While we all know how Thai food and peanuts are pretty much synonymous, there is absolutely no denying how great Thai Peanut Chicken is whether you enjoy it mild or hot! You can devour it as chicken on a skewer grilled and dipped in the sauce or more like a stir fry with fresh veggies and noodles and/or almost even like a curry soup in itself. Making all those flavors work together without it just tasting like you dipped your chicken into a jar of peanut butter is another matter in itself, though, so today's recipe, Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken, simplifies the recipe and produces extra sauce for multiple meals and styles. This super simple slow cooker recipe can be started before work and enjoyed as dinner that evening so clear your weekday meal prep planning and make way for this delicious Thai Peanut Chicken dish...Let's Get Cooking!
The only prep work for the Thai Peanut Chicken itself is to cut the chicken into 1 inch or so bite-sized pieces. I ended up serving mine with rice noodles and veggies, but used a couple bags of frozen veggies that just needed to be heated so depending on how you plan on serving your Thai Peanut Chicken you may have a couple extra meal prep options to take care of at this point. That frozen Asian Veggie Medley bag is perfect for this recipe, though, so don't feel like you need to go all out and use a bunch of fresh peppers, carrots, baby corn, and onion to complete this simple slow cooker meal.
Other than the chicken, we just need to make the sauce. Do yourself a huge favor and just mix everything right in a blender. Peanut butter is notoriously difficult to mix with liquids by hand, so this is one of the few times I'm totally okay dirtying up another dish to make my life easier in the long run. Bonus if you have a small smoothie blender or mixer so begin by adding the peanut butter, coconut milk, red curry paste, soy sauce, lime juice, agave syrup (or honey), lime juice, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes right in and mix until a smooth, creamy, liquid consistency. It will be a little thick at first, but will loosen up and thin out somewhat during the cooking process.
The only thing left is to dump the diced chicken and peanut sauce into your slow cooker and set it to LOW for 4 to 6 hours. Be sure to stir the mixture occasionally to keep all the chicken evenly coated and prevent any of the sauce from sticking and burning on the bottom of your slow cooker. As usual, I used a liner to save a little clean up after the fact, but it isn't necessary.
After 5 hours or so, the Thai Peanut Chicken is done and ready to be served. Sure, you can enjoy it as is just the chicken and sauce, but like I previously mentioned this delicious dinner is best with some rice noodles and veggies. Microwave or pan sauté a bag or 2 of the frozen Asian veggie mix.
Layer up a plate or bowl with the noodles, veggies, and a couple ladles of this Thai Peanut Chicken and dinner is served!
What do you think? Is this a super simple dump and go, slow cooker recipe full of flavor or what? There will be a ton of extra sauce so save it in a sealed container in the fridge a few days till you decide you are ready for more and grill up some chicken skewers, veggies, or other similar items perfect for this sauce. It's savory with a hint of sweetness, and a slight bit of heat making a great experimental base recipe. Crank up the heat with more peppers or cool if it off using less. Venison, beef, lamb, you name it and it will taste pretty damn good with this Thai Peanut Sauce. If you only just use the extra sauce to flavor more plain noodles you will be doing yourself quite the flavor so no matter how you use it all, just get in the kitchen and give this Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken recipe a try....Just Keep Cooking!
SLOW COOKER THAI PEANUT CHICKEN
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