Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken — Juicy chicken is coated in the most incredible peanut sauce! Serve it over rice for an easy meal, and garnish with green onions and extra peanuts for added crunch!
Table of Contents
Easiest Thai Peanut Chicken Recipe
I love peanut sauce. It makes everything it touches automatically amazing. And it makes this chicken tender, moist, juicy and there’s layers of rich flavors.
This is the easiest Thai peanut chicken recipe, and there’s no breading, browning, baking, or frying involved.
Topped with crunchy peanuts, cilantro, and green onions alongside a bed of rice (or use noodles), it’s an easy, weeknight recipe that everyone will love. There’s plenty of peanut butter sauce leftover in the bottom of the slow cooker, which I spoon generously over the chicken, rice, and any veggies I may have steamed.
But I’ve also been know to just eat Thai peanut sauce by the spoonful. So good!
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken
It might look like this Thai peanut butter chicken has a long ingredients list, but many of them are spices! Gather the following ingredients to make the peanut sauce chicken:
- Olive oil
- Chicken breasts
- Cornstarch
- Coconut milk
- Cream peanut butter
- Soy sauce
- Honey
- Rice wine vinegar
- Lime juice
- Sesame oil
- Spices (ground ginger, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, pepper)
- Optional garnishes (salted peanuts, fresh cilantro, green onions)
How to Make Thai Peanut Chicken in a Slow Cooker
This slow cooker Thai peanut sauce chicken requires minimal prep work, so it’s impossible to mess up! Simply mix up the sauce that’s full of complimentary flavors, including coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.
Pour the sauce over bite-sized chicken pieces and let your slow cooker do the work!
- Add the diced chicken, cornstarch, salt, and pepper to a large bag. Seal and toss to coat chicken evenly before adding to the slow cooker.
- In a bowl, add the peanut sauce ingredients (coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and cayenne). Whisk to combine, then pour mixture over the chicken.
- Cook the Thai peanut chicken covered on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 4 hours.
- When ready to eat, spoon extra peanut sauce over the chicken and garnish with peanuts, cilantro, and green onions.
Crockpot Thai Chicken FAQs
I haven’t made this recipe without a slow cooker so I can’t give specifics about how to tweak it if you don’t have a slow cooker. I have other peanut chicken and peanut sauce-based recipes listed below the recipe card that you can try until you can make this with a slow cooker.
You’ll need to use a 3- to 6-quart slow cooker.
Yes! You’re welcome to use lite or low-fat coconut milk, so long as it’s canned.
You must used canned coconut milk to make this recipe. Do NOT use coconut milk from a carton.
No, if you omit the cornstarch, the peanut chicken sauce will be far too runny and will never thicken.
Tips for the Best Thai Peanut Chicken
If your peanut butter is resistant to smoothing out when whisking it into the peanut sauce, heat it in the microwave for 30-second bursts until it’s smooth. Just be careful not to cook it too much — you just want to warm it a little bit to make it easier to stir.
No matter if you cook this peanut chicken on a high or low setting, you’ll want to begin checking its doneness 45 minutes to an hour before it’s supposed to be finished. Slow cookers can vary, so yours may cook the chicken slightly faster or slower than mine did.
If you have a meat thermometer, check to see if the chicken is 165 degrees. Once it reaches that point, it’s ready to eat!
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- one 14-ounce can coconut milk, lite okay
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ to 1 teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- pinch cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
- ⅓ cup lightly salted peanuts, finely chopped for garnishing
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, stems discarded, optional for garnishing
- 2 tablespoons green onions sliced thin, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Line a 3 to 6-quart slow cooker with a liner if using one. I prefer to use liners for easy cleanup.
- Drizzle olive oil over bottom of the liner or slow cooker.
- To a large, gallon-sized ziptop plastic bag, add the chicken, cornstarch, salt, pepper, seal bag, and toss to coat chicken evenly. Add chicken to slow cooker, evenly distributed; set aside.
- To a medium bowl, add the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, sesame oil, ginger (I prefer 1 teaspoon but some people are sensitive to ginger), garlic, optional cayenne, and whisk to combine. Tip – If your peanut butter is resistant to smoothing out, place bowl in microwave and heat on high power for 30-seconds, making sure the bowl is microwave-safe.
- Pour mixture over the chicken, using a spoon to distribute the sauce if necessary, making sure all pieces are coated. It looks like a lot of sauce but it reduces by at least half during cooking.
- Cook covered on high for about 2 hours or on low for about 4 hours. If cooking on high, start checking at 90 minutes and if cooking on low, start checking at 3 hours. All slow cookers vary so cook until chicken is done (reaches 165F on an instant read thermometer).
- Add chicken to a plate with as much extra cooking sauce spooned over the top as desired, garnish with peanuts, optional cilantro, optional green onions, and serve immediately. Chicken is best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Chicken Recipes with Peanut Sauce:
Peanut Chicken with Peanut Noodles – Easy, ready in 20 minutes, tastes better, and way healthier than takeout!! Peanut sauce automatically makes everything taste AMAZING!!
Easy Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce — Look no further from this FAST and EASY recipe for authentic-tasting Thai chicken satay.
Crunchy Peanut Salad with Chicken — Crispy fried chicken with crunchy cabbage, carrots, peanuts, cilantro and the EASIEST and BEST homemade peanut sauce that coats every bite!! A salad that you’ll CRAVE over and over!!
Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps – Easy, ready in 20 minutes, healthy, and the peanut sauce is the best! Great flavors and textures in every bite of these irresistible wraps!
Thai Peanut Chicken Salad – Eat the Rainbow with this easy, healthy salad that’s ready in 20 minutes! Juicy chicken and crisp vegetables are tossed in the best peanut sauce!
