This crock pot chicken thighs recipe is perfect for dinner! My Pesto Ranch Crock Pot Chicken Thighs are an easy slow cooked chicken dinner with just a few ingredients! So flavorful with minimal effort.
An Easy Crock Pot Chicken Thighs Recipe
You are in for the ultimate treat with this boneless chicken thigh recipe. The chicken comes out perfectly tender with flavorful pesto seasonings throughout. I like serving this chicken with my favorite mashed potato recipe and a little side salad.
This slow cooked chicken dish could not get simpler. You literally toss the ingredients into the crock pot or slow cooker, close the lid and forget about it for a few hours. Love that!! This is a perfect back to school, no-stress easy dinner idea that you don’t have to think about while your managing getting back on a schedule if your kids have already started school.
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What You’ll Need
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
- prepared pesto
- Ranch Dressing Seasoning packet
Can I Use Other Chicken Parts?
You can use chicken breast and even tenders if you’d like. Adjust cooking time accordingly.
How to Make this Pesto Ranch Crock Pot Chicken Thighs Recipe
- Turn crock pot to high setting. Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch dressing and chicken broth into crock pot. Stir gently to combine all seasonings. Close with lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Serve with a side of mashed potatoes and a simple salad.
Why did I use pesto in this chicken recipe? The Pesto in this recipe acts as the chicken seasoning. It gives such a great flavor.
Spread pesto over chicken with a spoon.
The Ranch Dressing mix also acts as a major seasoning to this dish. The flavor that comes from the two is amazing. I wouldn’t skip it. Sprinkle your Ranch Seasoning Mix over top.
Pour in some chicken broth.
Give a little stir and close the lid. Kick your feet up while your crock pot does all the work 🙂
Tips For Success For Making Chicken Thighs Recipe:
- Feel free to use other chicken parts. I’ve also used chicken breast which is great too.
- Don’t leave out one of the ingredients. The Pesto with the Ranch mix gives great flavor when slow cooked!
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container. Use shredded over salad for another meal idea.
How To Serve Chicken Dinner?
- Serve with my, The Best Classic Mashed Potatoes. Match made in heaven.
- Roasted vegetables are another great pairing along with a simple green salad.
Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 6 ounce jar of pesto
- 1 package Ranch Dressing Seasoning Mix
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Turn crock pot to high setting. Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch dressing and chicken broth into crock pot. Stir gently to combine all seasonings. Close with lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Serve with a side of mashed potatoes and a simple salad.
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Mmmmmm….I’m making this for dinner right now. My does it smell delicious! Can’t wait to taste it! 🙂
This was a fabulous recipe! I made it and shredded it and put it on ciabatta rolls with shredded italian blend cheese. So so good!
I made this tonight with four chicken breasts and served it with mashed potatoes. So yummy! Thank you!!
A lot of this recipe is printed over the black portion so I cannot read it… Could you please send me the ingredients and directions. Thanks!
I can’t see the actual recipe cause it is black font with a black back ground.
Made this tonight. My husband and I loved it!! Thank you!!
Thanks for the feedback Kimm!
Did anyone master this using chicken breasts? I’m wondering if slow cooking thawed breasts for 6 hours will be too much…last time I cooked chicken breasts in the crock pot, it came out dry. Thanks!
This was easy and delicious! Loved it! Will make it a regular meal.
I really like the brevity of ingredients & yet have a wonderful meal.
I made this tonight and it’s really good. I put it over brown rice. This will definitely make it into the regular rotation. Thanks! =]
Mmmmmm, made this tonight with chicken breasts and served it over mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli. REALLY good.
I made it tonight in my pressure cooker. Are you ready? 10 minutes of cooking time. I kid you not. Tender, juicy, flavorful. Wow.
I love using my pressure cooker, I’ll have to try it for this recipe!
Has anyone made this, frozen it and then cooked it later?
