Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

Published May 30, 2012. Updated March 22, 2024

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Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken is tender, saucy chicken that is perfectly cooked with almost no effort. With a little bit of prep and quickly cooking up some fluffy white rice, you’ll have a fantastic and easy weeknight meal. 

The easiest slow cooker teriyaki chicken! It’s deliciously tender and packed with flavor. A recipe the whole family can agree.

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki

Weeknight Crockpot Meals

Slow cooker meals, aren’t they just amazing? Throw the food in, say goodbye, then several hours later say hello to dinner. It really doesn’t get much easier. I saw this photo/recipe on foodgawker.com and new I had to try it.

I think I’ve finally realized another reason I love slow cooker meals, because I always have dessert after dinner so if I’m making dessert it’s nice to have a simple dinner to throw together. Also, I can never get over how tender and flavorful the meat is that’s been slowly simmered all day in the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

I’m a sucker for a good chicken teriyaki dish, and I love to try it at different Japanese restaurants whenever I can. This crockpot version is so easy and delicious, because the sauce has time to really soak into the chicken—which is tender and packed with protein.

If you have a rice cooker or instant pot, you can quickly whip up some fresh, fluffy rice and get this on the table in under 20 minutes (with just a little prep work to get it started in the slow cooker in the morning). It’s a perfect weeknight meal for a family, since it’s satisfying and healthy and can be served whenever the family or individual members are ready to eat.

Slow cooker Chicken Teriyaki

I might also serve this with other Asian side dishes that I love, like potstickers, egg rolls, wontons, or fried rice! Enjoy!

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5 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

The easiest slow cooker teriyaki chicken! It's deliciously tender and packed with flavor. A recipe the whole family can agree.
Servings: 6
Prep15 minutes
Cook4 hours 20 minutes
Ready in: 4 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place chicken in a slow cooker, set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, light-brown sugar, honey, orange marmalade, ginger, garlic and pepper. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker, cover with lid and cook on low heat 4 - 5 hours. 
  • Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred. Strain sauce from slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. In a small mixing bowl whisk together 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water and cornstarch. Pour cornstarch mixture into liquid in saucepan and heat mixture over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to gently boil. 
  • Allow mixture to gently boil about 20 seconds until thickened. Return chicken to slow cooker and pour teriyaki sauce from saucepan over chicken. Toss mixture gently to evenly coat. Serve warm over cooked rice garnished with optional sesame seeds and serve with diced fresh pineapple if desired.
  • Recipe Source: slightly adapted from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Notes

*Adjust soy sauce to taste, sub unsalted chicken stock for soy sauce to reach desired level of saltiness.

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91 Comments

  • Kelsey McBride

    I made this recipe tonight and it turned out perfectly!!! Thanks for sharing your easy to follow recipe. This one is a keeper. Can’t wait to make it again soon! Only one small thing, the sauce was delicious, but I just wish it would’ve been a little thicker. Do you think I should try adding more starch next time? Or what do you think I should do differently next time to make it a little thicker? Thanks!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’m glad you liked this Kelsey! And yes, next time if you want the sauce a little thicker I’d use a little more cornstarch.

  • JANNE

    I tried the slow cooker recipie with regular soy sauce and it was great, although I added more orange marmalade, and brown sugar to offset the sodium. We loved it! Thanks for making this website!!!! I’m newly married and my cooking skills are not the sharpest, but this website recipies are basically easy as 1-2-3!!!! Thank you sooooo much. I also tried the cookie dough frosing, the chocolate buttercream, and every one raved about it from my church. These are the best recipes!!!!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed my site Janne:)! Congrats on the marriage! And thanks for the tips for this recipe!

  • Tammie

    Made this for dinner. It was wonderful Everyone enjoyed it. Thank you.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      You’re welcome Tammie! I’m glad you everyone liked it :)!

  • Corey

    Made this last night, it was delicious. I used frozen chicken breasts right from the freezer and it worked like a charm! Talk about easy. No thawing required. Will make again and again. Thanks!!

  • Kilee LeBlanc

    I made this tonight for dinner and it was really good! I was terrified that it might be too salty but it was perfect… sweet and tangy. I added canned pineapple chunks at the end too. It only took 4 hours in the slow cooker on low. Thanks for the recipe!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’m so happy to hear you liked this Kilee! Thanks for your comment!

  • A

    I made this tonight and am sad to report it was inedible. I make a lot of Asian inspired dishes and use my crockpot every week, not sure what went wrong here. I used whole chicken breasts and they were severely dried out (didn’t cook the whole 5-6 hours). The sauce was SO salty. I have a pretty salty pallet, thus have a high tolerance for salty food, but it was so awful we threw out the whole pot. I am so disappointed bc I was really looking forward to this dish.

  • Cassandra

    Just wondering…I don’t have fresh ginger, but have ground ginger for baking. Would I put in the 1Tbsp still or less?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’d use much less of the dried ginger probably 3/4 tsp. Hope that helps!

  • Jocelyn

    This is delicious! I used rice wine vinegar instead of the apple cider vinegar. I know I will be making this again.

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      Rice wine vinegar would definitely be a good choice for this, thanks for your comment Jocelyn! I’m glad you enjoyed this!