Crockpot Mexican Chicken might be the only reason we had any food to eat at our house this past week.
As a musician, I have times (fall & spring in particular) when I’m ridiculously busy and times (summer!) when I have plenty of time off.
One would think that time off would be a good and relaxing thing. Well, not if you’re a crazy person who feels the need to rip out the carpeting and install new floors. My week of nothing to do quickly turned into chaos. We were working dawn to dusk plus 2 trips to the always scenic dump. The thought of cooking dinner was just not happening.
Enter the good old crockpot to save the day!
I certainly didn’t invent this recipe. I’m not sure who did…probably the crockpot people. You can find various versions all over the internet, but I do think that using the green salsa rather than red makes a nice difference and gives little bit lighter flavor. Sometimes the red salsa tends to overwhelm all the other flavors and you wind up with chicken that just tastes like…well, red salsa.
Here’s what you need:
Chicken, Salsa Verde, Chili Powder, Cayenne or Chipotle Pepper Powder, Cumin, Salt & Pepper.
Click here for a Crockpot Mexican Chicken Shopping List
Place 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves in a crockpot or slow cooker. Season with chili powder, cumin, and cayenne or chipotle to taste – probably about 1 teaspoon each.
You could use a packet of taco seasoning, but I never have that and I always have cumin, chili powder, and some other sort of smoky/spicy powder like chipotle, cayenne, or smoked paprika.
Add some salt & pepper to taste.
Grab a jar of your Salsa Verde – the green stuff made with tomatillos. I love the Trader Joe’s brand and also the Frontera Grill brand.
Pour 1 – 12 ounce bottle of green salsa on top of the seasoned chicken.
Put the lid on the crockpot, turn it on high, and walk away.
3½-4 hours later you have completely tender chicken almost falling apart in a gorgeous, deeply seasoned sauce.
Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred it with two forks.
Honestly, this chicken is so juicy and tender it almost shreds itself.
Add the shredded chicken back to the sauce in the crockpot and stir to combine.
You now have the difficult job of deciding what to do with your Crockpot Mexican Chicken.
I made a little tostada bar on the kitchen counter with refried beans (I added some salsa and zapped them in the microwave), lettuce, tomato, cheese, and avocado.
I love tostadas.
They always start out so simply…
and then I go crazy with the toppings!
You could wrap the Crockpot Mexican Chicken up in a flour tortilla with some black beans and cheese and have a pretty amazing chicken burrito. Tacos? Why not.
We had the leftovers the next day in big Chicken Taco Salads. There is one serving left in the refrigerator that has soft corn chicken tacos written all over it for my lunch tomorrow.
There is a lot to love about this chicken. It’s healthy – no added fats or junk, it’s versatile, it’s easy! Plus with the hot summer months approaching (or already here if you live in Florida) you won’t heat up your kitchen because the crockpot does all the work.
Sometimes simple things like Crockpot Mexican Chicken can really save the day.
(Also a trip to Roy’s on Saturday saved not only the day but the anniversary.)
Here’s the recipe:
And here’s the new floor!
No more gross carpet. Yay!
2 Responses
Tostadas are wonderful because you can put more stuff on them than you can with tacos. Except for my husband. His tacos always look like tostadas and I can’t figure out how he folds them!
The floor is beautiful!