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While lean, quick-cooking chicken breasts are convenient to have on hand for family meals, you just can't beat chicken thighs for their flavor, juiciness, and price. Chicken thighs maintain their excellent taste and tenderness even when cooked for several hours in a slow cooker, while chicken breasts can become quite dry and tough.
As with most slow cooker chicken recipes, there's usually no need to sear the chicken before you add it to the crock. However, browning the chicken—especially if the skin hasn't been removed—can really amp up your meal, adding flavor, color, and texture. If you have time, brown whole chicken thighs in a small amount of vegetable oil over medium-high heat before adding to the slow cooker with the rest of your recipe's ingredients.
While some recipes call for bone-in chicken thighs, many do not. Thankfully, with only one bone running through the middle of chicken thighs, they're easy to debone. Just make cuts on either side of the bone and remove it while scraping off any meat that might be adhering.
If you don't cook with chicken thighs often, these crock pot recipes will make you a believer.
Watch Now: 6 Reasons We Love Chicken Thighs
Crock Pot Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga
Curry powder and ginger provide the flavor for tender, juicy chicken thighs and sweet potatoes in this easy crock pot recipe. Peach preserves (or your favorite kind) add just enough sweetness.
Crock Pot Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo
The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga
Enjoying a weeknight gumbo is easier than you think. After a little upfront work—making a roux and quickly cooking shrimp—it's just 7 to 9 hours in the slow cooker and you have a New Orleans-style feast ready for dinner.
Crock Pot Chicken Fricassee
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray
Flavorful chicken thighs plus mushrooms, aromatic vegetables, and a creamy, buttery sauce add up to weeknight supper satisfaction. Add rice or noodles, or serve with a salad and bread.
Crock Pot Beef and Chicken Stew Recipe
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray
Chicken thighs team up with stewing beef to make this hearty dish reminiscent of Kentucky's famous burgoo. Potatoes, carrots, and canned tomatoes make it a well-rounded feast.
Continue to 5 of 19 belowCrock Pot Chicken and Quinoa Burrito Bowl
The Spruce Eats / Jennifer Meier
In this one-pot, one-bowl recipe, boneless chicken thighs are slow-cooked to perfection with a variety of seasonings, black beans, and quinoa. Garnish servings with sour cream, green onions, avocado, and cheese.
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken With Cabbage
The Spruce Eats / Rachel Riesgraf
This wonderfully flexible slow cooker recipe is perfect for chicken thighs. Try adding leeks, celery, or even fennel. Slowly cooking chicken with a generous amount of garlic infuses it with tremendous flavor.
Salsa Crock Pot Chicken
The Spruce Eats / Kristina Vanni
This super easy recipe uses just two ingredients: chicken thighs and salsa. Choose a traditional tomato salsa or try something a little different. A fruity salsa would be fabulous.
Sweet and Spicy Crock Pot Chicken
Rommel Gonzalez / Getty Images
Purchased or homemade barbecue sauce and sweet and sour sauce sweet and team up in this fast and easy chicken dish. The simplicity of the dish makes it a great starting point. Add extra vegetables if you'd like.
Continue to 9 of 19 belowSlow Cooker Chicken With Farro and Vegetables
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray
Farro is a great ingredient for the slow cooker because, unlike rice, it maintains its chewy texture over the long cooking time. This is a satisfying one-pot meal and an excellent way to use chicken thighs.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Tinga
The Spruce Eats / Maxwell Cozzi
Chicken tinga is a Mexican stew made with chicken thighs and chipotle peppers. Charred tomatoes, onion, and garlic add to the flavor and slow cooking brings it all together wonderfully. Serve it as is or use it for taco night.
Crock Pot Chicken With Dry Rub
Brian Leatart / Getty Images
Put the barbecue sauce back on the shelf! A dry rub—made with cayenne, paprika, thyme, sage, lemon pepper, and a hint of brown sugar—flavors this spicy crock pot chicken.
Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore
The Spruce Eats
Boneless chicken thighs (or breasts) are slow cooked in a flavorful homemade tomato sauce. Serve over spaghetti or your favorite pasta shape for a crowd-pleasing dinner.
Continue to 13 of 19 below4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Cola Chicken
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray
Slow cooking chicken thighs in ketchup and Cola—or Dr. pepper—is a shortcut to flavor. Try shredding the cooked chicken and serving it on buns.
Crock Pot Green Chile Chicken
sbossert / Getty Images While you can make this recipe with chicken breasts, using thighs takes it to the next level. Seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic, and green chiles, it makes an excellent filling for tacos, burritos, or enchiladas.
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Low-Fat Crockpot Chicken and Vegetable Stew
Rita Maas/The Image Bank/Getty Images
It might be low in fat, but this stew doesn't skimp on flavor, thanks to a medley of vegetables, a can of crushed tomatoes, and fresh herbs.
Crock Pot Portuguese Chicken
The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga
Spicy Spanish chorizo—or Portuguese chourico—plus artichoke hearts and black olives give this easy-to-pull-together chicken layers of texture and flavor.
Continue to 17 of 19 belowSlow Cooker Creole Chicken With Sausage
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray
Spicy andouille sausage adds Louisiana flavor to this chicken and sausage combination. It's a Creole-style recipe, enhanced with tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions.
Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga
With white beans, corn, dried seasonings, and fresh cilantro, you won't miss the tomatoes in this white chicken chili. To give it an extra boost, take the time to brown the chicken thighs.
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Crock Pot Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomatoes
The Spruce Eats / Leah Maroney
Make this fabulous Tuscan-inspired dish with chicken thighs for a super satisfying supper. You can add some cream to the sauce if you like and top it off with Parmesan cheese then serve it over hot polenta, pasta, or rice.