Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken is so full of flavor with just a few ingredients! Use this chicken for tacos, burritos, nachos, salads and more!
Looking for more slow cooker recipes? Be sure to check out our Slow Cooker Pulled Pork and our famous Crock Pot Sausage & Peppers recipe!
Juicy Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken
There’s SO many recipe for crock pot chicken that amazingly enough, turn out really dry and lacking in flavor. Believe me, we’ve tried a bunch of them. We’ve even had a few fails here with our recipes, making them over again until we get them right.
The key to this juicy, Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken chicken that isn’t dried out is adding a good amount of liquid. For a shredded chicken recipe like this one, the chicken is removed completely from the broth and shredded. Then you can pour some of the liquid over the chicken after it’s shredded to keep it moist.
For a recipe that would include the liquid from the chicken you wouldn’t want to add a lot because the chicken will let off juice as it cooks. The broth also adds flavor to the chicken as it cooks, so you want to make sure whatever liquid you add is full of flavor.
We’ve added about 2 cups of broth to this Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken just to make sure there’s plenty to pour over at the end.
How Do You Make This Crock Pot Chicken?
All you need to make this easy chicken recipe is 5 ingredients, plus a few seasonings! Add everything to you slow cooker and set on high for 3 hours and low for 6 hours. When the chicken is done, remove it from the slow cooker and shred it with two forks.
Add the shredded chicken to a bowl or container and spoon over enough broth from the slow cooker to keep it moist. I like to toss the chicken in the broth as I add the broth, just to make sure everything is good and coated.
You can also save the broth to add to the chicken as you use it throughout the week. Leave the onions completely out or add a few in for extra flavor, totally up to you.
What Are The Ingredients For This Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe?
This is another recipe that we made for our 5 Ingredient Recipe collection. So that means we’re using 5 main ingredients and things like seasonings and/or butter and oil aren’t counted. We’re assuming that you guys have things like salt, pepper and olive oil already so the 5 ingredients are the core items you need to get started!
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast: You can substitute bone in chicken breasts if that’s what you have or even chicken thighs. Any type of meat on the bone is just going to add more flavor so feel free to swap it out! If you do use chicken on the bone you might have to add another hour to the cooking time.
- Onions: The onion will add lots of flavor to this chicken, slice it into slightly thicker slices so that they are easy to fish out and discard if you don’t want to incorporate them into the chicken when it’s done.
- Green Chilis: these little chilis pack a flavorful punch, and they aren’t really spicy at all so don’t be afraid to use them! If you eat them alone they might have a tiny bit of spice but they won’t make this chicken spicy at all.
- Chicken Broth: Grab a good quality, flavorful chicken broth or stock you can find, this is whats adding the most flavor to the chicken.
- Fresh Garlic: We’re adding a good amount of fresh garlic to this recipe, you’ll discard the cloves at the end.
How to Use This Mexican Shredded Chicken – Simple Meal Prep Ideas!
Oh, let me count the ways…besides just eating this chicken straight up, there’s so many different ways we like to use it! This chicken is perfect for meal prepping during the week or just for days when you don’t feel like cooking!
- Tacos: I mean, yes, all the tacos. Instead of a beef taco filling try using this delicious shredded chicken instead!
- Quesadillas: We make homemade quesadillas ALL the time and this chicken is such an easy way to make them! Add cheese, beans, peppers, broccoli – pretty much anything you have in the refrigerator works!
- Salads: Taco salads, yes. But also any salad will be more delicious with the Mexican Chicken piled on top!
- Sandwiches: Stuff this chicken into pitas with avocado and lettuce, serve on brioche rolls or make a Mexican Chicken Salad!
- Pizza Topping: This chicken is also perfect for topping a pizza..BBQ Chicken Pizza anyone?
- Nachos: These Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos are our go to nacho recipe but you can add this shredded chicken and any toppings you like!
Looking For More Chicken Recipes?
- Chicken Francese
- 15 Minute Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti
- Our Favorite Chicken Marinade (For Grilled or Baked Chicken)
- Chicken Stuffed Zucchini Enchiladas
- Air Fryer (Or Oven) Homemade Ranch Chicken Nuggets
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Crock Pot Sticky Chicken Legs
Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeThis 5 ingredient slow cooker chicken recipe has so many uses! Make nachos, tacos, add it to salads, or pile it on buns with avocado or mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 7 ounce can green chilis
- 4–5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste, at least a teaspoon
- 1 large onion, sliced
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker and set on low for 6 hours and high for 3 hours.
- Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Add to a bowl with some of the liquid from the slow cooker poured on top to keep the chicken moist.
Recipe Notes
This recipe makes about 4-5 cups of shredded chicken.
You can also let the remaining broth from the slow cooker cool and keep it in your refrigerator for serving the chicken to keep it juicy for days.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow cooker
- Cuisine: American
Looks delicious! I’m all about easy chicken dinners these days. Can I use frozen chicken breasts?
We do too – thanks Naomi! And you definitely can, I would add another hour or two to the cooking time.