SLOW COOKER TERIYAKI CHICKEN

July 25, 2012

Slow cookers can’t do everything. As a society, we must acknowledge this. When you throw lots of different parts of a dish in there and then you have a whole dish that is one weird mono-flavor, I don’t think the convenience of a crockpot ended up being worth it. AND YET slow cookers have their uses. Soups, yes. They are great for that. Also anything where the entire dish is intended to be all the same flavor, like a sauce.

And meat! Flavorful, shred-able meat is something I use mine for often.

For instance, downright lovely slow cooker chicken teriyaki. I like it with plain white rice and maybe a vegetable. The most popular dish to use it in among readers is this chicken fried rice.

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki
Serves five to six

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Place chicken breasts in the base of slow cooker.

Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger powder, and pepper.

Pour sauce over chicken breasts.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Shred chicken.

Note: This recipe was updated January 18, 2018, but the old version is in the comments!

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

5.0 from 11 reviews
SLOW COOKER TERIYAKI CHICKEN
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Place chicken breasts in the base of slow cooker.
  2. Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger powder, and pepper.
  3. Pour sauce over chicken breasts.
  4. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Shred chicken.

Leave a Comment

Rate this recipe:  

Comments

  • Daria

    This is delicious! I totally forgot this recipe needs to be slow cooked, so when dinner time came, I instead marinated the chicken for an hour in the sauce and then cooked it in the pan. So yum

  • One of my daughter’s favorites and a regular go to for a quick dinner. I make it in the Instant Pot.

  • margaret

    Hi! If we want to add veggies in the crockpot, when should we do that to make sure they are perfectly cooked? Ps-fresh veggies, not frozen. Thanks!

    • Rachel Schultz

      About the halfway mark!

  • Barb

    Why longer coming time? From 2 hours on high to 5-6 hours ?

  • Kelli

    I was wondering if the old recipe means brown sugar or regular sugar. I’d like to try both and compare. Thanks!

  • Sharon

    I have no idea how old this post even is, but I noticed that in the printable version of the (newer) recipe, the ingredients are actually listed twice.

    • Rachel Schultz

      Fixed!

  • Rhianna

    Why the change in cooking time?
    2 hours on High to Now 5-6 hours on high!??
    Please clarify/explain? :) Thank you!! Love the original recipe because it was easy and I always have those ingredients. I WANT to try the new recipe!! Just a bit curious as to the new cooking time.

    • Rachel Schultz

      Can definitely still use the old method!

    • Anonymous

      Same
      Here

  • Tarrah

    Did this recipe change? I have been making this for several years with her Better than Take Out Fried Rice. It used to be “cook on high 2hrs”……I think she added ingredients too? Am I crazy? It is a wonderful recipe & my kids love it.

    • Rachel Schultz

      Yes I updated it! Here is the old one though : )

      4 chicken breasts
      1/2 cup sugar
      1/2 cup soy sauce
      3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
      3/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
      Salt & pepper

      Whisk together sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and arrange in basin of slow cooker. Pour sauce over chicken and cook on high for two hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred with two forks. Serve with vegetables and steamed rice.

      • Anonymous

        Why the changes? Do u find the update was better? Been making the original recipe for ever n luv it! Open to try it the new way, though.

        • Rachel Schultz

          Both are good! The newer one has a bit more complex flavor :)

      • Ani

        Does the old recipe call for regular sugar or brown sugar? You said “sugar” I could’ve sworn the old recipe used brown sugar?

      • Anonymous

        Hello just wondering if the old recipe used regular sugar or brown sugar? Thanks

    • Anonymous

      I thought I was going crazy! Noticed the change, too!

  • Indira

    I love this recipe! I like to add red pepper flakes to give it an extra bit of heat!

  • Karin

    Actually amazing. For some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be so good but I just saved the recipe so I could make this with that fried rice all the time. Thanks!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Great!

  • Mary Jo Thompson

    Can you make this without the sugar?

    • Anonymous

      I use honey instead of sugar when I make it.

  • Amy

    Is there nutritional info?

  • Virginia

    This chicken looks yummy! Would you have an alternative procedure to make it in the oven or on the stove, as my crock pot is not in function? Thank you!

  • John

    Is nutritional information available?

  • Melissa

    Just wanted to tell you I’ve made this several times with your fried rice recipe! Amazing! It’s my go to recipe now!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Great! Thanks Melissa

      • Janean

        If using this teriyaki chicken in the fried rice recipe, do you still add the soy sauce that the fried rice calls for also (in addition to the soy sauce in the teriyaki chicken recipe)?

  • NJG

    Very tasty. Going to make it again with the fried rice. I’m going to see what it’s like after letting the chicken steep for awhile in the pot part of my cooker in the fridge overnight. Really want to get as much flavor as I can into the meat.

  • Lindsey

    What do you do with the leftover sauce, anything creative? Or another meal?

    • Grant

      We reduced the liquid to almost the thickness of a glaze by simmering over medium high heat. Holy crap was it delicious.

  • We are making this tonight to add to our chicken fried rice! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.

