34 Chicken Thigh Recipes You Can Make in a Slow-Cooker

August 29, 2020

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Break out the slow-cooker and make one of these delicious chicken thigh recipes. These recipes use the slow-cooker to add a depth of flavor to chicken and vegetables to create a bold meal. Plus, who doesn’t love the ease of throwing ingredients into a pot and being able to walk away while dinner cooks? Recipes like Slow-Cooker Chicken Pot Pie and Slow-Cooker Butter Chicken are hearty, flavorful and the perfect choice for dinner.

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Crock-Pot Pineapple Chicken

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This slow-cooker chicken with pineapple has a hint of ginger and sesame and is made with simple ingredients you may already have in your pantry! Look for fresh pineapple that's been peeled and cored already to make assembly even easier. Serve with brown rice to sop up the sweet and savory sauce. Source: EatingWell.com, January 2020

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Slow-Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tacos with Avocado Crema

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A rich, creamy topping made of mashed avocado, sour cream, lime juice and salt takes these spicy slow-cooker chicken tacos to the next level. Lightly toast the tortillas, if desired. Use any leftover avocado cream as a chip dip, and serve with tortilla chips. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Slow-Cooker Moroccan-Spiced Chicken Stew

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The chicken, sweet potato and chickpeas all contribute to the nice textured bite of this slow-cooker stew. And the tomato broth takes it to the next level. When eating, you'll want to have a toasted baguette at the ready to soak it all up. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Greek Chicken & Vegetable Ragout

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Chicken thighs stay moist and succulent during slow cooking, infusing the accompanying vegetables with superb flavor. This easy braise has a luxurious finish of avgolémono, a versatile Greek sauce made with egg, lemon and fresh dill. Source: EatingWell Magazine, January/February 2008

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Slow-Cooker Lemon-Pepper Chicken Thighs with Broccolini

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What if you could have tender, slow-cooker chicken thighs and crisp Broccolini to feed four with 10 minutes of hands-on time and eight common ingredients? Now, you can, and here's the recipe to prove it. Garnish with fresh oregano leaves and additional kosher salt and black pepper, if desired. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Pot Pie

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We took all the flavors of classic pot pie and made it super-easy to pull together in the crock pot. Look for ready-to-bake biscuits with minimal ingredients to keep it healthy. Biscuits tend to be high in sodium, so we advise only half a biscuit per serving if you're watching your salt intake. Source: EatingWell.com, September 2018

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Chicken Pita Sandwiches with Harissa Sauce

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We serve these lemon-oregano chicken pitas with lots of fixings tucked in, but you could ditch the pita and serve it all over cooked bulgur, cauliflower rice or a bed of greens. Source: EatingWell Magazine, June 2020

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Slow-Cooker Butter Chicken

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Browning the chicken and sautéing the aromatics before everything goes into the crock pot is key to building the flavors in our version of this popular curry. Source: EatingWell Magazine, January/February 2019

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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

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Perfect for dinner on a cold evening, this slow-cooker chicken soup is chock full of mushrooms, leeks, celery and wild rice. It gets its creaminess from a blend of low-fat milk and silken-style tofu. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Curried Chicken with Sweet Potatoes & Snap Peas

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A slow cooker makes easy work of this colorful coconut curry dinner-but don't just toss everything in at once! Reserving the bell peppers and snap peas until the end keeps the vegetables crisp. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine, Summer 2018

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Weeknight Honey-Orange Chicken with Butternut Squash

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Combine orange juice, cornstarch, soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, salt and crushed red pepper with chicken and butternut squash in this delicious slow-cooker recipe. Serve over high-protein quinoa, which contains all nine essential amino acids. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Chicken & Honey-Glazed Root Vegetables

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This beautiful slow-cooker chicken dish should be a standby for day-of decisions to host dinner. In the spring, substitute baby white turnips and baby carrots for the regular varieties. To reduce prep time, cut the vegetables the night before; refrigerate. Place in the slow cooker with the browned chicken the next day. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Slow-Cooker Sweet & Spicy Glazed Chicken

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You can fully indulge in the sticky-sweetness this slow-cooker chicken dish offers when you know that calories, saturated fat, carbs and sugar are in check. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Shredded Chicken Tacos

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This taco recipe is a great choice for midweek dinners, even if it's not Taco Tuesday! Instead of beef, we use moist, boneless chicken thighs and to make things easier for you, the taco filling is cooked in a slow cooker, so you can prepare it in the morning and come home to a delicious meal. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Chicken with Rosemary & Mushrooms over Linguine

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The classic pairing of shallots and mushrooms gives this easy slow-cooker chicken recipe a timeless quality that's sure to please everyone at your table. Swirling the stock and flour together at the beginning is a pro tip for creating a thick sauce that moistens the final dish and helps all the ingredients come together. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Apricot Chicken with Garam Masala

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Garam masala, a premixed Indian curry spice blend, adds an authentic touch to an exotic chicken dish served over rice. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Sichuan Chicken with Scallions & Baby Bok Choy

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Sichuan peppercorns give this brothy slow-cooker chicken dish a distinctive lemony, mouth-numbing flavor. Unrelated to peppercorns, they're the dried berries of the prickly ash tree. Look for them in specialty markets and online. If you've never had them before, try one first and add more or less to taste. Serve with sesame baby bok choy (which takes just a few minutes to prep) and Chinese noodles for an easy, healthy dinner that'll get you out of your same-old-chicken-dish rut. Source: EatingWell Magazine, September 2019

