Say goodbye to dry shredded chicken! My super simple Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken recipe will be your new go-to for the juiciest shredded chicken EVER! Perfect for tacos, enchiladas, nachos, burrito bowls, soups and taco salads.
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Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken
Does your family like tacos? How about nachos, or burritos, or perhaps a delicious enchilada? This Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken is the perfect filling for all of those. Yes, ground beef is great, but adding some chicken in there now and again can definitely spice up your taco night – literally!
For many people, the thought of putting dry, bland chicken into their tacos is off-putting. Believe me – I am one of those people!! There is nothing worse that a mouthful of dry chicken. But this Mexican shredded chicken is incredibly moist and flavorful. Just take a look at those juices! This chicken is slow-cooked in a simple seasoned tomato sauce, keeping in wonderfully moist and juicy!
The great thing about this Mexican shredded chicken is that it’s super simple to make. Just 5 minutes of prep to get things into your slow cooker, and then you’re off and running! A fantastic recipe for a busy weeknight, it also makes for an amazing meal prep idea when you’re trying to prepare healthy meals on the weekends for your work week.
So, let’s get to it! Here are the simple steps to making this delicious Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken:
Step 1: Start with boneless, skinless chicken breasts
I use 2 lbs of chicken for this recipe, which might seem like a lot, but it ends up being the perfect amount. It’s great for utilizing for 2-3 separate meals, which becomes a major time-saver during the week.
There is no need to brown or saute the chicken before placing it into your slow cooker. The key to keeping this chicken moist, is to cook it slowly, keeping the juices inside the chicken. Simply drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Love cooking with chicken breasts? Check out some of my other chicken breast recipes:
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes
- Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Potatoes
- Baked Italian Chicken
- Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
- Healthy Cashew Chicken Recipe
Step 2: Mix together the seasoned tomato sauce
In a bowl, stir together the taco sauce, Rotel (tomatoes and chilies) and liquid smoke. I prefer to stir these together before adding them into the slow cooker. This is so you don’t have one spot of the chicken with no liquid smoke and another area that’s over saturated with it.
Want to make your own taco sauce? Check out my Homemade Taco Sauce recipe!
Once you’ve stirred the sauce together, simply pour over the top of the chicken. That’s it!!
Next, cover the slow cooker with a lid, and set on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours. Just let your slow cooker do the rest.
Step 3: Shred the chicken
Once the chicken is done cooking, remove one chicken breast at a time and shred with forks. The chicken will be tender and likely shred very easily. Once you’ve shredded the chicken, add it back to the slow cooker, along with the tomatoes, sauce and juices. Cook for another 30 minutes on low.
Once done cooking, you’ll have the most incredible Mexican shredded chicken! The chicken will be wonderfully moist, and seasoned perfectly for your tacos, enchiladas, nachos, soups and salads. I recently added this shredded chicken to my Lime Chicken Chili recipe. Not only did it taste fantastic, but it saved me quite a bit of time, versus having to cook chicken separately.
What other recipes can I use this Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken in?
- Shredded Chicken Enchiladas – seriously, so good!!
- Ground Beef Enchiladas in Red Sauce – sub this chicken in for the ground beef for excellent Red Sauce enchiladas!
- Baked Chicken Tacos – a great way to enjoy Taco Tuesday!
- Healthy Chicken Taco Salad – a healthy way to enjoy tacos!
- Chicken Burrito Bowls – a fantastic meal prep recipe for your week.
- Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers – if you like the classic dip, you’ll LOVE this stuffed pepper recipe.
- Quesadilla Tacos – fantastic as a quesadilla filling!
Looking for some drinks and cocktails to go with your tacos, enchiladas and nachos? Here are some of our most popular drink recipes that go great with Tex-Mex:
- Mango Mojito
- Classic Skinny Margarita
- Pineapple Daiquiri
- Mango Margarita
- Blueberry Mojito
- Coconut Margarita
- Skinny Malibu Pina Colada
The next time I make this shredded chicken, I’m planning to meal-prep some burrito bowls, complete with cauliflower rice, black beans, and peppers and onions. Not only will this save me time in the long run, it will also prevent me from hitting up my local Chipotle for lunch, thus saving me some money in my pocket.
I hope this recipe inspires you to do a little meal-prep of your own. Make this Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken on a Sunday afternoon. You’ll have meat that’s perfect for 2-3 meals for the week, and a less-stressful, more enjoyable weeknight dinner. Enjoy! ~Erin
If you loved this simple shredded chicken recipe, be sure to check out some of my other similar recipes:
- Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken
- Air Fryer Drumsticks Recipe
- Pollo Asado Recipe
- Rotisserie Chicken Tacos
- Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
- Slow Cooker Pulled Beef
- Healthy Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe
- Healthy Chicken Taco Salad – that includes the Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken!
- Shredded Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce – this recipe includes the Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken
- Healthy Taco Stuffed Peppers
- Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Healthy & Easy Turkey Chili
Here’s the simple, delicious recipe for my Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken:
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Crock Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken
Equipment
- Slow Cooker My Cuisinart Slow Cooker / Multi-Cooker is on of my favorite appliances!
- Cutting Boards This 3-Pack of non-slip cutting boards are a fantastic tool for every home cook.
- Stainless Steel Kitchen Tongs KitchenAid Stainless Steel with Silicone Tipped Tongs are great for use with non-stick cookware.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. chicken breasts boneless, skinless
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 (8 oz. jar) taco sauce
- 1 (10 oz. can) Rotel tomatoes and chilies
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- Chopped cilantro for garnish if desired
Instructions
- In a slow cooker, add the uncooked chicken. Drizzle with the olive oil, and top with the salt and pepper.
- In a bowl, stir together the taco sauce, Rotel, and liquid smoke. Pour over the top of the chicken. Set the slow cooker to low heat, and cook for 5-6 hours, or high heat for 2-3 hours.
- Once the chicken has cooked, remove chicken breasts from the slow cooker and shred with forks. Return chicken to slow cooker and cook for another 30 minutes on low.
- Enjoy on top of nachos, nachos, a taco salad, in soup or use for the filling in enchiladas.
Notes
Nutrition
My word,this looks amazing! Love that it’s made in the slow cooker!
Yum! I will try this! So happy to find your blog at the hop. I am excited to see what you do next. I will sub and share!
I love using my slow cookers for recipes and your shredded chicken sounds like the perfect way to cook it. Thanks for bringing this to the Fiesta Friday party.
This looks so good. We love Mexican in our house and I love crock pot recipes because they’re so convenient. Saw you on #dareToShare link up.
This chicken looks delicious! I can see making a big batch and using in many different dishes.
Looks delicious!
Easy and delicious recipe. Mmmmm, I can imagine using it for so many meals!
This sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing at the To Grandma’s House We Go DIY, Crafts, Recipes and More Link Party. I pinned this! Hope to have you join again next week!
This is a great recipe for Mexican Chicken and so easy! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
Thanks for sharing … Thanks for sharing at Lets Party @ The Mark and Jan Show aka Blurred Living! I’ve pinned to try this week!
Hi! If i were to double the recipe, do you think I would cook it for the same amount of time?
Thank you:)
Hannah
Super excited to try this crock pot mexican shredded chicken recipe , seems amazing . I actually was searching for this one, thank you for sharing this one.
I’ve added a boxed Spanish rice to the mixture and used mild green enchilada sauce instead of taco sauce. We’ll see how it turns out