This Thai-inspired slow cooker ginger peanut chicken is so easy to throw together. It cooks along with baby potatoes, green beans and carrots for a complete meal!
No sautee slow cooker meals are so great because you can get them into the slow cooker quickly. From crockpot chicken fajitas to crockpot pulled pork, I have a ton of easy prep recipes for you on this site!
Slow cooker ginger peanut chicken is another great one, and the best part is that it also includes green beans, carrots and potatoes for a complete meal!
Reasons you’ll ♡ slow cooker ginger peanut chicken
- no sautéing means you can get the ingredients into the slow cooker quickly
- you can cook a complete meal in the slow cooker
- it has delicious Thai-inspired peanut ginger flavor
Recipe video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I prepped this slow cooker ginger peanut chicken. It’s so easy! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel, or on Facebook.
Ingredient notes
- chicken- this recipe calls for bone in chicken breast; because it is less 'saucy', boneless chicken breasts will dry out more in this recipe. You could also swap for boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- beans- this is a bit of a long cook time for the beans; if you are picky about the texture of your beans, feel free to leave them out initially, adding them in during the last 1-2 hours of cook time.
- peanut butter- this recipe calls for creamy peanut butter, but crunchy would be good as well. I used a sweetened peanut butter (Kraft) so if you use all natural, you may want to increase the brown sugar a touch.
- carrots + potatoes- these hardy vegetables do well for a long cook time; if you are looking to swap, other root vegetables would be a good option. Sweet potatoes and parsnips are two options.
Start by mixing the sauce
The flavor base for this recipe is a simple sauce of peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and sesame oil. Start by heating the peanut butter gently in the microwave; this helps soften it, making it easier to mix the other ingredients in.
Add the remaining ingredients, and stir until smooth and completely combined. Taste to see if your tastebuds are happy; I used a sweetened peanut butter, so if you use natural peanut butter, you may need to increase the sugar a touch.
Reader tip- some readers have recommended doubling the sauce for this recipe.
Toss chicken in the sauce
We want to make sure our chicken absorbs as much peanut ginger flavor as possible while it cooks, so we toss it in the peanut ginger sauce before adding to the slow cooker. After tossing in the sauce, postition the chicken to one side of the slow cooker (stacked), and arrange the veggies on the other side. While the meal cooks, the sauce will liquify, moving to the other side of the slow cooker flavoring the other ingredients as well.
Cook on low heat
In general, the slow cooker works better when cooked on the lowest setting (1). The high setting can bring the pot to a vigorous boil, overcooking the chicken and ruining the dish. To avoid overcooking our chicken, we cook this recipe on the lowest setting for 4-5 hours.
Storage + reheating
- fridge- store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days
- reheat- heat in a frying pan on the stove or in a covered dish in the microwave until warmed through
- freezer- I have not tried freezing leftovers; the beans and carrots might be quite mushy. Leave us a comment below if you give it a try!
Equipment
I have owned Crock Pot brand slow cookers for many years now and have been extremely happy.
- this 6 quart slow cooker works great for a full batch of most recipes on my site
- this 2.5 quart slow cooker works great for smaller half batches- though I have not tried a half batch of this particular recipe in it!
More slow cooker chicken recipes
- Sticky Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs
- Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken Korma
- 7 No Sautee Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes
- Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken
- Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Slow Cooker Ginger Peanut Chicken with Green Beans & Baby Potatoes
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup soy sauce I use reduced sodium
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 bone-in skinless chicken breasts note 1
- 8 oz green beans washed and trimmed
- 2-3 carrots peeled and sliced into strips
- 4 cups baby potatoes halved (roughly 1lb)
Garnish:
- Cilantro leaves
- Crushed peanuts
Instructions
- Place the peanut butter in a microwavable bowl, and heat for 15 seconds. Stir, and return to the microwave for another 10 seconds, and stir again.
- Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and sesame oil to the bowl. Stir until smooth and completely combined.
- Add the chicken breasts to the bowl, and turn to coat in the peanut sauce.
- Place the chicken in the base of a slow cooker. Spread any peanut sauce remaining in the bowl over the chicken.
- Place the potatoes beside the chicken, and top with the carrots and green beans.
- Cook on the lowest setting for 4-5 hours.
- Remove the carrots, green beans and potatoes from the slow cooker and arrange on plates.
- Shred the chicken between two forks, tossing it in the peanut sauce, and serve. Garnish with cilantro leaves and additional peanuts.
- Spoon any additional peanut sauce over the veggies.
Tips:
Video
Nutrition Information
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Bill says
I did try this recipe but wasn't thrilled with the result, but in fairness this was likely due to my errors. I do have a couple of questions:
1. The ingredient list says to use 2 bone-in skinless chicken breasts. I took this to mean 2 whole bone-in breasts, so I used 4 split bone-in breasts, which just about fit in the bottom of our crockpot. Too much chicken? Or was this the correct amount?
2. I did make the peanut butter sauce as directed. What I observed was I could not actually coat the chicken with it, the sauce was thick and would not "stick" to the chicken. I ended up spooning the sauce on top of the chicken in the crockpot. What is the proper consistency for the sauce? I'm wondering if I needed to heat the peanut butter for longer to to thin out the consistency
3. There is no "liquid" in this recipe. I always thought crockpot cooking required some kind of liquid. Is that not the case? I ended up adding about a cup of chicken broth about a half-hour into the cooking time.
4. I also noticed the recipe did not call for seasoning the potatoes or vegetables. How do the veggies get seasoned? I sprinkled some salt, pepper, and rosemary on top of the veggies when I added the broth.
5. I think what did me in was too many veggies. About four hours into the cook the potatoes and carrots were still not soft. I left it cook a bit shy of five hours total. After I removed the veggies there was some juice at the bottom of the crockpot, and the chicken was still covered with the peanut butter sauce. The chicken shredded easily but was a bit dry. I really enjoyed the flavor though. I'd like to try this again, following the given veggie amounts more closely to see if I get a better result (or else I could switch to dark meat chicken as suggested in the notes). Thanks.
Melanie says
Can ground ginger be used? If so how much
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Melanie, that should work out alright - however, I believe ground ginger is more potent than fresh. This post on Food52 recommends ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground ginger for every tablespoon of fresh ginger - so maybe start with 1/4 tsp or less and adjust as needed! I hope this helps.