I’m in love with this recipe for spicy coconut chicken drumsticks made in the crockpot! Seriously, we all loved the slight spiciness of the thai chili paste and the creamy sauce made from coconut milk. This chicken and sauce goes perfectly with some oven baked brown rice and a salad. Serve it up for dinner this week at your house! And BONUS this recipe can easily be made into a slow cooker freezer meal.
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I got this recipe idea from my friend, Jen. The past couple of months I’ve been part of a freezer meal group. Each member of the group makes 5 freezer meals (all the same, so like 5 lasagnas). Then we all meet one evening and exchange our freezer meals. You come home with 5 different freezer meals ready to be made any time during the next month. These meals come in handy for those days when you just don’t have the groceries to make dinner or the days when you’re too tired to make dinner or the days when it’s just too busy! In the next few weeks I’ll share some of the recipes that we’ve tried. It’s been fun to try other people’s recipes and dinners that we don’t normally make.
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Jen made a version of this recipe with chicken breasts and a few other changes from my recipe. My whole family loved it and I decided to turn it into a slow cooker recipe. If you prefer you can use boneless chicken instead of the chicken legs like I used. Just remember that chicken breasts cook a lot quicker in the slow cooker than chicken on the bone or boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
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You’ll start the recipe by mixing up a quick sauce with coconut milk and spices and cilantro. Then you’ll pull the skin off the chicken legs. This is really easy with a paper towel. It helps you to grip the skin and get it off in no time. Add those chicken drummies to the sauce in the crockpot and let it braise in there for about 6 to 8 hours and you’re done! Like I said this recipe was perfect with rice because the sauce is so delicious and the rice just soaks it up.
And if you really want to be healthy you could serve this slow cooker coconut chicken and the sauce with cauliflower rice. I have yet to try cauliflower rice, but I’m definitely intrigued by the idea. I also think a nice broccoli side dish would go great with this dinner.
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Slow Cooker Spicy Coconut Chicken Drumsticks
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 5
Description
A slightly spicy and creamy coconut chicken and sauce that braises for hours in the slow cooker while you’re getting a million other things done!
Ingredients
- 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 Tbsp Sriracha
- 1 Tbsp garlic thai chili paste
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup diced onions (I used a yellow onion)
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for serving
- 3–4 lbs of chicken drumsticks (I put 10 in my slow cooker)
Instructions
- Combine basil, coconut milk, Sriracha, garlic thai chili paste, soy sauce, onion and cilantro in the slow cooker. Stir.
- Using a double layer of paper towels pull the skin off of the chicken legs. Add the now skinless chicken legs into the slow cooker. Nestle them into the sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, Chicken will be very tender.
- Serve the chicken and sauce over rice and top with extra cilantro.
Notes
I used my 6 quart slow cooker for this recipe.
If you want you can make this into a slow cooker freezer meal! Just place all the ingredients into a freezer size gallon zipper bag (I like the Hefty slider bags). Then freeze. When you’re ready to cook drop everything from the bag into the slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 8-10 hours, if still frozen and 6-8 hours if thawed.
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Just like other reviewer, mine came out thin red , almost brown sauce. I don’t understand how not only the white color but flavor of coconut milk disappeared completely…. ????? I even omitted sriracha and of course I used Thai Kitchen regular unsweetened coconut milk…
★★★
I made this tonight and also found it to be just a bit bland. Like another commenter suggested, I added 2 T of the Thai Garlic Chili Paste. 🙁 maybe some lime juice or red curry paste or something next time to add a layer of flavor?
★★★
So delicious! I omitted the sriracha, opting to serve it on the side and the recipe still had enough kick to it! I also made it with frozen chicken breasts and they were perfect – thank you!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it!!!
Made this last night for our Sunday family meal. AMAZING! I had read a few of the comments and tweaked it a little. I used 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped, I used 2 T. of the chili garlic past, added 6 cloves minced garlic and a few grinds of salt and pepper. Definitely a keeper. The family loved it.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Pamela!
does anyone know the nutritional values for this meal?
I just updated the recipe with the nutritional values.