  • sara

    I had pinned a yummy recipe from your site, for tangy thai chicken sandwichew, using this slow cooker teriyaki. I can’t seem to find the recipe, though, it seems to have been removed. Is it still available? Thank you!

  • Rebecca

    How big are your chicken breasts? I’ve gotten ones that are just under a half a pound, and some that are over a pound. So 4 chicken breasts doesn’t tell me a whole lot. Any idea how much chicken (by weight) you used?

    • Jan Osborn

      I had the same problem with the weight of chicken breasts until I read some USDA information on the weight of chicken breasts. If it is a skinless, boneless chicken breast, it has one lobe and weighs on average of 5.25 ounces. A bone-in chicken breast has 2 lobes and weighs on average 10.5 ounces, about twice as much as a boneless, skinless breast. This has been true since about 1985.

  • Ann

    what size crockpot do you use?

  • Jennifer

    Should the chicken be frozen or thawed?

    • Anonymous

      Always thawed chicken.

  • Anonymous

    This chicken was DELICIOUS! Even my extremely picky toddler is eating it which surprised me because he doesn’t eat anything that isn’t Mac N Cheese!

    I served it over the recipie here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jap-chae-korean-glass-noodles/

    I also served this with homemade crab rangoons. Epic meal!

  • Britani

    Why are the comments on your site not viewable??

  • danielle

    I cannotn see the comments

  • Janet

    Made this tonight and LOVED it! Will be making the chicken fried rice this week! Thanks for sharing!

  • Janet

    Do you use apple cider vinegar or regular vinegar?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Apple cider vinegar

  • Michelle

    Made this recently and I have to say it’s the best teriyaki chicken I’ve ever had!
    I set some aside to use in the chicken fried rice recipe and that was also a huge hit!
    I had plenty of leftovers and was able freeze them.

  • Cathy

    I made this recipe in my All American Sun Oven (solar cooking) and it was wonderful! I made the chicken in one pot for 1.5 hours and then added the rice in an additional pot for another hour. My solar oven cooked at about 300° and it was perfect. Thank you! I was going to use the left overs in your fried rice, but we ate the leftovers before any fried rice could be made.

  • your pictures of recipe shows veggies that are not in the recipe, are they added later?? shouldn’ t the\ veggies be added in to the recipe??

  • Diana

    Should it be apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar?

    • Anonymous

      Apple cider

  • Christopher

    I don’t have a slow cooker. How could I do this in a dutch oven?

  • shon

    You Rock that Cashew Chicken is happening tonight.

    • Rachel Schultz

      Thanks! Enjoy :)

  • Chris

    LOVE this recipe! So easy and delicious – making it for at least the 3rd time tonight!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Cool! Enjoy.

  • I love your recipes! This recipe with the fried rice is requested over and over by everyone in my family! So easy and simple, but best of all YUMMY!! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Thanks Leighann!

  • Thanks Rachel for posting this delicious recipe! I’m newly married and not really a fan of cooking! LOL Your recipe helps me a lot!!!! My husband loved what I cooked and it’s all because of your tips ;-)

    • Rachel Schultz

      That’s really nice, thanks!

  • Melanie

    I judge the quality of everything based on my 7 year old’s reaction: unsolicited positive response=really good, solicited positive=pretty good, wrinkled nose=not good, but I’ll suffer through it, negative response=TERRIBLE! When I made this last night, he put one forkful in his mouth and announced “This is DELICIOUS! Will you please make this again tomorrow?!?!” It’s a hit!

  • Tina

    I love that you do not over cook the chicken. Cooking chicken in the slow cooker for 4 or even 6 hours changes the texture in a way that I do not like.

    I will try the recipe this week with the fried rice one if yours. It looks yummy.

    • Rachel Schultz

      Thanks! I agree.

  • Julie

    Planning on making this with your fried rice recipe. Do you know if I use a dutch oven for the chicken what temp and how long to cook it?

  • Leslie K

    I’m thinking about making this tonight. If I put it on low or medium in my crockpot. Do you think it would be around 4 hours?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Yes! Good luck.

  • Vanessa

    I know this is probably a really dumb question, but because.Ive never really cooked i was wondering would the chicken cook without any oil or water in the slow cooker?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Not dumb at all! Different people have different opinions on this, but I put stuff in the slow cooker with no water all the time.

  • Rick

    Do I need to use cidar vinegar, can I skip this or maybe
    Sub another ingredient

    • Rachel Schultz

      It’s fine if you skip it, although the flavor will be a little different.

  • Veronica

    I love your recipes, however, I have scrolled up and down, down and up and there is no icon for printing your recipes. Do you plan on making your blog a bit more user friendly by providing an option to print your recipes?

    • Rachel Schultz

      The icon is green and gray at the bottom of each post. You must be on an individual post’s page to view it (rather than the home page). It is in the row of icons next to the facebook, twitter etc. logos above the comments section. Thanks for notifying me. If you find that it’s not appearing, I apologize. Please wait a few moments and refresh the page.

  • Michelle

    Is there a faster way to cook the chicken?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Two hours is pretty fast for a slow cooker!

