Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, & Soy Free
This Teriyaki Chicken is SO easy to make and tastes amazing! It can be made in the slow cooker or Instant pot and also makes a super easy freezer meal!
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I was really craving Chinese food the other night. Since takeout isn’t really an option for me anymore with all of my food allergies, I knew I needed to come up with something I could make at home.
I was also really busy that day so I needed something easy that I could throw together quickly.
Something that I used to make all the time before my food allergies was slow cooker teriyaki chicken.
I would buy a thing of premade teriyaki sauce from the store and dump it in a slow cooker with some chicken and let it cook all day. It was delicious!
I had yet to find an allergy friendly teriyaki sauce at the store so I knew if I wanted teriyaki chicken then I was going to have to figure out how to make my own.
It turns out it is super easy and I almost always have the ingredients needed in my pantry.
So I whipped up some homemade teriyaki sauce and poured it in my instant pot with a pound of chicken breast and let it cook.
Since I was in a hurry, I decided to use my pressure cook option instead of slow cooking it so it would be ready in 20 minutes.
You can also slow cook the chicken in the teriyaki sauce and get the same result.
I was so excited when I took my first bite of this teriyaki chicken. It was so delicious and tasted so much better than it used to when I would use the store bought sauce.
I love making my own sauces at home so I can control exactly what goes in it. I can reduce the sodium or adjust the flavors to get it exactly how my family likes it.
I also would have never guessed how easy it would be to make sauces like this at home and how much better they taste homemade.
What are some of your favorite sauces to make at home?
This teriyaki sauce is definitely at the top of my list as well as my homemade enchilada sauce.
I can’t wait to try more homemade sauces in the future. I hope you all love this teriyaki chicken recipe as much as my family does!
♥ Don’t forget to rate this recipe and leave a comment below if you give this recipe a try! ♥
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Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, & Soy Free
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 3 hrs
- Total Time: 3 hrs 15 min
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 – 2 lbs chicken breast
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or other gluten free soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup of water, coconut sugar, coco aminos, honey, garlic, and ginger and heat over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water together until the cornstarch has dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce pan and whisk to combine.
- Heat the sauce for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker and pour sauce over the chicken to coat evenly. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. If cooking in an Instant Pot, add the chicken and sauce to the pressure cooker, close the lid and make sure you are NOT venting. Select the Poultry setting which should be pre-programmed to cook for 20 minutes.
- Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker and shred with two forks or chop with a sharp knife into small pieces.
To Freeze and Cook Later
- In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup of water, coconut sugar, coco aminos, honey, garlic, and ginger and heat over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water together until the cornstarch has dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce pan and whisk to combine.
- Heat the sauce for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Once the sauce has cooled, combine the teriyaki sauce and chicken breast in a gallon-sized plastic freezer bag and freeze for up to to three months.
- When ready to cook, thaw overnight in refrigerator.
- Follow cooking directions above.
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Is there an alternative to the cornstarch? Could I use a gf flour to thicken instead?
Hi Josi, you should be able to use any other type of starch like tapioca, arrowroot, or potato. You could also probably use brown rice flour if you cannot have any type of starch.
For the ginger— ground ginger or minced?
Hi Kellsey, I use ground ginger in this recipe.