Easy Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

I’m not a huge fan of crockpots. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great for chili, potato soup, and rotel queso dip, but for actual dinner entrees I’ve never understood the appeal. But my dinner diet of prepared ravioli and sauteed kale needed a little shake-up.

The key was finding a good crockpot recipe to test that sounded good and didn’t utilize ingredients like cream-based can soups and cream cheese—those just aren’t things I like to put in my body when I can avoid it. Since I love Asian food, this recipe was intriguing and didn’t call for all sorts of crazy ingredients.

If you’re using chicken thighs, just place them in the crockpot. You could put the chicken breasts in whole too, but I cut them into big chunks to make them easier to deal with later on.

To mix up your sauce, start with the soy sauce.

Add in the spices, sugar, vinegar, and garlic. This would be the point when you (I) realize that you (I) aren’t supposed to put the cornstarch in yet. Don’t be like me.

Mix up the sauce and pour over the chicken in the crockpot.

You can also add veggies if desired. I had red, yellow, and orange bell peppers on hand, so threw those in. You could also add broccoli, snow peas, etc. Think along stir fry lines.

Turn  the crockpot on once everything’s assembled—high if you only have like 4 hours, low if you’re cooking it much longer than that. I cooked overnight for about 6 hours, so had it on low.

When cooking is done, separate out the meat pieces (cut up or shred as desired). Drain off the liquid in order to thicken it up.

Mmmmm meat.

You can be like me and forget to drain the liquid at first, it’s messier that way.

Put the liquid in a saucepan and turn on medium or medium-high. Bring to a simmer boil (not full rolling boil) and mix up the cornstarch and lukewarm water together, then add to the boiling liquid. Lower heat, and stir until it thickens. I am really bad at thickening things.

Pour the thickened sauce back in with the chicken. I threw brown rice in the rice cooker with some chicken stock and served with that. It ended up being a great, easy worknight dinner! Would be great to stir fry up the leftovers (both rice and chicken/sauce) on another night too.

Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

• 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3 pounds); I used about 2-3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 6 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 4 1/2 teaspoons cold water
• Hot cooked long grain, jasmine, or brown rice
• Other vegetables (such as red pepper, snow peas, etc.)

1. Place chicken in a crockpot.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, soy sauce, cider vinegar, ginger, garlic and pepper. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender.
4. Remove chicken to a serving platter; keep warm.  Skim fat from cooking liquid if there’s a lot of it.
5. Place liquid in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Combine cornstarch and water until smooth.  Gradually stir into liquid and stir until sauce is thickened.
6. Pour back into chicken, serve with rice.

Original recipe here