We loved it so much that we cooked it 4 times in 10 days. Each time in a different combination. I filled it in volovent as a starter !!! Another tine in puff pastry as a snack for school !!! Twice with rice as a main course :)) the best recipe so far! Thank u
★★★★★
Haha! This is so great!!!!
This smells and looks amazing and had a great spice however totally lacking in flavor. Added salt to the recipe at the table still it really needs something the make it worth a remake
Do you think I could cook this on high for a shorter time ?
yes you could. just halve the time.
Im making this right now with boneless skinless chicken thighs…do you think 4 hours on low is the right amount of time?
yep that will work. you could leave it longer…up to 6 hours.
Do you have to take out the chicken skin?
You don’t have to. But it will be soggy and not very appetizing. You can put under the broiler to crisp up the skin, if you’d like.
I could not find canned coconut milk but have the coconut cream. Would the coconut cream work if i mix it with broth?
I am not totally sure on that. I haven’t ever used coconut cream myself. I bet it would work though!
Coconut Cream is what you use to make Pina Coladas and is sweet. This is not a good substitute. Look for canned Coconut Milk in the Asian section of most grocery stores
I put all ingredients in a ziplock bag and froze it, we had it in the crockpot while camping, it was amazing, thanks
awesome idea!
I followed the recipe but mine came out with a thin red sauce, not creamy white like the picture, I better add greek yogurt or sour cream. It is not very exciting.
Could this fit in a 4 qt slow cooker?
yes!
What type of chili paste did you use and/or recommend with this dish?
I used something like this: https://www.boxed.com/product/854/fresh-chili-garlic-sauce-18-oz.
Awesome!! Thank you so much, I’m really looking forward to trying this out!
Could I do this easily in an Instant Pot?
I’m sure you could. I’ve never used an instant pot but I know a lot of slow cooker recipes make for good instant pot recipes.
I made this in my Instant Pot and it turned out great! 2 packages of drumsticks from Trader Joe’s, cooked in 30 mins. It was falling off the bone and very tender.
★★★★★
So glad to hear!
I made this and although it was delicious, it didn’t come out with creamy consistency I was expecting and what it looks like in your pictures. What kind of coconut milk do you recommend? Like I said, it was still delicious! Thank you!!
I used full fat coconut milk and I think it was the Thai Kitchen brand! Hope this helps 🙂
Same thing happened to me. Store only had lite coconut milk, wasn’t even thinking about the fact that the lite stuff would separate. Have to try again with the full fat one! It still came out good though. 🙂
Good to know! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Just cooked it, somehow the coconut milk disappeared while cooking, which affected the sauce. It was probably the coconut milk I used, will try a different brand next time. My son still ate it which was good though:)
Maybe try adding the coconut milk at the end? did you use a full fat coconut milk?
Hi Karen
I have hair the same as your hair. What hair products do you use?
Hi, I use deva curl conditioner and deva curl gel. I want to see a pic of your hair!
Im cooking it atm.
I cut the ends of the legs off, I think they are then called lovely legs.
Mortar and pestle coriander seeds, dry basil, fresh garlic, garlic powder, salt and sugar, vinegar and curry paste and slowly cooked with onion with lid on my stone pot for 2 minutes then added the coconut milk then the chicken legs. Now in the oven on 155 Celsius.
Can’t wait looks great.
Wonderful recipe. I tried and it came out well.. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks!!
Glad I saw this recipe. Looks absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing it.
You’re welcome!!
I cannot wait to try this we love anything made with coconut milk
me too! It’s the best 🙂
I tried this recipe tonight for dinner and really liked it! I omitted the chili paste because I know it’s too hot for my taste. I added a green pepper, fresh garlic and also a bit of chicken broth for good measure. I will definitely make this again! I served it over jasmine rice which I cooked in chicken broth with garlic and cilantro.
Yum that sounds fantastic, Amy!
Looks great..Will definetly try this. Maybe with chicken breast? Not crazy about dark chicken meat..But I am sure that could work, right? Thanks for the inspiration <3
yep you could try with chicken breasts. I would only cook for 4 hours on low with chicken breasts!
Looks great! I can’t wait to try it.
YAY!!