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!
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So simple, huh? Definitely going to try for a mid week meal soon.
Sometimes simple things are my favorite!
I feel like this is a silly question, but do you cut up the meat before you put it in the slow cooker, or wait until after it is cooked to slice it up?
Oh, that’s a great question Amber! I’ll ask Katie to answer that one for you!
It’s not a silly question at all! I left it out, I am so glad you caught that! You slice the meat after you cook it. The recipe is fixed now.
This looks great but I was wondering how I could adapt it so that I could use up the frozen cooked chicken I have in the freezer?
Yes, but you would have to decrease the cooking time. I’m guessing an hour on low.
This sounds delicious! Thanks for posting Katie Mae. I have a question though – I prefer chicken with the skin on and bone in. You did not specify whether to use boneless/skinless, or skin on/bone in. The cooking time varies greatly depending on which you use.
It was skinless/boneless. I’m sorry that I didn’t make that clear. I love the flavor from the bone and skin but I like the simplicity of not having them for this dish.
Wow, It’s my favorite i never tried to make this but i want to taste this as well!
I see you say to use coconut sugar, you should say to use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. Much better for you and it tastes just like soy sauce! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
This looks delicious!! I love using my crock pot. I am pinning your recipe, thanks for sharing.
🙂 Dawn