Honey Teriyaki Chicken Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Recipe – 5 Weight Watchers Points

4.64 / 5 ( 52 Reviews )
87 Comments Jump to Recipe

Honey teriyaki chicken instant pot

Slow Cooker OR Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken

I’ve found it for you! A healthy, easy, and delicious chicken recipe. Even better, this teriyaki chicken is made in a slow cooker or an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, so it is super easy! It is one of our favorite chicken instant pot recipes. It is also one of 30 healthy pressure cooker recipes that we love! If you’re doing the Weight Watchers program, this recipe comes in at five freestyle points!

Ingredients for honey teriyaki chicken

Easy Homemade Teriyaki Sauce:

No bottled teriyaki sauce here, folks. Sure, that would be easy, but this homemade teriyaki sauce isn’t hard to make and it is a much better choice if you’re interested in reducing refined sugars and preservatives in your food.

Bonus tip: to be extra healthy, serve with brown rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa.

Chicken marinating in instant pot

This is one of the first recipes I tried in the Instant Pot. It had me at hello! 😀 This instant pot recipe is a breeze to put together and speeds up getting dinner on the table. I only had to cook the chicken for about 15 minutes. And it is cool that you can just thicken up the sauce really quick in there too.

Sometimes (or a lot of times) my dinner planning skills are just not up to par and I end up looking for something quick and easy that I can throw together at the last hour. Of course, the Instant Pot is perfect for those kinds of days. Am I right or am I right!?

Shredded teriyaki chicken

How Much Chicken Does this Recipe Make?

When I use 3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, I end up with about 8 cups of shredded teriyaki chicken with this recipe. Hope that helps to give you an idea of how much you’ll end up with!

If I have a lot of leftovers, I’ll portion and bag it up then throw it in the FREEZER for another night. PERFECT!

I have the Instant Pot 7-in-1 Pressure Cooker, 6-Quart. Last time it went on sale, I snagged one for myself and am loving it! You can see if there are any instant pot deals on our online deals database!

Teriyaki chicken with green onions and rice

Final Thoughts

This is an easy, family-friendly and healthy recipe. Give it a try! I hope you love it too! And if you need it to be gluten-free, just use a gluten-free soy sauce.

PS – If you’re looking for an easy way to plan meals in the future, check out Prepear!

Slow cooker teriyaki chicken

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Instant pot honey teriyaki chicken

 

Honey teriyaki chicken instant pot

Honey Teriyaki Chicken Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Recipe - 5 Weight Watchers Points

Super easy, honey-sweetened teriyaki chicken! Slow cooker or Instant Pot recipe! Just 5 Weight Watchers Freestyle Points!
4.64 / 5 ( 52 Reviews )
Print Rate
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 8
Adjust Servings: 8

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker
  • Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

Instructions

Slow Cooker:

  • Spray the inside of the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, or use a slow cooker liner. Place the raw chicken breasts into the slow cooker.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, onion, minced garlic, pepper, and ginger. Pour over the chicken.
  • Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 4-5 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and shreds easily. Once chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and shred.
  • Whisk together the water and cornstarch. Slowly whisk it into the sauce and heat on high until the sauce begins to thicken, while continuing to stir or whisk. (You can thicken the sauce in a saucepan on the stove top at medium high heat, if that works better for you.)
  • Place the shredded chicken back into the pot with the sauce and stir to coat. Serve over rice and garnish, if desired.

Instant Pot:

  • Spray the inside of the Instant Pot inner pot with nonstick cooking spray. Place the raw chicken breasts into the pot.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, onion, crushed garlic, pepper, and ginger. Pour over the chicken.
  • Cook on high pressure for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and shreds easily. Once chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and shred. (I usually do a quick pressure release, but natural release is ideal.)
  • Whisk together the water and cornstarch. Slowly whisk it into the sauce and use the Saute setting, continuing to whisk. Cook for a few minutes while the sauce begins to boil and thicken.
  • Turn off the pot. Place the shredded chicken back in with the sauce and stir to coat. Serve over rice and garnish, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Doubling the recipe works well too, although I find I need to increase the Instant Pot cooking time to 25-30 minutes total.

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 4g | Sodium: 698mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g

Recipe Adapted From: The Recipe Critic

 

Ingredients: Chicken, Cornstarch, Garlic, Ginger, Green Onion, Honey, Onion, Pepper, Rice Vinegar, Sesame Seeds, Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Water
Meal Type: Main Dish, Popular, Clean Eating, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Weight Watchers
Categories: Healthy, Meat and Poultry, Instant Pot, Make Ahead/Freezer Meal, Slow Cooker

Comments & Reviews

  • I failed to plan too!! But I have everything I need for this! Thanks! 😀

  • do you use Quick Release or Natural Pressure Release after cooking for 15 min in the Pressure cooker?