This has quickly become our favorite meal! Would the recipe fair alright if thrown into the freezer before cooking so we can have it ready to go when the craving hits?
That’s a good question I’m not sure how to answer it since I’ve never done that. I guess the only way to know would be to give it a try and see what happens. I’m glad you love this recipe!
Husband is allergic to coconut. Is thee anything I can substitute for that? Love your recipes.
That’s a tricky one in this recipe because the coconut much gives it such authentic flavored. In that case I would probably just use whole milk, noting that while the texture will be similar, the flavor will not. You may even want to bump it up to be half whole milk, half cream, since coconut milk is so thick and luxurious.
Did you cut the chicken up?
yes
Made this recipe yesterday and it was awesome! Husband loved it and bragged to the guys at work. Now they want the recipe too! I did substitute powdered peanut butter for the full fat peanut butter and used low fat coconut milk to cut down on the calories. Use 1 cup PB2 mixed with 1/2 cup water to reconstitute. We didn’t miss the fat at all! Cooked 4 hours on low in the Crock Pot and chicken was nice and tender and juicy. I did add the cornstarch at the end so sauce wouldn’t be too thick as I have heard happen to others. Will definitely be making this again!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved this! Great to hear that powdered PB and lite coconut milk worked just fine!
Hi — I wondered if it’s possible to substitute peanut butter powder such as PB2 for the peanut butter?
I haven’t tried it that way so can’t give suggestions or thoughts on how it would work.
I added 2 1/2 teaspoons of PB2 powder in the last half hour to boost the peanut butter flavour and it worked great! Helped to thicken the sauce a little more, too. This recipe is delicious — thanks for sharing!
Glad that you enjoyed the recipe and that it came out great for you!
Hi Averie … this is the 2nd slow cooker recipe I tried … the 1st was the Sausage Stuffing … which was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!!!! The Thai Peanut Chicken was also a hit with the family …. just LOVED IT!!!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes
Thanks for trying both of those recipes and glad they have been total winners!
This recipe was really good. Next time we will spice it up some for our personal tastes. I own 11, yes eleven, Crock Pots. I detest recipes that claim to be slow cooker recipes yet require cooking some ingredients in another pot or pan. The goal is to dirty the fewest dishes possible and to not have to babysit something on the stove.
I used a large Gladware to coat the chicken, then dumped the chicken into my Crock Pot and used the same Gladware to make the sauce. Since the sauce would be cooked, no fears about reusing a container that had raw chicken. Dirtied 1 Gladware, 1 Crock Pot, and 2 spoons making this dish.
I love your comment!! “I detest recipes that claim to be slow cooker recipes yet require cooking some ingredients in another pot or pan. The goal is to dirty the fewest dishes possible and to not have to babysit something on the stove.” I AM THE SAME!!!
I love your approach and you could open your own storefront with all those CP’s :)
Averie, I’ve made this to a T and it turned out amazing! Sauce was a little thick, but that’s cause I think I cooked it a bit long. Would like to add some cauliflower to hide some extra veg nutrition. Any thoughts on when i should add it? At the start, middle or like 30 minutes before serving? Thanks for the delish recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you. It depends on whether you’re cooking it on low or high (2 vs 4 hours) but I would aim for about halfway through, maybe a tad closer to the finish, like 2/3 of the way through just because I like my cauliflower to have some texture and not be mushy. Also depends on the size of the pieces, too, as well as your personal preference. LMK how it goes!
Is the sesame oil the light oil or the darker toasted sesame oil?
I use the dark toasted from Trader Joe’s but you can use what you have on hand.
I made the sauce, added cooked chicken, and served on spaghetti noodles. Fast. Delight. Whole family liked it.
Glad you loved it and it was a family hit!
THIS PEANUT CHICKEN IS AWESOME.
I made this last night for supper and I wanted to comment and say how fantastic it is!!! The only variation that I made is that I didn’t use cornstarch at all. I would have, but I only had a frozen ball of chicken thighs and needed to put supper in right away. I just poured the olive oil in the bottom of my slow cooker, put in my frozen chicken and poured the sauce over top. Cooked for 4 hours on high and it was perfect. My husband wanted to eat as soon as he walked in the door and smelled the chicken cooking. The taste did not disappoint! I will definitely make it again and again. I make peanut chicken all the time and this will be my new go-to!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad that the no cornstarch worked out well as did the thighs.
I tried this last night, followed the recipe to a T – it was very tasty, but the sauce was too thick. Next time I think i’ll either add less cornstarch or try to thin it out in the end
You could thin it at the end, cook/simmer for less time, add less cornstarch…any of the above would do the trick for the sauce. Glad you enjoyed the taste of the dish overall!
would this be good as a cold pasta salad?
Hmmm I personally think it would be better hot but you could try it cold and see if you like it.
I made this last night and it was everything I was hoping for and more. I followed the recipe as written and ended up cooking it on low for 4 hours. It was perfect. The sauce thickened up to just the right consistency and tasted better than anything I’ve ever had from a restaurant. I’m already looking forward to making this again. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Wonderful to hear it exceeded expectations and that it was better than anything you’ve had at a restaurant!
I can see the list of ingredients but the recipe will not come up. Can you please send me the recipe?
Keep scrolling, the directions are right under the ingredients.
I would like to make this while at work, but it would cook too quickly. Would you suggest using whole thawed boneless skinlesss chicken breasts or frozen whole boneless skinless? I would just put it on low for 8 hours.
I am not sure…this sauce is on the thick side and I worry that after 8 hours it will get really thick. If you try the recipe, omit the cornstarch totally if you’re going to cook that long. I do think that whole chicken breasts would be the way to go so it doesnt get as dried out – then again I wonder if they will cook through fully. LMK how things go if you decide to try it.
Did you ever find out how whole chicken breasts went with the longer cooking time?