I absolutely LOVE pesto, and this looks so yummy. Especially because it’s made in the crock pot 🙂
I featured this recipe on the Clarks Condensed Sunday Dinner Party, as one of the best recipes I have found this week on Pinterest. I hope you’ll come by, and link up one of your yummy recipes at my link party!
http://www.clarkscondensed.com/2013/03/sunday-dinner-party-8.html
Made this tonight with whole wheat noodles – and my picky Hubby asked to add this to our staple list. Great recipe!
Holy Fire! I just made this and it was so amazingly delicious I can’t even stand it!
Tried this recipe last night and it was really easy to put together. I used chicken breasts instead of the thighs and I cooked it on low for about 7 hours. The chicken was flavorful and fell apart when I cut into it. I did find the meat to be a little dry so next time I will try cooking it on high for a shorter time. It might have been dry because I used chicken breasts as they are a fairly lean meat.
Thank you for the recipe can’t wait to try it again and experiment with it by adding potatoes or pasta to the pot as well!
I made this tonite. It was to die for. Best crock pot recipe I have in my repertoire yet!! I used frozen chicken breasts, smeared on the pesto, dumped in the ranch packet, and added the broth. Could not have been easier! And for added deliciousness I made noodles with cream sauce and I (took the chicken out of crock pot) threw the noodles into he crock pot and stirred it into all the glorious goodness of the pesto sauce. So you could have your chicken on top of the noodles (extra delicious) or on top of a salad which was equally delicious but waist conscious 🙂 I had it both ways. Amazing. Looking forward to leftovers!!!
This recipe was AMAZING!!!! This is going right in the recipe box! Thank you very much.
I made this for dinner last night over brown rice. It was delicious!!
I plan to make this tomorrow but am concerned that it calls for only 1/2 cup of broth. Is this really correct? I am afraid it will turn out dry (plan to cook on low for 6 hours). Thanks.
This is correct Frances, you can add more broth if you’d like, it won’t hurt the recipe 🙂
I am new to crock pot cooking… Wanted to give this recipe a try! I have frozen chicken breasts on hand to use.. but my question is do they need to be defrosted first or can I put them in the crock pot frozen??
Hi Mackenzie, I haven’t tried it with frozen chicken breasts, but I think it would work just fine 🙂
I have this cooking as we speak for about 4 hours now & it smells yummy! Hubby has come by twice, lifted the lid for a sniff! Serving it over white rice with a side of steamed broccoli. Thanks for sharing!
This looks so flavorful and succulent! Thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to try it out!
Does anyone know how many calories are in this yummy sounding dish?
Can this be made in the oven? My husband liked it but doesn’t like the texture of chicken cooked in the crock pot
I think it would be just fine cooked in the oven. I’d do 350 degrees for about an hour, loosely covered with foil.
Thanks I’m trying it tonight!
Hope you enjoy Theresa!!
This was quick and easy, thanks! I may try less pesto and ranch next time, my kiddos said it was too salty, but I will make it again for sure! Thanks!
Wow — GREAT chicken!
I added some veggies in at the end, tossed with pasta, and ended up adding some of my homemade red sauce just for an explosion of flavors. The flavors in this chicken are unbelievably good–we just like our red sauce! 🙂 My toddlers ate it and asked for 2nds! It is definitely making it into our rotation!
I’m so excited to make this tomorrow night! I’m doing Weight Watchers and this dish is perfect for it! It appears to be full of flavor and is low points! It comes out to 5pts+ per thigh, just in case you were interested to know 🙂
Made this using sun dried tomato pesto ,awesome!!!
This was incredible! The flavor is unmatched. I would say the ranch kicks up the flavor of the pesto perfectly without being too salty!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I love it!
Sounds delicious, but do you think we could use chicken breasts instead of thighs, my family doesn’t care for the dark meat.
I made this today and let it slow cook for 7 hours in my crock pot. The chicken just fell apart, it was great! I served it over spaghetti noodles and invited my mom over for dinner. Yum! I think even my husband would enjoy this one 🙂
So glad to hear it Jessica! Thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight and it was AWESOME!!! Found it on pinterest.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Kelly! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This came out so great! My family and I loved the recipe
Making tonight going to add potatoes right in! This sounds amazing!