Sweet and savory chicken thighs cook over tender sweet potatoes in a buttery brown sugar sauce—all with just four ingredients. This easy slow cooker dinner is cozy, hands-off, and perfect with a crisp green vegetable or salad. The sweet potatoes soak up every bit of the flavorful cooking juices.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just four ingredients — chicken, sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and butter.
- Built-in side dish — the sweet potatoes cook right alongside the chicken.
- No browning required — everything goes straight into the slow cooker.
- Tender and flavorful — bone-in, skin-on thighs stay moist during a long cook.
- Easy hands-off dinner — let the slow cooker do the work while you go about your day.
Ingredient Notes
Use medium sweet potatoes and cut them into big, fairly even chunks. I mean big enough that they will survive six or seven hours without turning into orange baby food. Mine are usually around two-inch pieces, though I have never stood there with a ruler. I’m not running a laboratory. Try our 4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Vintage Pantry Thighs next.
Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are important here because that skin and bone contribute flavor and help the meat stay tender. The skin will not get crispy in the slow cooker—let us not pretend otherwise. It becomes soft, flavorful skin. If crispy skin matters to your family, you can broil the cooked thighs briefly at the end, but that is extra work and sometimes I am simply not available for extra work.
For brown sugar, I use light brown sugar because that is what is generally in my pantry, packed into the container with a measuring cup missing in action. Dark brown sugar would make things a little deeper and more molasses-y, but the recipe calls for regular packed brown sugar and that works just fine. If you like this, you'll love our 3-Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs.
Unsalted butter gives you the richest juices. Four tablespoons is half a stick, for those of us who still think in sticks. Do not use margarine here if you can help it. I did once in a different slow cooker recipe during the lean years, and nobody died, but nobody wrote poetry about it either.
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large, even chunks
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into large, mostly even chunks. Scatter them across the bottom of your slow cooker to make a little bed for the chicken. Try not to cut some tiny and some enormous—those tiny pieces will disappear into the juices while the big ones sit there acting smug.
Arrange the 6 chicken thighs over the sweet potatoes in as close to a single layer as you can manage, with the skin facing up. Mine overlap a little sometimes, especially in my older oval slow cooker, and it has never ruined dinner. We are making supper, not building a clock.
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Sprinkle the 1/2 cup packed brown sugar evenly over the chicken and sweet potatoes. Dot the top with the pieces of butter. It will look like an alarming amount of sugar at this point, I know. Resist the urge to meddle. Once the chicken releases its juices, it all becomes that lovely sweet-savory sauce at the bottom.
Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked and the sweet potatoes are very tender. The juices should be gently bubbling and a little caramelized around the edges. I prefer the low setting when I have the time—the chicken seems especially tender—but I have used high when the afternoon went sideways, as afternoons so often do. For another easy option, see our Oven Baked 3-Ingredient Chicken Charleston.
Spoon some of the cooking juices over the chicken and sweet potatoes before serving. Be careful lifting the lid because that steam is no joke. Serve it hot, with a green vegetable, salad, rolls, rice, or egg noodles if you need to stretch the meal.
Variations
The classic version is exactly these four ingredients, and I honestly think that is part of its charm. Still, black pepper at the table can give brown sugar chicken “something to wake it up.” A little salt, pepper, or paprika at serving can give the dish a more savory edge without changing what happens in the slow cooker.
Boneless chicken thighs can work if that is what you have. Check them earlier, since they may cook faster than bone-in thighs. They will still taste good, but I find the bone-in kind gives you better juices and a more substantial dinner. Maybe that is just nostalgia talking. Maybe I am right.
If you want the skin browned, take the cooked chicken out and broil it on a baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, then spoon the slow cooker juices over it. Watch it like a hawk if you broil. Hawks, unlike me, pay attention.
I tried adding apples once, thinking sweet potatoes and apples sounded autumnal and wholesome. It was not terrible, but it became too sweet for us, almost dessert-adjacent.
Another sweet potato dinner is Sweet Potato and Chorizo Hash, with browned sweet potatoes and chorizo in one skillet.
Another sweet potato dinner is Ground Beef Sweet Potato Bowl, topped with cottage cheese, avocado, cheddar and hot honey.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Keep some of those juices with the chicken and sweet potatoes if you can—they are what keep everything from drying out when you reheat it. You might also like our RUTH’S CHRIS SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE.
For the microwave, warm a portion covered loosely until hot, spooning the juices over the top before and after heating. You can also reheat it gently in a covered skillet or baking dish. The sweet potatoes get softer after a night in the fridge, but not in a bad way. They almost turn into a buttery mash around the chicken.
Save one serving in the back behind the pickle jar if you want it for yourself.
Final Notes
There is something comforting about a dinner that does not ask much of you. Four ingredients, one slow cooker, and a house that smells like you had a plan all along. Try our Garlic Butter Steak Bites and Cheesy Smashed Potatoes next.
But this chicken—soft sweet potatoes, sticky buttery juices, that warm brown-sugar smell—has a way of making the kitchen feel warm and inviting. Not perfectly. Nothing is perfect. Still, for a few minutes, it feels like enough. If you like this, you'll love our Garlic Butter Pork Chops with Cheesy Potato Bake.
Slow Cooker 4-Ingredient Amish Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
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Ingredients
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into large, even chunks
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into large, mostly even chunks. Scatter them across the bottom of your slow cooker to make a bed for the chicken.
- Arrange the 6 chicken thighs over the sweet potatoes in as close to a single layer as possible, with the skin facing up.
- Sprinkle the 1/2 cup packed brown sugar evenly over the chicken and sweet potatoes, then dot the top with the pieces of butter.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked and the sweet potatoes are very tender.
- Spoon some of the cooking juices over the chicken and sweet potatoes before serving. Serve hot with a green vegetable, salad, rolls, rice, or egg noodles if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Nutrition values are estimates based on the listed ingredients and serving count. Actual values vary with brands, cuts and portion sizes.
