Do you all have a recipe that you go to over and over again when you need something easy to feed a crowd? This Thai Peanut Chicken is mine. I make it for our family, for our co-workers, as a freezer meal to give when people have a baby… And generally without fail, I’m asked for the recipe.
Ryan and I were away in Dallas for work all last week. We got home at 1:30 yesterday afternoon. I baked a “purple” layer cake and a dozen cupcakes for a neighbor’s 3-year old birthday party that was today. And then tonight we hosted a group of seven students leaders in our ministry for dinner, plus two of our co-workers and our family of six. So an easy meal was necessary, and I had a dairy allergy to work around. This Thai Peanut Chicken was the first to come to mind. And guess what? Someone asked for the recipe. 😉
Because it was a crazy night, I didn’t have time to take set a stage and take good photos. You’ll have to trust me that this crockpot full of chicken is yummy, even if the photo doesn’t make you salivate. The cupcakes I served for dessert will make you salivate when I get around to posting them…
And the list of ingredients will make you think I’m out of my mind for sharing this recipe. But it works, I promise. I know this is a pretty chill month with lots of downtime, so you probably won’t have a need for an easy dinner… yeah right!! Put this in the crockpot, do some Christmas shopping or decorating, and come back a few hours later to enjoy. I serve it over rice and top it with peanuts. Tonight we also had roasted broccoli, mango and kiwi on the side.
Thai Peanut Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 cup medium salsa
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos (gluten-free)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root (or 1 tsp. ground ginger)
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- cilantro optional, for garnish
- peanuts optional, for garnish
Instructions
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Place chicken breasts in a crockpot. In a small bowl, mix salsa, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce/liquid aminos, brown sugar, garlic and ginger root. Pour mixture over chicken. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
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Shred the chicken inside the crockpot using two forks. Add the coconut milk, stir in, and turn to warm setting for 15-20 minutes prior to serving.
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Serve over rice (or noodles), and top with cilantro and peanuts.
this was tasty and definitely a winner with the kids! I had a recipe like this that I used to make but haven’t done it in a long time because I didn’t love some of the ingredients. I really appreciate the ingredient list in this version- will make it again! So far the only things I have cooked this week have been from your blog (greek turkey wraps and now this 🙂 )
Jenny, where do you get coconut milk? I think I’ve seen it at the grocery store, but thinking it comes in a bigger size than 1/3 cup and then wondering – what else do you do with it? And how long will it keep? This recipe sounds wonderful – I don’t remember when you posted it but I saved it in my evernote, as I do bunches of your recipes, cuz they all sound wonderful! 🙂
Hi Wendy, you’re correct. Cans of coconut milk are about 15 ounces. I store the extra in the refrigerator and use it within a couple of days either in a smoothie or a curry or cupcakes. You could also use it with water when cooking rice to make coconut rice. I often buy refrigerated coconut milk to use with cereal (by the almond and dairy milks), and if I know I won’t be able to use the rest of the can of coconut milk, I’ll use the refrigerated coconut milk instead.
When I grow up I want to be as good a cook as you are! 🙂 I never think of these things – but those are great ideas for leftover coconut milk. And great to know I could use the refrigerated coco milk! Thanks Jenny!
Hi Jenny! I tried this for dinner with a family of 5 staying with us during the week of Christmas. It was a huge hit! I loved having it ready in the crock pot at dinnertime. I added extra PB and ginger because I love both of those, and less salsa because we can’t get salsa here and I had only one small jar left! Normally I wouldn’t think to put tomato-y stuff with nutty stuff, but it worked great! We will definitely be doing this one again.
Kara, I’m so glad you could make this. Maybe we can visit and bring you salsa… dreaming here. But would seriously love to bring hugs and salsa. And I know, it’s such a weird combination. I remember the first time I made this, I was sure it would be terrible. But it’s so good!
Thank you for introducing us to this delicious dish and for bringing it to us for dinner! And thank yo utoo for making the purple cake and cupcakes for the birthday party that were also soooo good 🙂
It was my pleasure!!!
This dish is on rotation for our family — so easy and so delicious. Makes the house smell yummy too!