This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
When you are looking for an easy slow cooker dinner with Asian-inspired flavors, this Slow Cooker Ginger-Almond Teriyaki Chicken is a delicious option. Tender strips of chicken thighs are simmered slowly with sliced onions, fresh ginger, teriyaki sauce and a colorful mix of stir-fry vegetables until everything is savory, saucy and full of flavor.
I found this recipe to be especially appealing because of how simple it is to prepare. Just sauté the chicken and olive oil in a skillet for a few minutes before combining all the ingredients in your slow cooker and letting it work its magic. The fresh ginger adds a warm, fragrant note while the teriyaki sauce creates a lightly sweet and savory glaze that coats the chicken and vegetables beautifully.
Right before serving, the dish is finished with sliced almonds and chopped scallions for a little crunch and brightness. Served over brown rice, or cauliflower rice if you are watching your carbs, this comforting meal is satisfying, flavorful and perfect for busy weeknights when you want something homemade without a lot of fuss.
How Many Calories and WW Points in Slow Cooker Ginger-Almond Teriyaki Chicken?
According to my calculations, each serving (without rice) has about 292 calories.
To see the WW Points for this simple tiramisu recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
If you’ve made this Asian-inspired Slow Cooker Ginger-Almond Teriyaki Chicken, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Slow Cooker Ginger-Almond Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6-8), trimmed and cut into strips
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger*
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce
- 1 package, 10-12 oz frozen stir-fry vegetables
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 bunch scallions, slivered
Instructions
- Coat slow cooker with cooking spray.
- Over medium-high heat, heat oil in a skillet and saute chicken for about 5 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Mix onion, ginger and teriyaki sauce in a bowl. Pour sauce over chicken and stir until coated.
- Place cover on slow cooker and and cook on LOW for 2 hours, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
- Turn to HIGH, stir in frozen vegetables, and cook 20-30 minutes more – until vegetables are tender (but should also still be crisp).
- Before serving, stir in almonds and scallions.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 4 PointsPlus (Old WW plan) *I often use fresh ginger paste that comes in a jar instead of dealing with peeling and chopping fresh ginger. You should be able to find it in the Asian section of larger grocery stores. Or you could substitute a teaspoon of ground ginger instead.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: Slow Cooker So Easy – 33 No-Fail Recipes by Prevention
My Experience Cooking Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
I think my prep time took a little longer than it would for a more experienced cook. Slicing the onion and finely chopping the ginger was a little time consuming, but not too bad. I know I’ll get faster with more experience – isn’t that the way life works? Plus, I’ll probably learn some shortcuts along the way.
Will be serving this chicken dish with Martha’s Crock Pot Wild Rice recipe. Obviously I’ve never made rice in the slow cooker before, but it seems like too much work to make it on the stove top, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
Some questions that came up for me as I was pulling these dishes together:
- The recipe for wild rice states that it takes 3-1/2 – 4 1/2 hours in the crock pot on LOW – but it’s not clear if I should time this to be done cooking when we are ready to eat, or if I can cook it ahead of time and maybe just keep it on warm? My concern about keeping it on warm is that it will dry out, so I am opting to try and time it to be done around the time we want to eat. (Martha says: You’re right Peter. Rice will definitely get mushy if left in the crock pot for too long after it’s done. When I have rice that’s done before dinnertime. I transfer it out of my slow cooker into a serving. bowl and then just warm up our individual servings in the microwave (affiliate link).)
- I would like a little help on my cutting, chopping, dicing and slicing technique(s). I am quite sure I am not doing this the most efficient way possible. (Martha says: Do you think we could/should video a short session where I show you some knife skills???)
- My cutting of vegetables leads me to wonder about the knife I am using. Is it good enough for this task? Or is there a better knife I should be using that might make this a little easier for me? (Martha’s says: Knives are really personal. I can show you some of my favorites and let you test them out.)
- The chicken recipe calls for scallions… Is this the same thing as green onions? I believe they are, but just want to know for sure. (Martha’s says: YES!!!)
- I like that Martha states she is using her 2-Quart slow cooker when making the wild rice, no guessing there. Unfortunately with the chicken recipe there is no such guidance. I am guessing my 4-Quart cooker will work ok? If a recipes doesn’t specify the slow cooker size to use, how can I know for sure what my best option is? (Martha says: the conventional crock pot cooking wisdom is that for best results your slow cooker should be at least half full and no greater than two-thirds full for best results. The less full your crock pot is the quicker your dish will cook. The more full, the longer it will take.)
