Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
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Published Oct 04, 2019, Updated Sep 16, 2021
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This healthy teriyaki chicken is cooked in the slow cooker with a sweet and savory Asian sauce. Once shredded, serve over rice with veggies for a full meal!
Fall is in the air… now is the time for slow cooker meals! Few things are better than prepping ingredients in the morning and having a delicious, healthy dinner ready for you at the end of the day. You don’t have to turn on your oven or spend time preparing dinner after work. We’re big fans of slow cooker meals over here!
This slow cooker teriyaki chicken recipe feels extra fancy because it’s like takeout in the comfort of your own home. Bonus points for much fresher and healthier ingredients! Don’t get me wrong, I love treating myself to a dinner out, but I also love knowing what goes in the food I’m eating and I like to stick with high quality, real food as much as possible.
Ingredients in Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
The star of this recipe is definitely the sauce. Store-bought teriyaki sauce is usually a mixture of soy sauce, high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, salt, spices and other preservatives. While it’s super easy to buy a bottle at the store it’s allllmost just as easy to make the sauce at home. For this version we’re using the following ingredients:
- low-sodium tamari – soy sauce works great too but tamari makes this dish gluten-free
- honey
- ketchup – make sure to check the label for high fructose corn syrup and choose a brand that doesn’t use it
- olive oil
- chili garlic sauce (also called Sambal Oelek)
How to Make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Start by whisking together the sauce in a small bowl. Add the chicken breasts to a slow cooker and pour the sauce over the top, coating the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
I usually pick my heat level and cook time based on what my day looks like and when I’m prepping everything! When the chicken is done cooking, remove the chicken and transfer to a cutting board to let cool. You’ll leave the sauce in the slow cooker!
Whisk arrowroot powder and water until the powder dissolves. Arrowroot powder acts similarly to corn starch and helps thicken the sauce. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the slow cooker with the sauce and stir until smooth. Turn the slow cooker on high and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens.
Shred the chicken using two forks and then add chicken back into the slow cooker with the sauce to combine. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken and serve. I like serving this shredded teriyaki chicken over rice with broccoli on the side.
More Slow Cooker Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Soup
- Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
- Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Tempeh
- Slow Cooker Mexican Quinoa Casserole
- Slow Cooker Coconut Curried Eggplant
If you make this slow cooker teriyaki chicken, please be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how it turns out. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers.
Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon low-sodium tamari, or soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce, also called Sambal Oelek
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch + 3 Tablespoons water
- sesame seeds, to taste
- cooked rice, white, brown or cauliflower
- steamed broccoli
Instructions
- Make sauce by whisking together honey, tamari, onion, ketchup, olive oil and chili garlic sauce in a small bowl.
- Add chicken breasts to slow cooker and pour sauce over top.
- Cook chicken on high for 2 hours or low for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
- Transfer chicken from the slow cooker to a cutting board and let cool.
- Whisk arrowroot powder with water until it dissolves. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the slow cooker and stir together until smooth.
- Turn slow cooker to High and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Once chicken is cool enough to touch, shredded chicken using two forks. Once shredded, add back into the slow cooker with the sauce and toss to combine. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken and serve. I like serving the shredded teriyaki chicken over rice with broccoli on the side.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks so good! Do you have the cooking information for using an Instant Pot?
Hi Taryn. Unforunately I don’t at this time, but it’s something I’ll look into. Let me know if you try making it in the Instant Pot.
I made this in my Instant Pot last night and it was incredible! I also marinated the chicken in the sauce for 12 hours prior to cooking. I’m not sure if that was necessary but it didn’t hurt!
To cook in the Instant Pot, I set to Saute and cooked the chicken on each side for 3 mins each. Then I set to high pressure and cooked for 10 mins and did a natural pressure release. I also added some carrots into the pot to cook along with the chicken.
This will be a regular dinner in my house for sure!
The fam finished this so quickly, I didn’t get a chance to take a photo! This was so easy to make and the chicken was tender and flavourful. My son is addicted to processed food, and he loved this fresh “clean” dish. Thanks! Will be trying out more recipes very soon.
Weekly staple in our house. Husband and all 3 kids love it! We fight over the leftovers. 🙂
Oh yay! I’m so glad you and your husband love this recipe, Jill. Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it! <3
This recipe was so delicious and easy!! We loved it over white rice with steamed broccoli. I adapted the recipe a bit so I could cook it in my instant pot with frozen chicken breast, and we didn’t have chili garlic sauce. So instead I added a splash of vinegar and a dash of red pepper flakes to replace the chili garlic sauce. I placed my frozen chicken in the bottom of my instant pot, poured the sauce over them, added 1/3-1/2 cup of water to make sure it could to build to pressure, and cooked it on high pressure for 15 min. It was perfect!! The sauce still thickened up nicely with the extra water. So if you need a quick meal and don’t have chili garlic sauce, give these tweaks a try!
Woot woot!! So glad you’re loving all the recipes!! You’re the best for coming back to leave comments and star ratings. <3 <3 <3
Delicious! Perfect for meal prep!
Easy.Delicious!
Sons working from home now have asked me to make this again, and again. We’ve eaten it 3X in two weeks. Last night: served it over brown rice with steamed broccoli and lemon oil! The only negative is there is just scraps left over,
Once we made the sauce and put it over smoked pulled pork from Costco (not as good as the chicken, but it was tasty)
Brittany makes me look like a good cook! Thank you!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad this recipe has been a hit with your son. Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. It means the world to me!
Soooo good 😃 I made mine in pressure cooker and added some dried crushed chilies and grated fresh ginger. Very good highly recommend!
Woo! So glad this recipe turned out in the pressure cooker. Thanks for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it.
I actually only did up to step #4 and it was delicious! Thank you! Next time I’ll finish all the steps 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe, Melinda! Thanks for the review. I appreciate it!
This turned out delicious and had so much flavor! I didn’t have the chili garlic sauce but subbed a splash of ACV and dash of red pepper flakes as mentioned below and it turned out really tasty. Will definitely be making again. Thank you 🙂
Woo! So glad to hear you loved this recipe, Cristina! Glad the swap worked out for you. Thanks for sharing and coming back to leave a review and star rating, I really appreciate it.
Can you use frozen chicken breasts?
Hi Emily – You will need more time if cooking frozen chicken breasts, but it should work. Also, there will be some additional liquid from the thawing of the chicken. Hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know if you give it a try!