Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

Crockpot teriyaki chicken thighs are boneless thighs cooked on low for 3 to 4 hours in a homemade sauce of soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar, then coated in that sauce after a cornstarch slurry thickens it to a glaze.

The glaze is what separates this from most slow cooker teriyaki.

Straight out of the cooker the sauce is thin, because the thighs give off close to a cup of liquid, so a final stretch on high with a cornstarch slurry is what turns it glossy and thick enough to cling to the chicken instead of pooling under the rice.

The sauce uses nothing you cannot find at a regular grocery store.

Start to finish it is about 4 hours on low, including the thickening at the end.

Why You’ll Love It

• Homemade teriyaki from six pantry ingredients, no bottled sauce
• Low for 3 to 4 hours or high for 2 to 2 1/2
• A real glaze, not a watery sauce
• Serves 6 over rice
• Works as a freezer meal, raw thighs and sauce frozen together in a bag
• Gluten-free with tamari in place of soy sauce

Ingredients

For the Chicken

2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)

For the Teriyaki Sauce

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the Glaze and Serving

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

3 green onions, thinly sliced

Cooked white or brown rice, for serving

Steps

1. Grate the ginger on a microplane grater, skin and all, since the fibers that a knife leaves behind disappear when it is grated this fine.

2. Whisk the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, honey, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and pepper in a bowl until the sugar dissolves.

3. Lay the thighs in a 6-quart slow cooker in a single layer and pour the sauce over them, turning each thigh once so both sides are wet.

4. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours or high for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the thickest thigh reads 175°F (79°C) on an instant-read thermometer.

5. Check at 3 hours, because boneless thighs left past 5 hours turn stringy even sitting in sauce.

6. Move the thighs to a cutting board and leave them whole, slice them into 1-inch strips or shred them with two forks, whichever you want on the rice.

7. Spoon off the layer of fat floating on the cooking liquid with a wide spoon, since thighs render a fair amount and it keeps the glaze from going glossy.

8. Turn the cooker to high, whisk the cornstarch and cold water in a small cup until smooth, and stir the slurry into the liquid.

9. Cover and cook on high for 20 minutes, stirring halfway, until the sauce turns shiny and thick enough to leave a trail when you drag a spoon through it.

10. If you are short on time, pour the liquid into a 2-quart saucepan instead, stir in the slurry and simmer over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

11. Return the chicken to the cooker and turn it in the glaze until every piece is coated.

12. Serve over rice with the sesame seeds and green onions scattered on top.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

Use low-sodium soy sauce, because the sauce reduces as it thickens and regular soy sauce ends up too salty to eat with plain rice.

Keep both the brown sugar and the honey, since the brown sugar brings the molasses depth and the honey is what gives the glaze its shine.

Ground ginger works at 1 teaspoon, but fresh gives the sharp, clean heat that bottled teriyaki never has.

Apple cider vinegar can stand in for the rice vinegar in the same amount, and 1 tablespoon of mirin added to the sauce makes it taste closer to a Japanese restaurant version.

Always mix the cornstarch into cold water before it goes in, since dry cornstarch stirred into hot sauce lumps and never smooths out.

For charred edges, lay the glazed thighs on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil 3 to 4 minutes, because the slow cooker alone will never caramelize the sugar.

Boneless chicken breasts work but need only 2 1/2 to 3 hours on low and should come out at 165°F (74°C), and they are noticeably drier than thighs in this sauce.

Tamari or coconut aminos make it gluten-free, but coconut aminos are sweeter and less salty, so add 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and cut the honey to 1 tablespoon.

For heat, whisk 1 teaspoon of sriracha or 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes into the sauce at the start.

Pineapple chunks, about 1 cup, can go in with the slurry for the last 20 minutes.

Serving Ideas

Build rice bowls with the sliced thighs, steamed broccoli, sliced cucumber and a spoon of extra glaze, and a 6-cup rice cooker times the rice to finish with the chicken.

Shredded, it works in lettuce wraps with shredded carrot and a squeeze of lime.

If you like this style of sauce, the crockpot bourbon chicken is the sweeter, boozier cousin made the same way.

For more in the same lane, the 11 crockpot Asian chicken dinners rounds up ten more that run on a similar timeline.

Leftovers chopped small and tossed into fried rice with a scrambled egg and frozen peas make a second dinner in 10 minutes.

Steamed edamame or a quick cucumber salad with rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar are the easiest sides.

Make-Ahead & Storage

For a freezer meal, put the raw thighs and the whisked sauce in a gallon zip bag, press out the air and freeze flat for up to 3 months, then thaw overnight in the fridge and cook as written.

Do not cook it from frozen, since the thighs sit too long in the unsafe range between 40 and 140°F (4 and 60°C) before the cooker catches up.

The sauce alone keeps 1 week in a jar in the fridge, so it is worth doubling for a second batch.

Cooked leftovers keep 4 days in the fridge in glass meal prep containers, with the rice stored separately so it does not soak up all the glaze.

The glaze sets firm when cold, so reheat in a covered skillet over medium-low with a tablespoon of water per serving until it loosens and coats the chicken again.

Cooked chicken and glaze freeze for 3 months, but the cornstarch can turn the sauce thin after thawing, so simmer it 2 minutes with a fresh slurry of 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon water if that happens.

Get leftovers into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking rather than leaving them on the warm setting.

The 20 minutes with the slurry is the step people skip, and it is the difference between teriyaki chicken and chicken sitting in brown liquid.

Sliced thighs hold the glaze better than shredded ones, so slice if you are making rice bowls and shred only if the chicken is going into wraps or fried rice.