  • Amy

    What are you thoughts about cooking the vegetables in the crock pot with the chicken and sauce?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Go for it!

  • Sarah

    Delicious! I can’t wait until I have a bit more time to make the fried rice with it! Just curious, have you ever tried something to substitute the sugar? I’d love to try and make it a bit healthier.

    • Rachel Schultz

      I haven’t. Any ideas?

      • Anonymous

        I replaced it with splenda….we will see

    • Sarah

      I use honey for this recipe and it is de-lic-ous!

  • Angela

    *you’re

  • Angela

    Hi! Probably a stupid question, but are the chicken breasts your using about 4 oz’s each?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Not stupid! Yes, they’re probably about that size.

  • Mig

    Can you use honey insted of sugar?

    • Rachel Schultz

      Yes.

      • I noticed someone mentioned substituting sugar with honey…should there be less honey used than the original amount of sugar considering how potent honey is? Or can it be the same amount? I don’t want to overdo it, but I’m also slightly new to cooking field…

  • Love this recipe! I came across it the other week on Pinterest, posted it to my food board, and then decided to try it out last night. It was beyond delicious and SO easy! I posted about it on my blog today as well and linked it back to your page! Thanks for sharing! I love your blog and all the great recipe posts!

    Vanessa

    • Rachel Schultz

      Great! Thank you.

  • Holly Palmer

    Hi! This looks delicious. I am curious though – and maybe I missed something – what are the chunks in the sauce? They look like apples. Thanks!

    • Francesca

      The chunks in the sauce are the minced garlic I would presume.

      • Rachel Schultz

        Correct.

        • Anonymous

          I agree they do look like apples. It’s definitely more than 3/4 teaspoon. However, I made both this and the fried rice and they were both delicious. Thank you!!

  • Suzanne Boyd

    What would you recommend as a cooking substitute for the slow cooker?

    • Brandy Weaver

      Dutch Oven

  • jessica

    Ok I’m relatively new to cooking, my boyfriend usually does all the cooking. I know right? lol Anywho, I was wondering if I didn’t have the minced garlic on hand could I use powdered garlic instead?

    • Rachel Schultz

      It wouldn’t be exactly the same, but would still work fine.

  • C

    If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had some Filipino genes, or at least some Filipino friends who may have helped you tweak the original recipe. You’ve stumbled upon a very common dish in the Philippines called “chicken adobo” http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=chicken+adobo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

    Delicious! Happy cooking!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Haha! No Filipino genes that I know of. That’s great to hear, though. Thanks!

  • Trying this tomorrow! Thanks!

    • Rachel Schultz

      Great! Hope it’s to your liking :)
      xo
      rach

  • Elisa

    We just made this for dinner and it was FABULOUS. Followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfectly. I am thrilled! We will be making this again for sure.

    This was the first recipe of yours I made, and I loved how simple it was yet delicious. I will also be following your site closely in the future!

    Thank you and great job!

    Elisa

    • Rachel Schultz

      Thanks, Elisa! Glad to see you around the site :)

      xo
      rach

  • Rachel

    This might be my new go-to meal! I used 2.3 lbs of chicken breasts with the same amount of sauce, though I cut the sugar to 1/2 cup. I shredded the cooked chicken and put atop steamed rice with sautéed veggies to make a rice bowl. SO GOOD.

    • Rachel

      I also put in chunk of ginger, which I pulled out after.

  • *drool* that looks good! So simple too.
    x

  • That sounds and looks delicious and such a simple recipe to do :)

  • Anonymous

    This recipe looks great….I don’t have enough soy sauce to double it but I do have a teriyaki sauce from the same company as the soy sauce…if I use the teriyaki sauce to substitute soy sauce, do I eliminate any other ingredients from the sauce?

  • hannah.ettema

    Looks like a great recipe. Were our chicken breasts frozen when you put them in the slow cooker?

    • They were thawed when I put them in but its possible they would work frozen too. I’m not sure. Let me know if you try it and it works!

      xo
      rach

  • Melissa

    Can I substitute rice vinegar for the cider vinegar? If so, you think I can still use 3 Tbs?

  • If you double this would you double everything including the sauce?

    • I have not made a double portion, but I would think doubling the sauce too would be best. Thanks for reading and your comment!

      Love,
      Rach

  • Jen

    made the chicken tonight…Yum!!
    thanks for sharing

  • What does your average weekly grocery budget end up looking like? It seems like you manage to do a lot of cooking on a fairly tight budget.

    • Thanks! We agree, it DOES seem like we get to eat a lot for not very much! We budget $100 for groceries each week, so $400 for the month. We use meal planning which really helps. I post our weekly meal plans and how much that week cost. It usually turns out to be less than $100. Which is nice :) Thanks for commenting, Laura.

      Love,
      Rach

      • Jackie

        The whole family enjoyed this recipe! Used half low-sodium and half regular, it was great :) Thank you!

        • Rachel Schultz

          Good tip! Thanks.

Copyright © Rachel Schultz 2024

PRIVACY POLICY