the corn starch with water and stir into the slow cooker (skip this step for keto if desired). Cook on HIGH for another 30-40 minutes, or until sauce has bubbled and thickened up (You can thicken the sauce in a saucepan on the stove top at medium high heat, if that works better for you). Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Shred chicken into pieces with two forks and serve with any remaining sauce along with your favorite rice, quinoa or noodles.

1. For lunch bowls, make rice (or zoodles) and vegetables and divide evenly among lunch containers. Add chicken and drizzle on remaining sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired.

For Instant Pot Method:

1. Place the chicken in the Instant Pot.
2. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, garlic and ginger and pour over chicken.
3. Close and seal Instant Pot.
4. Turn the venting knob to SEALING and press MANUAL (old models) or PRESSURE COOK (new models) on high for 5 minutes. The Instant Pot will take a few minutest to come to pressure.
5. Once the Instant Pot has finished cooking the chicken and beeps, allow to naturally release for 15 minutes.
6. Open lid and remove chicken from Instant Pot and shred with two forks.
7. Press the SAUTE button on the Instant Pot. Combine the corn starch with water and stir into the Instant Pot (skip for Keto if desired). Allow the sauce to bubble and thicken up. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt, black pepper and/or hot chili flakes needed. Add the chicken back into the Instant Pot and combine with sauce and heat until hot. Serve with any remaining sauce along with your favorite rice, quinoa or noodles.
8. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, green onions and serve over rice, quinoa or zoodles, if desired.

Meal Pre-Tips for Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken:

    • Mix the sauce ingredients together the day before and store in an air-tight container in the fridge
    • Make the rice or noodles the day before and store in an air-tight container in the fridge

This great family recipe is thanks to Life Made Sweeter Recipes at https://lifemadesweeter.com/slow-cooker-teriyaki-chicken/