Crockpot Chicken Tacos – 3 ingredients!

Crockpot chicken tacos only take 3 ingredients to make. Straightforward, versatile and rich. It’s a great weeknight meal, and reliable for entertaining, too!

At a glance

What stands out: It’s a straightforward dinner and makes a lot!

How long it takes: 6 hours
Equipment you’ll need: Slow cooker or crockpot
Servings: 10 servings

EASY. If you’ve spent any time at all on our blog, you know that straightforward is our favorite word.

Oh wait, no it’s not.

POPCORN is our favorite word.

But straightforward is important too. We all need more hours in the day to do everything we need to do, straightforward home cooked meals are a priority.

And slow cooker meals are also a lifesaver. Add the three ingredients to your slow cooker in the morning before work, before school, before heading to the zoo, whatever. Then when 4pm rolls around and you’re completely exhausted, dinner is already ready.

But we don’t have to tell you the charms of a slow cooker — everyone knows they are awesome.

Other things we love? Food that can be frozen and food that is versatile. This recipe covers alllll those things:

• EASY
• Slow Cooker
• Freezable
• Versatile

Oh yeah, and it tastes great too. Clearly that’s of major importance. This recipe uses our from-scratch taco seasoning which we're beyond obsessed with (no additives or preservatives, or tons of added salt). We even use the taco seasoning for from-scratch flour tortillas.

Ingredients needed

You guys, this could not possibly be more simple. Here’s what you need:

Chicken: we use chicken breasts. You can use frozen or thawed. Chicken thighs would also work, or a combination of the two.

Salsa: Hot, mild, medium, this part is up to you! Pick your favorite.

Taco Seasoning: We love to use our from-scratch but you could also use store-bought seasoning.

How it comes together

So, how do you make this straightforward Mexican chicken? Simply put uncooked chicken breasts (thighs are fine, too) in your crockpot.

Add a jar of your favorite salsa, mild, medium, or hot, doesn’t matter. Mix in a few tablespoons of taco seasoning, cover, and cook. You can totally ignore it for 7 to 8 hours.

Then remove the chicken from the slow cooker, shred it with a couple of forks, and put it back in.

We like to cook the shredded chicken in the sauce for another hour so it gets saturated with flavor. If the sauce seems too juicy, drain some of the excess moisture off before serving, or use a slotted spoon to scoop it out.

As we mentioned, one of the great aspects of this slow cooker shredded chicken is its versatility. Make regular tacos for your family or put it on a baked sweet potato with other taco toppings. It will be a standby sweet potato you’ve ever eaten (and reliable for a Whole30 compliant dinner).

We also like to make enchiladas, nachos, or tostadas with this straightforward shredded chicken and it works great in quinoa bowls. Or mix it with Mexican rice and pinto beans for a hearty dinner.

This slow cooker shredded chicken is also a make ahead/meal prep recipe. Make a large batch and then freeze it in dinner-sized portions. Reliable for nights when you don’t have a clear plan in mind for dinner. Simply take a bag of this shredded chicken out of the freezer and use it for tacos, enchiladas, nachos, or loaded sweet potatoes, or whatever your fridge, pantry or stomach dictates. Rich!

• Yield: 10 servings
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 8 hours
• Total: 8 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 jar (16 ounce) salsa
• 3 tablespoons [taco seasoning]

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Shred using two forks, and mix with sauce.
2. If desired, cook for another hour on low before serving or freezing.

Notes

We use medium salsa but use whatever type of salsa you like best.

Meat will be a little juicy. If you want, drain some of the juice off before using.