Healthy Mexican Crock Pot Chicken – Super Easy

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Holy Moly…. I made something tonight that I have to write down and share ! This Mexican Crock Pot Chicken is super easy, super versatile, Gluten Free, Paleo and Keto – and WW friendly so listen up ! What else could you ask for ?

It was so so good – I needed to come here and write it out for all of us!

Winning at the Grocery Store

All of this started because Chicken breasts were on Sale – so I snapped up a large package (4 ++ lbs) and knew I’d figure out what to do with it… With all the inflation and high prices we are all experiencing – take advantage of chicken on sale next time you see it! I knew I’d done a chicken crock pot mexican dish previously, all I needed to do was FIND that recipe…

Once again making up recipes based on others…

I had to go way back and pull this one out of the history books. Went all the way back to 2019 when I made this last?! I scoured my pinterest recipes and came across one from Carlsbad Cravings (who is a fantastic cook / blogger – We have eaten a TON of her recipes over the years https://carlsbadcravings.com/) and then I realized that wasn’t the recipe I’d made previously – so I went through my posts and found it at 2019. And then I said to myself – wait – what’s the difference between these two recipes ? And, I then took the best of both of them. I Scribbled my notes on a 3X3 piece of paper. I tossed everything into the crock pot and went back to my desk to work. Given it was such a raging success…here we are !

Gather up your chicken and the rest of the ingredients. Once you have them all out / ready the preparation is super quick. Note – not shown is the oregano! Be sure to add the oregano!

4 lbs of Chicken is a LOT

You can eat this chicken 100 different ways. (Well, maybe not 100, but you get the idea!). Think tacos, burritos, tostadas, taco bowls with rice, enchiladas, nachos, quesadillas… think of all the menu items at your local Mexican joint and say, “I can do that with this chicken”. We ate this over taco sized (carb balance) tortillas, with sour cream, cheese, cilantro and fresh tomatoes (easy peasy!).

After hubster and I each had two big tacos – I made large lunch time containers – which went into the freezer for another day – and still had a BIG BOWL of chicken that went into the fridge for weekday lunches and maybe even a dinner or two this week.

(Note: recipe copied from a Facebook post – written a couple of years ago when I was still working. Tested and updated Mar 2024!)

Mexican Crock Pot Chicken for Tacos and Burritos

Super easy way to prepare Chicken for all sorts of healthy, cost effective chicken lunches and dinners. Tacos, burritos, burito bowls (over rice), quesadillas etc etc.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 12 Minimally !
Calories 192 kcal

Equipment

  • Crock Pot

Ingredients
  

  • 4 lbs Chicken Breasts skinless / boneless
  • 1 medium Onion diced
  • 5-8 cloves Garlic minced
  • 14 oz Can diced fire roasted tomatoes whole can (NOT drained)
  • 6 oz Can diced chiles green chilis
  • 4 Tsp Chipotle Chili’s in adobo sauce diced / minced – this is fairly spicy so consider your family before adding
  • 1 tsp Ground Pepper
  • 1.5 tps Each: Salt, Cumin, Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika, and Oregano
  • 1/4 C Chicken Stock *Maybe – see Note
  • 1 tsp Liquid Smoke

Instructions
 

  • Place Chicken Breasts into the crock pot.
  • Chop onion and garlic.
  • Add all other ingredients into the crock pot – spreading out a bit so the ingredients get moderately mixed.
  • Put the lid on your crock pot and turn on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. I’m sure you are familiar with your slow cooker and whether it cooks hot or not. Mine cooks hot – so I put mine on low for 6 hours and the chicken was fall apart ready.
  • When the chicken is ready to fall apart, shred Chicken using two forks. Mix all of the ingredients fairly well.
  • Choose your serving preference. Consider adding cilantro, avocado, lettuce, cabbage, cheese, salsa, fresh tomatoes, jalapeno – whatever your heart desires!

Notes

Liquid – check the amount of liquid in your crock pot.  You don’t need a lot, but you need some.  You could add 1/4 or less of a Cup of Chicken Stock or even water if you think you need a smidge more liquid to cook happily.  If you might be out all day and can’t check on your crock pot – go ahead and add some extra liquid… better to be safe than sorry. 
After cooking and shredding chicken, in the event you have too much liquid in your crock pot I’d recommend boiling away / condensing the flavors.  I put a bunch of the cooked chicken (and liquid) into a sauce pan and heated it up / boiled out the liquid before serving when I had too much liquid (first cook where I added 1 C of liquid…which was TOO much.) 
I’ve also seen other recipes (Carlsbad Cravings again!) where she puts cooked carnita’s onto a sheet pan and then into the broiler.  This too would help condense flavors if you have too much liquid. 
Last time I made this I DID NOT add any additional liquid and there was no need to boil / otherwise reduce the liquid remaining. 
Broth vs. Water – Don’t sweat it ! I didn’t have an open container of chicken broth in my fridge and I didn’t want to open a container of 4 cups for just 1/4 of a C of broth so I was prepared to use water.  But then I decided my crock pot had enough liquid and skipped it entirely. 
Chipotle – You probably have seen my Kitchen Tip on zipping up your entire can of Chipotles in Adobo – and storing that in your fridge?  That post can be found here.  That’s how I get 4 Tsp of chipotle and Adobo readily without making a mess on my cutting board ! 
Green Chilis – Recipe called for the large can – 6 oz.  I only had 4 oz cans – so I tossed in two into the latest pot.  Again, don’t sweat it.  We are not baking and this is not chemistry.  Use one 4 oz if that is all you have.  Use 2, 4oz if you like green chili’s.  
 

Nutrition

Calories: 192kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 33gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 294mgPotassium: 603mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 197IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 28mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Chicken, Crock Pot, Easy
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