  • This was simple and delicious. It convinced my husband that the IP was worth the purchase 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  • This is very good and easy! I didn’t have rice vinegar so I used Apple Cider Vinegar instead. Will definitely make it again.

  • So you don’t have to put any water in the instant pot?

  • Could you use frozen chicken breasts? Would the cook time change?

    • Yes, you can use frozen! It will take the pot longer to come up to pressure and you may want to add a few more minutes to the cooking time if they are pretty thick pieces of meat. If you let the pot warm up on saute setting first, that can help reduce the waiting time for it to come to pressure. 🙂

    • I did it with frozen. I needed about 7 extra minutes. I ended up pan frying the chicken. It came out a little chewy. I think next time I will defrost first haha

  • So 15 minutes isn’t too long to cook this in the Instant Pot? I usually only cook chicken (thawed) for about 6 minutes.

    • I always do the 15 minutes and it works well for me! Maybe part of that is because the chicken breasts I use are huge. Please let me know if you try it out with the shorter cooking time and if it works out well. Thanks! 🙂

  • I put 3 frozen chicken breasts in the recipe and set it for 30min. Turned out Perfect!! Thanks for this great recipe!

  • Hiya, this sounds amazing! Could I ask, is there another substitute for honey? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

    • Hi, Maro! I haven’t made this recipe with substitutions before, so I don’t know for sure. But I know sometimes people use pure maple syrup, granulated sugar, molasses, corn syrup, or agave as substitutes for honey. Let me know how it goes!

  • Can I make this recipe with 1 pound of chicken?
    If so, do I halve all the ingredients and will that give me enough liquid for the instant pot to come to pressure? Thanks!!!

    • Good question. I think I would go ahead and try just halving the recipe, but I can’t guarantee it will work since I haven’t tried it myself. Please let me know how it goes! Thanks!

  • I’m new to the Instapot world. There’s no “high” setting. I used the meat setting for 15 minutes and it was not done. Then I did manual for an additional 10 minutes. Turned out great! Family loved it! I served it over organic rice ramen noodles. I will definitely make this again soon!

    • On my Instant Pot, right below the digital screen, it says low and high pressure with light indicators. So when I go to “manual” setting, one of those lights up and I’m pretty sure mine automatically starts on the high pressure setting. Anyway, glad you ended up getting it cooked through and that your family loved it too! Thanks for commenting!

  • What about chicken drumsticks? What kind of time would you use for that?? I’m brand new to IP!!

  • I’m going to buy an instant pot today and I’m so scared to use it. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I sure do want to try this out. It’s sounds amazing! Do you make the rice in the pot too or in something else?

    • Sorry I didn’t see this comment earlier! I usually just make the rice in something else, but I know the Instant Pot does have rice cooking abilities, I just haven’t tried it yet!

  • Sorry it auto corrected my email so I’m replying again so the email is correct.

  • Made it in a crock pot and it was delicious

  • Do you ever post the weight watchers points on the recipes?

  • Can I substitute something for the rice vinegar? (Just trying not to stop at store for only one item. )

  • So easy in the instant pot and flavorful! Definitely a keeper!

  • This chicken turned out perfect and the flavor is really good! I did use honey instead of maple syrup.

  • Awesome recipe! I’ve made teriyaki chicken many times before, either baked or grilled. Was looking to use my instantpot. MAde this and omg my boys inhaled it and asked for seconds! I made this with quinoa and peas and an Asian salad mix. Def keeper!

  • This sounds really tasty but I try to avoid soy sauce and usually sub coconut aminos. Do you think that will work with this recipe? Thanks.

  • I am a single college student and 8 servings is way too much for me… can I cut the servings in half? and will it still turn out the same? How long do you recommend cooking it for?

    • Depends on if you’re using a slow cooker or the Instant Pot. I haven’t halved the recipe myself, so I can’t say for sure what your results would be! For Instant Pot, I would guess that you don’t want to cut the recipe in half because it might not leave enough liquid in the pot to work well. In the slow cooker, it might work. One thing I have done a lot myself is make the full recipe, then freeze the leftovers in portion sizes that work for me. Then all you have to do is reheat the frozen chicken in a skillet and serve!

  • Can I use chicken thighs?? Poultry setting for 20 min??

    • You can totally use boneless skinless chicken thighs! Since I haven’t used them in this recipe before myself, I can’t say for sure on the timing though. I would start with 15 mins.

