Thai Peanut Chicken made in the slow cooker features tender chicken stewed in a flavorful coconut milk and peanut sauce, served over rice or rice noodles!
For more easy Asian-inspired dinners, you might enjoy Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken, Instant Pot Egg Roll in a Bowl, or One-Pan Asian Beef & Rice Skillet.
Need an effortless, delicious dinner idea? This slow cooker spin on Thai Peanut Chicken turns out soooo yummy, friends. As a bonus, it's ridiculously easy to make.
What is Thai Peanut Chicken?
Chicken breasts are slow cooked in a sauce of coconut milk, peanut butter, and other goodness.
Once cooked through and fall-apart tender, the chicken is shredded and briefly returned to the sauce to soak up all of the goodness.
Then it's simply a matter of garnishing and serving over rice noodles (seen here) or white or brown rice.
If you're feeling especially virtuous, you can even use this recipe as a filling for lettuce wraps!
The flavors in this dish actually remind me a lot of a crockpot Pad Thai, except there are no eggs or tofu or fish sauce involved.
Tweak the Heat
Along those lines, though, I like my Pad Thai rather spicy. So while I kept this recipe fairly mild for the kiddos, I particularly enjoy it myself when I generously sprinkle my portion with extra crushed red pepper flakes.
If you like a little spice, there are other ways you could jazz it up as well. Sriracha, anyone?
So feel free to experiment...but only if you think you can handle the heat!
Ingredients
I bet you've already got most of these ingredients in your fridge and pantry, especially if you enjoy cooking with Asian flavors.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts. Or you could use boneless skinless chicken thighs. Or a combination of the two. For moister chicken, you could even opt for bone-in chicken breasts or thighs (with or without the skin), then remove and discard any skin/bones before shredding. Just remember that bone-in chicken requires a longer cooking time than boneless chicken, and thighs require a longer cooking time than breasts. At the end of the day, use what you like. Slow cooker chicken recipes are pretty forgiving.
- Coconut milk. Meaning the real stuff from a can. I use full-fat coconut milk, but light coconut milk should work as well. Be sure to shake the can well before opening it. I actually like to flip the can over and use a can opener to open it from the bottom. Since the thick coconut cream settles to the bottom of the can, this makes it easier to scrape it straight off the "lid" that the can opener removed.
- Peanut butter. I prefer chunky, although creamy would be fine. And I use all-natural peanut butter, but whatever you've got will work.
- Garlic. Glorious garlic...don't skimp!
- Honey. For natural sweetness.
- Soy sauce. For Asian saltiness.
- Lime juice. A bit of acidity helps balance the fat and creaminess from the coconut milk and peanut butter.
- Rice wine vinegar. More acidity, plus extra Asian flavor. If you don't have rice wine vinegar, you may use apple cider vinegar instead.
- Crushed red pepper flakes. For a nice touch of heat. Alternatively, sriracha would work as well.
- Chopped peanuts + fresh cilantro. Optional yet highly recommended garnishes.
- Rice, rice noodles, or lettuce leaves. For serving.
How to Make Thai Peanut Chicken
As with most good crockpot recipes, this Thai Peanut Chicken is quick and simple to toss in the slow cooker ahead of dinner time. Then when it's time to eat, you're just a couple of quick steps away from getting it on the table.
- Arrange chicken pieces in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Stir together the sauce and pour over the chicken.
- Cover and cook until cooked through and tender.
- Remove the chicken and pull into chunks. Return to the crockpot, stir into the sauce, and allow to reheat for a few minutes.
- Serve chicken with sauce over rice or rice noodles, garnishing with chopped peanuts and fresh cilantro.
Ta-daaaa! Who needs take-out? Dinner is done.
A Note on Cooking Time
When I first published this Thai Peanut Chicken, a few commenters noted that when they made it, their sauce burned or their chicken dried out. I apologize to anyone who had that problem.
As a general rule, cooking time for boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a slow cooker is totally dependent on your model of slow cooker and how hot it runs. Older model, cooler running slow cookers take longer to cook and can go for 6 to 8 hours without burning the sauce or drying out the chicken. Newer model, hotter running slow cookers can cook chicken breasts as quickly as 3 hours. You need to be familiar with your slow cooker in order to determine the appropriate cooking time for this recipe (or any slow cooker recipe involving boneless, skinless chicken breasts).
When I first developed this recipe, I was using a 10-year old slow cooker and a 6 hour cooking time was appropriate. However, I now have a newer model slow cooker that runs hotter and cooks faster and, as a result, when I make this recipe now, I cook it for a shorter duration.
Therefore, I decreased the overall cooking time in the recipe instructions, since many people these days own modern (hotter running) slow cookers. If you still have an old, cooler running slow cooker, you may need to cook your chicken closer to 6 hours (or longer).
