Thai Peanut Chicken with Bean Thread Noodles

* Gluten-Free * Healthy * Slow-Cooker *

I adore slow-cooker recipes that come together in about a minute and start to smell good almost immediately. This recipe uses mostly pantry ingredients and if you’re like us and grow your own peppers in the summer, you always have Thai chiles in the freezer. Whip this up on the weekend or a day you sneak out of work a little early.

We had never eaten bean thread noodles before making this dish - my husband literally grunted, "BEAN thread noodles? Gross!" Turns out, they’re a big pile of tasty, stretchy, slurpy fun that literally entertained my family for an hour. I highly recommend them as an alternative to typical rice noodles. And make any condescending, doubting family members clean up the mess.

Thai Peanut Chicken with Bean Thread Noodles

Adapted from Skinny Slow Cooker

Serves 6

4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

1 can light coconut milk

1 tbsp fresh ground lemongrass (We like Gourmet Garden’s Lemon Grass paste.)

2 Thai chiles, minced

2 tbsp all-natural peanut butter

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 tbsp chopped peanuts

8-12 ounces dried bean thread noodles

In a medium bowl, whisk the peanut butter into the coconut milk until dissolved. Add to slow cooker and stir in the lemongrass, chiles, lime juice and zest. Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. Using two forks, shred the chicken and stir in the peanuts. (My brilliant friend Christine recently informed me that using a KitchenAid stand mixer with a paddle attachment shreds chicken in record time. And it sounds like a lot more fun to us than two forks.)

Cook the bean thread noodles according to package directions right before serving. Spoon the chicken over the noodles and serve immediately.

Editor’s Note: If the package says to soften in very hot tap water, we recommend bringing water to a simmer on the stove top, removing from heat and then adding the noodles until softened. “Very hot tap water,” at least in our little kitchen, was not hot enough to soften the threads sufficiently ... even after soaking ... for ... ever.

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.