- The chicken recipe calls for boneless and skinless chicken thighs. Check, not a problem. But it also called for them to be trimmed and cut into strips. I wasn’t exactly sure what this meant, I mean the cutting into strips was pretty obvious, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to “trim”. I mean they were boneless and skinless to start with – so I just cut them into “sort of” strips (i.e. manageable pieces) and just went with that. I’ve honestly never cooked with (or even prepared chicken thighs before) and to be honest, working with chicken breasts is much more appealing in my book. (Martha says: Chicken breasts can dry out in the crock pot if they cook too long. Chicken thighs are much more forgiving. But it’s always a personal choice. Sometimes boneless skinless breasts/thighs may have quite a bit of fat still attached. When the instructions say to “trim” they are basically telling you to cut away the fat.)
How Much Did Making Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki Thighs Cost?
Due to some recent major life changes, we are needing to pay more attention to our spending habits. In the past we’d stop at Whole Foods after work (every day!!) and pick up some ready-made meal. Needless to say, for a family of two, we were spending way more money on food than was necessary. But with our busy lives, we opted for the easy way out instead of planning our meals and cooking more at home.
Now though, we’ll be cooking more at home and I’m excited to try and turn this into a game and see how much money we don’t have to spend on food – yet eat well. For us that means not so many processed foods and mostly healthy, whole foods.
I was pleasantly surprised to walk into Fry’s Marketplace today and find they were having a major sale on chicken. I could have planned this better had I read the store circular, but I haven’t really gone too far down that road yet. Anyway, the sale was buy 1 package of chicken (breasts or thighs) and get 2 free (of equal or lesser value)! So, I picked up two packages of boneless thighs and one package of boneless breasts figuring that the two I’m not using today could go into the freezer. My first step in have a well stocked pantry and refrigerator/freezer!
So, with that major coup on chicken savings, this is how the pricing for this meal breaks down:
Cost of making Slow Cooker Wild Rice?
- wild rice (I actually had the 1 cup already in my pantry), but after looking on Amazon, I am guessing this to be about $2.50
- mushrooms: about $0.50 (I used half a package that cost me $0.99)
- onion: about $0.18 (I used 1/4 of large onion I got for $0.73)
- red bell pepper: about $0.90 (I used 1/2 of one I got for ($1.79)
- olive oil (not going to bother figuring this out)
- salt and pepper (again, too much work to figure out)
- chicken broth (I also had this already in my pantry), but after looking on Amazon, I am guess this was about $3.00
So, the grand total for this delectable dish of wild rice was about $7.08. And the recipe says it serves 5, so that totals about $1.42 per serving.
Cost of making Slow Cooker Ginger-Almond Teriyaki Chicken Thighs?
- chicken: about $4.92
- onion: about $0.55 (I used 3/4 of the large onion mentioned above)
- ginger: about $.40
- reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce: about $1.75 (used half of a bottle I paid $3.50 for)
- frozen vegetables: about $1.09
- sliced almonds: about $0.65
- scallions: about $0.59
The grand total for this ginger-almond chicken came out to about $9.95. And the recipe is supposed to make 4 servings, so that’s just under $2.49 per serving.
All this cooking and tracking of spending is still new to me, but at first glance, the cost of this meal (not to mention the per serving price) is much more appealing than my previous habit of dropping about $30+ at Whole Foods for a prepared meal that we just had to heat up to enjoy.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the food at Whole Foods, but spending that much money on a daily basis (and for a single meal, dinner) just wasn’t very economical.
I made the teriyaki chicken thighs last night & they were so amazingly delicious. Your website is so awesome. I’ve been on weight watchers for 11 weeks now (& have lost 27 pounds) & I am super happy that I found your blog. I tried the easy way of buying the prepackaged foods, which of course are sodium laden. So, I’m just very thankful for bloggers like yourself who have yummy lightened up recipes with the pp values along with it. Thank you!!!
Congrats on your first success Crock Pot Meal and Post, Pete! Cooking is a life skill that you acquire through practice. And you can learn as much or more from what goes wrong as what goes right.
I’ve been cooking for decades and still goof up regularly. And most of my mistakes, while far from delectable, are usually edible 🙂