If you like Asian flavors, I hope you love this Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken! It's simple. Satisfying. Delicious. An easy weeknight dinner you'll definitely want to put on repeat. 😉
More Slow Cooker Dinners
- Slow Cooker Honey Balsamic Shredded Beef Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Mexican Street Corn Chowder
- Beef Barbacoa {Slow Cooker}
- Slow Cooker Honey Lime Pulled Pork Tacos
Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup canned coconut milk
- ¾ cup natural peanut butter, crunchy or creamy
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
- ⅓ cup chopped peanuts, for garnish
- Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Rice, rice noodles, or lettuce leaves, for serving
Instructions
- Arrange chicken breasts in the bottom of a large slow cooker. In a medium bowl, stir together coconut milk, peanut butter, garlic, honey, soy sauce, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes; mix until (mostly) smooth) Pour over chicken.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 5 hours (or until chicken is cooked through and tender but not overcooked, depending on the strength of your slow cooker). Reduce slow cooker temperature to WARM. Remove chicken from slow cooker, cut into chunks, and shred. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker to allow it to absorb sauce and heat through.
- Serve chicken and sauce over cooked white or brown rice, cooked rice noodles, or stuffed inside large lettuce leaves, as wraps. Garnish with chopped peanuts, fresh cilantro, and additional red pepper flakes, if desired.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Recipe originally published on May 14, 2015, and updated on October 13, 2019.
Sue
This was SO GOOD!! That sauce is lick-your-plate good!
I did tweak it to my family's tastes: added 1 tbs Sriracha, 1 tbs toasted sesame oil, changed the 3 tbs honey to 3 tbs brown sugar, and reduced the lime juice to 1 tbs. Next time I will add 1 tbs fish sauce because it's a staple of Thai cookery.
I also used an entire can of coconut milk, because the ratio of milk to p.b. seemed off. I had enough sauce to cover at least another 1/2 lb of chicken. I oven-roasted cauliflower, onions, and red pepper and had pasta and rice for the chicken/sauce to be served over. Again, this recipe is a winner! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Brenda
Very good.
We made as is. Then as we tasted we added. A spoonful more PB and some fish sauce. Though something still seems missing, it’s Very fast and a great CP meal.
I want to try the sauce atop fried chicken strips like you would have as “peanut chicken” in the NE.
Mom making it work
Out of chicken... would this work with a pork roast??
Samantha Skaggs
Hmmm...I have never tried it and have a hard time imagining these particular flavors with pork. But it might be delicious, so if you decide to give it a go, please let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay
Delicious! I chopped and steamed some veggies (bell pepper, carrots, broccoli, onion) and added them when I returned the pulled chicken to the slow cooker near the end. Then, I tossed in some baby spinach right before I served it. Yum — thank you!
Jack
The recipe is perfect if you add about a tablespoon of sriracha sauce. It was lacking spiciness. Other than that great recipe!
susan
We are peanut allergy house, anyone tried with cashew or almond butter instead of peanut butter???
Samantha Skaggs
I haven't tried it, but please let us know how it turns out if you decide to give it a go. 🙂
Jodie
Hi! This looks delish. I do not have coconut milk on hand today....could the recipe still work with chicken broth/water/another replacement?
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Jodie! The flavor will be slightly different without that coconut undertone that’s common to Thai cuisine, but I bet you could substitute chicken broth in this recipe and it would still turn out yummy. 🙂
Lexi
Would I be able to sub almond milk for the coconut milk?
Samantha Skaggs
The coconut milk definitely contributes an undertone to the sauce, but I don't see why you couldn't substitute almond milk if you don't mind the slightly different flavor. 🙂
Jenna
Have you ever made this with frozen chicken?
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Jenna! For food safety reasons, the USDA recommends not cooking frozen meat in a slow cooker, since the strength/temperature of slow cookers can vary and it’s possible that the meat won’t get up to a safe temperature quickly enough. This article gives a pretty good overview of the topic: https://www.today.com/food/food-myths-safe-cook-frozen-chicken-crock-pot-t123084.
Daphne
Making it this weekend in my InstaPot. I just need to get cilantro. I think I’ll add green onions and bean sprouts! Can’t wait!!! Thanks.
Mary
I made this tonight. Cooked in about 3 hours. DELICIOUS! It got rave reviews from my company.
Selina
Instant Pot version?
Thank you.
Samantha Skaggs
Sorry, Selina...I haven't yet tested this recipe in the Instant Pot.
Teresa
Oh my gosh this was amazing a keeper for me and family .
MGodsil
Anyone try this in an Instapot and if, what was the cook time and did you have to change your of the ingredients?
Sarah Hassinger
Loved the recipe. It seemed to lack a little Je ne sais quois, so I added 3 Tbsp. of sesame oil. That did the trick. Just my opinion.
Heather
How well do you think this would freeze? Wanting to make this for lunches through the week but I know I won’t eat it all!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
I think it would freeze just fine, Heather! Freezing it in individual portions will make it faster to thaw, too. And if it's too thick once thawed, you can always whisk in a little broth or even water while reheating.