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Mole with Cilantro Rice

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Mole sauce is a Mexican condiment primarily composed of fruit, chile pepper, nuts and spices. In our rendition, these ingredients take the form of raisins and tomatoes; ancho chiles; smoked almonds; and cocoa, cumin and cinnamon. The rich mixture coats the browned chicken thighs in the slow cooker, and doubles as a topping on the final dish. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, if desired. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Mahogany Chicken Thighs

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Use your slow cooker to make this delicious sweet-and-sour chicken dinner. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Chicken & Tomato Ragout over Polenta

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Cooking the polenta in chicken stock infuses it with robust savoriness, and melting the Parmesan cheese into the polenta further adds a salty, nutty quality. It's the perfect balance to the acidic, tomato-forward sauce. And while this slow-cooker chicken dish is fancy enough to serve to guests at a dinner party, the use of presliced mushrooms and quick-cooking polenta keeps the hands-on time to a minimum. Garnish with fresh oregano and basil leaves, if desired. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Wine & Tomato Braised Chicken

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Here chicken thighs cook in a simple herb-infused tomato-and-wine sauce. The bone-in thighs give it plenty of hearty flavor, and since you cook them without the skin, it keeps the dish healthy. There's plenty of sauce, so serve it over pappardelle or brown rice. Steamed broccoli or sautéed broccoli rabe tossed with olive oil and a splash of lemon juice complete the meal. Source: EatingWell Magazine, January/February 2011

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Mustard-Maple Chicken with Wild Rice Pilaf

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This slow-cooker meal is simple to prepare and will elicit rave reviews from everyone at your table. The wild rice pilaf is started early in the slow cooker and followed up by the chicken and sweet and tangy maple-mustard sauce. It's a mouthwatering combination! Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Moroccan Chicken, Vegetables & Couscous

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Loaded with chicken, onion, butternut squash, apricots, chickpeas and couscous, this slow-cooker recipe is not only bursting with color and texture, but it's also packed with protein and a host of vitamins and even contains a dose of fiber. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Slow-Cooker Chicken & Wild Rice Soup with Asparagus & Peas

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Use your crock pot all year with this healthy slow-cooker chicken soup recipe with fresh spring ingredients. Adding the asparagus and peas to the slow cooker for the last 20 minutes of cooking and leaving the lid off ensures that the vegetables stay bright green and are perfectly done without getting mushy. Source: EatingWell Magazine, May 2019

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Asian-Garlic Chicken Thighs

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Chicken thighs are seasoned with Asian-style seasonings, then slow-cooked to tenderness and served with crisp sugar snap peas. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Chicken & Rice Bowls

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A bowl of tender shredded chicken, hot cooked rice and slightly spicy black beans served with fresh toppings is a meal that will satisfy anytime. Make this slow-cooker chicken dish on the weekend and reheat throughout the week for easy at-work lunches or dinner at the end of a long day. For a variation, swap the brown rice for a grain medley. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore with Polenta

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This rustic stew cooks all day in the slow cooker so you can come home to a comforting, hot dinner. Not a fan of polenta? Try this healthy chicken dinner over pasta instead. Source: EatingWell Magazine, January/February 2019

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Slow-Cooker Lemongrass-Coconut Marinated Chicken

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In this slow-cooker chicken recipe, minimal effort produces big flavor, making it the perfect starter recipe for anyone learning to cook their own Thai food. If you can't find wide rice noodles, any rice noodle can be substituted. For quickest day-of meal prep, make the chicken and coconut broth a day in advance and refrigerate. When ready to eat, simply reheat them, cook the noodles and serve. Source: Everyday Slow Cooker

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Chicken Vera Cruz

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Vera Cruz sauce is traditionally served with seafood, such as red snapper, but it also pairs wonderfully with chicken. Serve over brown rice or quinoa for a balanced meal. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Slow-Cooker Mediterranean Chicken & Chickpea Soup

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This set-it-and-forget-it slow-cooker recipe simmers away all day so you come home to a warm and healthy dinner the whole family will love. Using bone-in chicken is the key to making rich soup without adding broth. Source: EatingWell Magazine, March 2019

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Slow-Cooker Arroz con Pollo (Chicken & Rice)

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This one-pot chicken dinner, inspired by the traditional dish of Spain and Latin America, comes together easily in the crock pot. The instant brown rice is added near the end, to keep it from overcooking. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine, Winter 2019

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Chicken-Corn Tortilla Soup

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Using bone-in chicken thighs in this soup ensures the meat stays moist over the long cooking time. Not only are chicken thighs inherently juicier than breast meat, but cooking chicken on the bone also helps it stay succulent. Source: EatingWell Magazine, Soup Cookbook

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Slow-Cooked Ranch Chicken and Vegetables

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This creamy, veggie-packed chicken dinner comes together easily in your slow-cooker-and makes enough for another night's casserole (see associated recipe)! Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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Curried Chicken with Naan

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Chicken thighs with spicy rub are slow cooked with onions and carrots until tender. The chicken is chopped up and served on warm naan with mango-ginger chutney and spinach. Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

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