Peanut Noodles made in the crock pot have an exotic flavor without the restaurant wait!
Tender chicken breasts and veggies are slow-cooked in a creamy peanut sauce with linguine for a quick and delicious dinner!
Holly’s Recipe Highlights For Chicken Peanut Noodles
- Flavor: While the ingredients may seem like an odd combination, this dish is packed with bold, savory flavors with a little sweet nuttiness from the peanut butter. The salsa and sambal add just the right amount of kick!
- Skill Level: Super easy! Just toss everything in the slow cooker and let it do the work.
- Prep note: Save some pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce in Step 7.
- Budget tip: Use up any leftover chicken and veggies from the fridge or use frozen peppers and carrots to save money and cut down on prep time.
- Swaps: Swap chicken for shrimp or tofu, or use almond butter instead of peanut butter. Spaghetti or rice noodles work great instead of linguine!
Ingredient Tips For Chicken Peanut Noodles
- Chicken: I use boneless chicken breasts in this recipe but you can use boneless thighs as well.
- Salsa: Choose any brand of tomato based salsa. I use this one.
- Peanut Butter: This recipe has only been tested with regular peanut butter, not the all natural type that separates.
- Flavor: Soy sauce adds salty umami. If possible use fresh lime juice with extra wedges for serving.
- Vegetables: Thinly or shredded bell peppers and carrots add color and crunch to peanut noodles. You can also toss in some diced garlic, snap peas, water chestnuts, small broccoli florets, or diced zucchini.
- Noodles: Linguine, spaghetti, or rice noodles work in this recipe.
Variations: Top slow cooker peanut noodles with chopped cilantro, green onions, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, and a splash of lime juice for a tasty flavor boost!
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Peanut Noodles
- Whisk sauce ingredients together.
- Cook onion, chicken breasts, carrots, and bell pepper in a slow cooker, covered with sauce, for several hours (full recipe below).
- Cook and drain the linguini.
- Shred the chicken and stir it back into the pot with the cooked linguini and sauce.
Serve with sesame seeds, green onions, or cilantro.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
Keep leftover peanut noodles in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Enjoy peanut noodles cold, wrapped in butter lettuce cups for a refreshing salad or reheat portions in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Did you love this Slow Cooker Chicken Peanut Noodles recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Slow Cooker Chicken Peanut Noodles
Equipment
- Large Pot for noodles
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¾ cup salsa mild or hot
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons Sambal oelek or to taste, optional
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 cup julienned carrots
- 8 ounces linguine
- chopped fresh cilantro green onion and crushed peanuts for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add the onion to the bottom of a 6 qt slow cooker. Top with chicken.
- In a medium bowl, combine salsa, peanut butter, broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and sambal if using. Pour over the chicken.
- Top with the carrots and bell pepper. Cover and cook on low for 3 ½ to 4 hours or on high for 2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Transfer the chicken breasts to a bowl and shred using two forks.
- Cook the linguine according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- Add the linguine and shredded chicken with any juices to the slow cooker. Stir well, adding pasta water if needed. Cover and let the pasta rest for 2 to 3 minutes in the slow cooker to thicken before serving.
- Garnish with cilantro, green onion and peanuts if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Lunch, Main Course, Pasta, Slow Cooker
Cuisine American, Asian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Made as directed and it was delicious. I love every recipe I’ve tried and now I’m heading over to Amazon to get the cookbook.
So excited for you to try the recipes in our cookbook! There are so many delicious recipes in there.
We made this in our Instapot. Cooked for 20 minutes with all the ingredients listed. After 20 minutes we did a 20 minute release. Shredded the chicken as noted, put it back in the pot, added the cooked noodles and just let the flavors incorporate. Yummy!! Came out great. We did add more vegetable broth (liquid needed for the instapot). Thank you. We’ll make this again.
Easy and delicious! I added diced water chestnuts for additional crunch.
Kay, I am glad you enjoyed the noodles. The addition of water chestnuts sounds yummy!
We had fun trying this one! We made the recipe exactly as follows and we garnished with the cilantro, green onions, chopped peanuts and a generous squeeze of fresh lime. Similar flavors to pad thai, which we love. This was an easy weeknight meal with unique flavors. Yummy!
This was absolutely delicious! I followed the instructions precisely, couldn’t find the sambal oelek so I left it out. It is amazing! Only thing I wish I had was some sriracha to drizzle over the top. Definitely going to make this again.
So glad you loved it Nicole!
This sure sounds really good
BUT
How can you cut way down on the sodium content.
Low sodium diets sure do limit a person’s enjoyment of some great sounding recipes.
What is the suggested serving size?
Thank you,
I would suggest using a low sodium soy sauce and a low sodium salsa. The sambal oelek (garlic chili paste) also has sodium and could be replaced with a sprinkle of chili flakes. Hope that helps!
This is easy to make and full of flavor! Everyone enjoyed it. Thank you!
Even though I haven’t made this yet, I certainly will be very soon. Sounds absolutely delicious! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!
I can’t wait to hear how it goes Geri!