Test Kitchen Thursday - Thai-Style Chicken

While we were in North Carolina, we ate at a couple of new restaurants. One of them was Thai Room Restaurant on Beach Road. I had the most delicious General Tao Chicken I've ever eaten. Definitely worth a visit if you're on the Outer Banks.

Since then, I've wanted to try making Thai food at home. Luckily I had thawed some chicken, so one night when I found myself with way too much to do and not a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, I made this Thai Chicken dish from my CROCK- POT® Best –Loved Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook.

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces
• 1 cup hot salsa
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• Hot cooked rice
• 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

I used around 2 pounds of split chicken breasts instead of chicken pieces. In addition, I used crunchy peanut butter instead of sprinkling 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts on the chicken at the end. I'm not sure my girls would have eaten the dish with the chopped nuts.

1. Place chicken in CROCK- POT slow cooker. Combine salsa, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce and ginger; pour over chicken.
2. Cover; cook on LOW 8 to 9 hours or on HIGH 3 to 4 hours, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.
3. Serve chicken and sauce over rice; sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.

This chicken was very juicy. It cooked in a little over 3 hours on HIGH, and the family loved it. The hot salsa blends nicely with the lime juice, soy sauce, and peanut butter to create a delicious sauce. We had corn as a vegetable before the main dish.

If you make this dish, I hope you'll let me know how it turns out.


Note: That's the Lil Diva (10) and Lil Princess (8) in my banner. As you can see, they have always loved cooking and eating.  :)