Last updated on June 9th, 2017 at 12:26 pm
Crockpot Thai Chicken Thighs – delicious chicken thighs in a creamy, silky and smooth Thai flavored sauce, slowly cooked to perfection.
There I was this morning in my kitchen staring at these chicken thighs and wondering what I’m going to cook. Yes sometimes even I run out of ideas. As I kept staring at those thighs I got a brilliant idea. The crockpot would be my tool of choice. Now I just needed a sauce to go with the chicken. I open the fridge and stare at it. The jar of peanut butter was right there staring me back in the face. Last night the hand model made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and when he put it back he didn’t put the jar in its usual place, but there it was now, staring at me. I quickly think and realize Thai food has peanut butter in sauces. So the light bulb goes on in my head and I get this crazy idea to make a Thai sauce.
I crazily go through my pantry, spice cabinet and the fridge and pull out everything that I think screams Thai to me. Hand model walks in and says: “Gross! What are you making?” Yes he always does that. Granted the sauce when uncooked doesn’t have this gorgeous color as it does after it cooks but I knew this was going to be good.
I threw in coconut milk, peanut butter, sesame oil, ginger, fish sauce, some sriracha sauce and whatever else I got my hands on and whisked it all together like a mad woman. I was determined this was going to be better than butter chicken. I was determined this was going to be our dinner of choice from now on. I poured the sauce over the chicken, turned the crockpot on and quickly ran upstairs to my computer to jot down all the ingredients I had thrown in the sauce. I knew it was going to be big. It had to be big. A concoction like this has to be good.
Eagerly I wait and wait for the hours to pass, in the meantime cooking the rice and making a delicious banana pudding dessert. As I’m waiting the aroma in the house becomes unbearable. I smell sesame oil, I smell coconut milk, I smell deliciousness. This was going to be good.
Finally the unbearable hours had passed. My Thai chicken was done. The color was bright and beautiful, I take a tablespoon and taste it. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Smooth delicious silky sauce. I could taste the peanut butter, I could taste the sriracha, but all those ingredients when mixed together, you end up with a silky smooth sauce that is worth gold. And the chicken simply melts in your mouth after being cooked for hours in that yummy sauce.
It was time for the hand model to come and do his taste test. As usual he’s skeptical, because yes I have screwed up recipes in the past. I admit it, I’m not perfect. But not this time. This time I got it right. He takes a tablespoon and tastes the sauce. His face lights up and I knew it then. It was good. It was beyond good. It was amazing. As the compliments kept pouring in I took them all in and I knew it then. I had redeemed myself for all the recipe failures before. This chicken was a winner.
If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Crockpot Thai Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 - 2 tsp Sriracha sauce
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash chicken thighs and place them in the crockpot directly.
- In a small bowl mix the rest of the ingredients together. Whisk until sauce is smooth. Pour sauce over chicken thighs and using a spoon toss the chicken around. There should be enough sauce to fully cover the chicken, if not add some more water.
- Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Serve over rice or noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
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Jo, I plan on putting this in the crockpot before I leave for work in the morning. Is it ok if it cooks for 7-8 in the crockpot?
I probably wouldn’t cook chicken thighs longer than 6 hours on low. You can always give it a try for 8 and see how it turns out.
Made this exactly as written. Was glad I went back and read your comments about the color of the sauce before cooking. It looked like dirty dishwater! After cooking, it turned that luscious orange silky color. I used bone-in thighs because they were on sale and the meat literally fell off the bone. This recipe is a keeper!
Jo!!! I just made this and put everything in the crock pot! I realized I used bone in chicken thighs with skin. Is that ok???
That’s okay! If you want to crisp the skin up a bit after it’s done cooking you can pop the thighs under the broiler on high for a few minutes. Enjoy!
Can I cook everything freeze then add coconut milk after
If I wanted to use bone in thighs how long do you recommend in the slow cooker?
The time should be the same, Candice.
This looks awesome and going to give a try tonight. Don’t have time for crockpot, so I’m going to fry chicken and then bake low in the oven couple hours. Looks so good. I hope I don’t goof it up.
You wont goof it up. Baking always works instead of crock pot and you are less likely to over cook them. Enjoy and thanks for commenting
There’s fish sauce in your recipe. Is this the fish sauce that’s made of diced fish or the fish sauce that looks like soy sauce?
The fish sauce that looks like soya sauce.
Could I prepare and freeze in bag for later cooking? Or do you think the sauce may breakdown? Sounds delicious!
Hi Melody,
Typically when freezing coconut milk by itself it can separate slightly when thawed, although it’s still fine to use but it may be a bit grainy. In this sauce, it should freeze fine but again it might still look a bit grainy, but it’s fine too eat if the grainy texture doesn’t bother you. If you do freeze this, I would thaw it out first before adding it to the slow cooker, since cooking frozen chicken in the slow cooker is not recommended, as there’s a risk of harmful bacteria contaminating the meat before it reaches a safe temperature. What you can do is take this out of the freezer the night before and thaw it out in your fridge over night, then throw it in your slow cooker in the morning.