By Katie Mae Stanley, Contributing Writer
Chicken is gently flavored with an easy and simple homemade teriyaki sauce and then cooked in a crock-pot. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables and you have a lovely meal for a busy night!
In our busy lives, it is very tempting to get food out or settle for processed foods to save on time. Those may be fine for the occasional treat, but our bodies need nourishing foods on a regular basis to thrive. Few things weaken the body more than poor food choices. But I understand those busy days where it’s hard to get food on the table. Believe me, I’ve had many of those days myself.
I want to share with you the two appliances that have been instrumental in getting nourishing food on the table in the busy seasons of life. My crock-pot (affiliate links, Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker is a great brand to use) and rice cooker (I love my Vitaclay Rice Cooker) are two of my best friends. Okay, maybe not my friends, but as far as appliances go they are right up there with my Blendtec and grain mill! Crock-pots and rice cookers allow you to prepare nourishing meals that you can fix and forget. Many of these appliances are now programmable to keep food hot for up to 12 hours after the food has finished cooking.
The options are endless when you are cooking in a crock-pot, but this teriyaki recipe is one of my favorites. Teriyaki is bursting with flavor with the perfect balance of sweet and savory. Kimi shared a tip for the easiest marinade ever, soy sauce (or tamari) and unrefined sugar of choice (such as coconut sugar). It can’t get any easier than that, right? For this dish, I followed that basic idea and added a bit of ginger since I love the pop of flavor it adds. If you don’t feel like adding ginger, it is totally optional.
Have you ever gotten teriyaki rice bowls? I remember loving them in high school, and they were so tasty! I haven’t had one in years but decided that is was time to have one again in the convenience of my home. My trusty crock-pot and rice cooker made this a very easy meal to throw together with almost no work. I chose to steam some broccoli for about 10 minutes to go with my rice bowl but you could use any vegetable you have one hand.
Here are a few more teriyaki dishes:
- 3 Ingredient Pan Fried Teriyaki Chicken
- Teriyaki Wings (Gluten and Refined Sugar Free)
- Simple Teriyaki Wings
- Crock-pot Chicken Teriyaki with Pineapple
- 2 pounds chicken breast or thighs, boneless and skinless
- ¾ cup soy sauce or tamari (use tamari for gluten free option)
- ⅓ cup sucanat or coconut sugar (palm sugar)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 4 green onions, chopped (optional)
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
- Mix the soy sauce or tamari, sugar of choice, water and grated ginger in a cup or small bowl.
- Place the chicken in a crock-pot. Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken.
- Cover with the lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
- Slice the chicken once it is done cooking.
- Serve with white rice and steamed broccoli.
- If desired garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!