Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken with 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken with 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce is a crave-worthy dinner that can be prepped in minutes!
I’m pretty sure that peanut sauce is magical.
It elevates a simple veggie noodle bowl, and takes an easy quinoa bowl over the top.
Really, peanut sauce on everything is my motto. If you love peanut sauce as much as I do give this Satay Chicken recipe a try too!
But, like all things, I don’t feel like we need to fuss over the recipe.
A good, complex, nuanced peanut sauce is a thing of beauty for sure.
On a busy weeknight, though, I need simple. Give me alllllllllllll the 5-ingredient recipes.
Enter 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce. It is both simple and tasty, and can be made during your simplified meal prep.
Trust me, having a jar of this crave-worthy sauce made ahead in the fridge makes pulling dinner together a no-brainer.
Once the yummy peanut sauce is made it’s literally as simple as dumping the chicken into the slow cooker along with some of the sauce and hitting start.
Done and done.
Leftovers are perfect for repurposing throughout the week, too.
I hope you’ll make this one soon.
Now, let’s make some Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken with 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce!
recipe & kid-friendly adaptations
1 | Swap almond butter for peanut butter, or use sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option.
2 | Broccoli and bell pepper make great veggie add-ins to this recipe, but feel free to skip them and serve with any lightly steamed or sautéed veggie you like.
this recipe is…
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken with 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter, at room temperature or melted*
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated or minced
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons low-sodium, gluten-free tamari or soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon rice vinegar or fresh lime juice
- ⅓ cup warm water
- Hot sauce to taste
For the Pulled Chicken + Veggies
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, or thighs
To Add at the End
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 2 cups sliced red bell pepper
- Chopped green onion, cilantro, and hot sauce for serving, optional
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, make the peanut sauce by whisking together the peanut butter, garlic, maple syrup, tamari, rice vinegar or lime juice and warm water until very smooth. Alternatively, add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Add the chicken along with ⅓ cup 5-Ingredient Peanut Sauce to a 6-quart slow cooker. Set the remaining sauce aside.
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 4-5 hours, or until the chicken shreds easily with a fork, being careful not to overcook or the chicken will be dry.
- Remove the chicken, shred with two forks, or chop into pieces. Set aside.
- Add the broccoli and bell pepper to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 20-30 minutes, until the veggies are just tender.
- Carefully drain half the cooking liquid. Add the chicken back to the slow cooker along with the remaining peanut sauce, stirring to combine.
- Alternatively, toss the chicken and veggies with the remaining cooking liquid, then serve with the remaining peanut sauce drizzled over top or on the side.
- Sprinkle with cilantro, green onion, and hot sauce if using, and serve.
This sounds wonderful, and with ingredients that I almost always have on hand. Broccoli is just going out of season where I live, so I’ll try to make is very soon. I much prefer to use thighs in the slow cooker. Hope to get back to you with a proper review.
Betty, I hope you enjoy. Please do let us know how it turns out!
This sounds delicious! I just whipped it up for dinner and the sauce isn’t creamy, it’s very liquid like. I thought maybe that would change with cooking but see that only a third of a cup is actually cooked. Is this the right consistency of what can I do to improve?
Jessica, If you pop the sauce in the fridge for a few hours is will thicken up. If the peanut butter you started with was very thin it may have affected the final product, too. You can add half the water next time for a thicker consistency.
Great recipe!
I made two batches of the sauce one using almond butter and the other using natural peanut butter. The Allmond butter had a nice thick consistency and the peanut butter sauce was a little bit runny so I added more peanut butter and that helped quite a bit.
This will be another one of my favorite recipes thanks again !
Kathy. 🙂
Kathy, great feedback! I’ll add a note to the recipe about the peanut butter. I think natural peanut butter varies quite a bit in consistency, so it’s worth noting that more may be necessary. Glad you enjoyed this one!
Great feedback! I used almond butter and it was thick. Good to know for when I make it in the future.
Ditto on the previous comments about a thin sauce. I too used natural peanut butter. I’m at work, can’t wait to get home and try it! I did lick the spoon after mixing it up this morning, very tasty.
Letoya, I think the consistency is definitely personal preference–I like a thinner, pourable sauce, but I get that some people want a thicker option. The good news is you can always add more peanut butter or add less water to change the consistency. I hope you enjoy this one tonight! 🙂
I made this last week with almond butter and it was so good! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Ashley, mmmmmm, definitely making this one with almond butter next time!
Just made this last night and everyone in the family loved it! Toddler ate allll the broccoli! Thank you as always!
Yay, so happy this was a hit with your crew!
Hi Robyn! Could a whole chicken be used instead?
Hey Carin, yes, though you may need to adjust the cooking time. You can use this recipe as a guide: https://realfoodwholelife.com/blog/slow-cooker-garlic-balsamic-whole-chicken
Just came across this recipe and it looks so yummy! What would be a good sub for the maple syrup? I don’t use it often enough to justify the cost. Honey? Regular sugar? Thanks!
Caroline, honey would be a great option if you have that on hand! If all you have is regular sugar I’d cut the amount in half.
Now that I’ve made this 5 times I feel I should leave a review. We LOVE this!! So insanely easy and delicious. Rarely do I serve a meal where no carb is needed! I add green beans to the veggies too. Would 100% recommend!
Jen, YAY, so happy to year you are enjoying this one and that it’s good enough to make the repeat list. Love that! Thanks so much for the review!
can this be prepped and frozen then dumped into crockpot?
Hi Lauren, I haven’t tested freezing this one, so I can’t say for sure. It’s possible the peanut sauce might separate when frozen, and you’d need to alter the cook time, since the original recipe calls for fresh veggies to be added a the end. If you do end up giving it a try, let us know how it turns out!
Thoughts on converting this as an instant pot recipe with cooking the chicken?
Hi Amy, I haven’t tested this one in the IP yet, so can’t say for sure. They IP can be tricky with the burn sensor, so it’s possible the sauce could set off the burn sensor before the chicken is cooked. If you try it, you’ll want to add the veggies after the chicken is cooked to avoid over cooking. If you do give it a try let us know how it goes!
Made it last night with rice noodles and my husband and kids ate it up and asked for seconds! Easy and delicious, winning combo!
Kim, yay, so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this one! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
Delicious, healthy, and simple! I added 2 T sambal oelek to make it spicy and finished it all on the stovetop to cook down the sauce. Thanks for another great recipe and super helpful tips!
Lainey, yay, I’m so happy that you enjoyed this one! Love the idea of adding the sambal oelek and finishing the sauce on the stovetop. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
I made this meal the other night and it was good. I used a mix of peanut butter and almond butter to thicken the sauce up. Do you know the amount of calories in this meal?
Yay, so glad you enjoyed this one! I just added the nutrition info for ya, hope it’s helpful!
I misread and added the entire sauce into the crockpot with the chicken to cook. I could cry because I was so excited for this. I hope it still turns out.
Jess, it should still taste yummy! Some of the flavor of the sauce will cook out, so you can always mix up a bit more sauce fresh to pour on top at the end to boost the flavors a bit!
This looks amazing, and I am planning to. try this for mother’s day… Question… Could I just put the veggies in with the chicken for the entire time? How would that affect the cook time?
If you put the veggies in the whole time they’ll be super over cooked an mushy, so I’d recommend adding them at the end. If you’d rather you can also team or saute the veggies separately earlier in the day, then gently reheat to serve. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!