  • My family loves this meal! I cook rice and broccoli separately and everyone gobbles it up. Can you please tell me what size portion is considered one serving? I love that you have the nutritional information but it doesn’t specify the serving size.

    • It does depend on how many pounds of chicken you use, but I usually use close to 3 lbs and end up with about 8 cups. I figure about 1 cup would be a serving, so that’s what is listed at the top of the recipe. 🙂 Unfortunately, the nutrition info doesn’t always show up right, but it can help give a good idea!

  • The flavor is great but my chicken keeps getting so dry in the IP…I did 20 min on Poultry setting. Suggestions?

    • Hmm. Are you making it according to the recipe instructions? I do manual setting, high pressure for 20 minutes. Not sure if that is any different than the poultry setting though. I use raw, large Zaycon chicken breasts (not frozen). Does your chicken shred easily? If not, it could be that the chicken is under-cooked. I’ve made this recipe as written many, many times and haven’t had any problems with the chicken being dry, so I’m not sure what the problem would be! I can’t think of what else might be different!

  • What is the serving size for the nutritional information

    • When I use 3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, I end up with about 8 cups of shredded teriyaki chicken with this recipe. So if you look at the recipe I selected that it yields 8 cups and that it serves 8 and the nutrition info would be for one serving. BUT the yield will vary depending on how much chicken you use and the nutrition info may vary depending on your specific ingredients. Hope that helps!

  • It was ok, but I thought it was a tad salty…i added no extra salt at all….anyone else have this issue? How did you correct It? I used low sodium soy sauce???

    • That’s interesting since you were already using low-sodium soy sauce and none of the other ingredients usually include any salt, except maybe the rice if you served it with rice? Hmm. I haven’t had this issue before, so I’m not sure how to correct it without losing that teriyaki flavor. Thanks for giving it a try though!

  • Tried the recipe as is and it’s too sweet. It seems like a good base so I’ll try it again and adjust it to taste.

  • I wonder how long this would take in my traditional pressure cooker with 15lb weight? I’m guessing just slightly less than the instant pot.

    • I’m sure it would work, but not sure how to convert the recipe and what adjustments might be needed. I bet you could find a pretty good answer searching online though! Please come back and let us know what you did and how it goes!

  • So no cooking prior to pressure cooking? Most recipes I have followed require sauteing firs and then pressure cooking. Just want to be sure I am not overlooking a step..Thanks!

  • Surprisingly tasty meal! I decided to try cooking this meal in my double stacker insert for my instant pot so it was truly a one pot meal and it turned out great! I put 3 frozen 4oz chicken breasts in the bottom pot with the teriyaki sauce and then one cup of white rice with one cup of water in the top pot with some cilantro. I also added a cup and a half of water into the actual instant pot. I was skeptical about cooking times but decided to try 10 minutes at high pressure and a 3-minute natural pressure release.

  • What is the serving size for 5pts for WW?

  • I made this last night as my first Instant Pot meal. I am starting to make a bunch of meals to freeze due to traveling, but my husband and kids and I all had to try a bite because it smelled so good. Yep, looks like I will be making another batch (and doubling it every time in the future)!

    • Yay! Good job trying out your Instant Pot! We love this teriyaki chicken recipe – I’m actually making it today! I’m so glad that your family is liking it too. Thank you for your comment and review, Keesha.

  • Made this last night . Wasn’t sure my husband was going to like it because as soon as he sees the IP he thinks mush with chicken recipes . He walks in and says eww what is that I said Chicken Teriyaki just give it a try .
    So I was finishing our side of broccoli and putting it together and I waited until he was finished and gave him a few minutes . I said so what did you think he said that he thought it smelled to sweet ( that was was what the eww was for) but he thought it was fantastic and said please do not lose the recipe .
    Thanks for sharing ,

    Kathy

    • Hooray! Happy for your success with the teriyaki chicken! Thank goodness for easy recipes that win the husband’s approval. 😉 Thank you for sharing and commenting, Kathy.

  • Easy and great!

  • This has been my go-to recipe for as long as I can remember!! I do have a question though! Can I just make a big batch of sauce and freeze it into portions? And then thaw it and cook it over chicken on the stove or instant pot?

  • I am planning on making this delicious sounding recipe. For smaller size can’t you just put the ingredients into a smaller pot inside the IP on a grate with a cup of water in bottom of pot?

  • I forgot to ask…I see people inquiring about substitutes for rice wine vinegar…. Where does it call for it? What am I missing?

  • I’ve used this recipe more times than I could ever count. It’s my go to recipe for bringing meals to people. It’s AMAZING!

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