Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Legs + VIDEO

Using a homemade sauce, these family friendly slow cooker teriyaki chicken legs are a crowd pleaser. This easy low-carb, paleo, whole30 chicken recipe can also be made in the Instant Pot.

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Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

There are several reasons I recommend homemade sauce vs store-bought. The main reasons are because it’s cheaper & you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry and you have control of what you’re eating. Meaning there’s no added preservatives or other junk unless you add it in extra. It was important to me that this recipe be the trifecta: low-carb, paleo and whole30 compliant. To achieve that, I had to remove the ingredients that you would normally find in a teriyaki sauce. Mainly there’s no sweetener. No honey, no sugar. I honestly don’t think the sauce needs it however you can of course add 1 tablespoon of the sweetener that fits your lifestyle whether it be honey, maple syrup or stevia. If you’re following whole3o at the moment, you will need to omit a sweetener to stay complaint.

homemade teriyaki sauce

Using Other Cuts Of Chicken

As with a lot of my recipes, you can actually use your preferred cut of chicken here, not just chicken legs. If you use white meat you will want to lower the slow cooker cook time by an hour or so and the pressure cooker cook time by 3 minutes. White meat does not take as long to cook as dark meat.

before (slow cooker)

Other teriyaki recipes you might enjoy:

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Teriyaki Pork 

Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Pork Chops

Korean Style Short Ribs

Teriyaki Beef Slaw

after (slow cooker)

Optional Steps

After the chicken legs are doing cooking, there are a couple things you can do. For the record, I don’t take the time to do either of these but I understand other people might want to. The chicken legs will be falling apart tender so carefully remove them from the appliance.

Thickening the sauce – This can be done directly in the slow cooker or electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot). I almost always use an slurry of arrowroot and water to thicken my sauce. You can make your slurry as thick as you want. If you’re using arrowroot flour/starch, use a 1:1 water/starch ratio. I use 2 tbsp of water mixed with 2 tbsp flour and pour it into the appliance.

Broiling – If you want your chicken legs to have crisp skin, you will need to remove the legs from the appliance and place them under your broiler.

I used a 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot.

Teriyaki Chicken Legs

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• Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 pounds chicken legs
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 green onion, sliced (optional)

SAUCE:

• 3/4 cup coconut aminos or low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch salt & pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Slow Cooker

1. Add the chicken legs to the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients. Pour sauce on top of chicken legs.
3. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.
4. Garnish with sesame seeds & green onions if using.

Instant Pot

1. Add the chicken legs to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
2. In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients. Pour sauce on top of chicken legs.
3. Close lid and seal vent. Select high pressure for 12 minutes. Quick release pressure when done.
4. Garnish with sesame seeds & green onions if using.

 

• Author: Shannon Epstein
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 444
• Sugar: 0 g
• Sodium: 807.8 mg
• Fat: 14.4 g
• Saturated Fat: 3.6 g
• Carbohydrates: 8.3 g
• Fiber: 0 g
• Protein: 65.2 g
• Cholesterol: 309.4 mg

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.

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