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Oh good grief.
I have been making slow cooker shredded chicken for years. And I have been making homemade salsa for years and years and years. But it was not until this year that the lightbulb finally decided to click on, I realized that chicken and salsa were a ridiculously obvious match made in crockpot heaven.
Brilliant or obvious? You decide.
Either way, if you love Mexican shredded chicken, this one falls in the must-try category. Why?
It only requires 2 ingredients. It takes less than 2 minutes to prep. And then once your slow cooker has worked its magic, it takes less than 2 minutes to shred. And then this wonderfully seasoned, simple, juicy, flavorful chicken is yours “2” enjoy on countless dishes. (Couldn’t resist.)
Here’s the how “2”. (Ok, somebody help me.)
Sorry, I still can’t get over the fact that it took me until I was 30 to think of this. Moving on…
To make this salsa chicken, just pop some raw chicken in a slow cooker. (I didn’t want to mess with bones, so went with chicken breasts for easy shredding.) Then cover it with lots of your favorite salsa. (I used the restaurant-style salsa that I posted yesterday.) Season it with some extra salt and pepper, give it a stir, and then let your slow cooker do its thing.
After about 4 hours (or all day long while you’re at work), pop off that lid, and the chicken should fall apart into shredded, juicy, salsa-y perfection.
I popped half of mine into some tortillas along with avocado to make these simple chicken soft tacos. But the salsa chicken would work perfectly on just about any other Mexican chicken dish you can imagine — quesadillas, taquitos, salads, chimichangas, you name it.
The key is just to use really good salsa, since the seasonings in the salsa are obviously what will flavor the chicken. Remember, too, that the chicken will release plenty of its own juices during cooking. So don’t be afraid to use some salsa with an extra “kick”, since the intensity of its flavor will get watered down slightly while cooking. I also recommend seasoning the meat with extra salt and pepper before cooking. (And if you like heat, feel free to throw in an extra jalapeno too.)
I mean seriously. Shredded Mexi chicken could not get any easier. You’ve gotta try it.
Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker and cover with salsa. Toss until the chicken is covered.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 6-8 hours), or until the chicken shreds easily with a fork. Shred the chicken in the slow cooker and toss with the remaining salsa and juices until well-mixed. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days. (This chicken also freezes well.)
*You can really use just about any cut of chicken for this recipe. For easy shredding though (so that you don’t have to mess with bones), I recommend boneless chicken breasts or thighs. This should be about 2 lbs of chicken total.
I love making this so much! Do you think you can do frozen chicken breasts?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
We’re glad to hear that Kelly! We wouldn’t advise using frozen chicken breasts for this though. We’ve learned that putting frozen ingredients in a slow cooker (especially frozen meats) isn’t the safest thing to do. Slow cookers often can’t get frozen meats up to a safe temperature in time, which means your meat will spend too long in the “danger zone” – 40-140 degrees). This While we’ve tried using frozen meats before and been fine (it does work), it’s just too risky, as it raises the likelihood of unsafe bacteria forming, and the possibility of food borne-illnesses.
I used 1 can diced tomatoes and I can diced tomatoes with green chilies instead of fire roasted. I picked the wrong kind of canned tomatoes
Salsa seems very spicy
Should I have used fire roasted tomatoes instead?
It is still cooking in crock pot
I hope it will turn out not too hot.
Any idea what to add to make it less spicy?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Susi! Hmmm, we use salsa in this, not a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles. But we wonder if the diced tomatoes with green chiles you got were the really hot kind? We usually get mild when we use those. We don’t feel like fire-roasted tomatoes are spicy (they just have awesome flavor)! We recommend making this with salsa, and if you don’t like much heat, we would just go with mild or medium.
Hi . . can you tell me how many pounds for the 4 chicken breasts…. Just completely new to cooking to would like some advice ..many thanks
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Mike! We call each portion a boneless skinless chicken breast, but we use chicken breast halves in this recipe. So just use 4 chicken breast halves (should be around 2 lbs). We hope you enjoy the recipe!
This was awesome! You were correct about adding salt and pepper, I’m trying to go easy on sodium so only added plenty of fresh ground pepper and had to add salt at the end. I used fresh chunky medium salsa and added some red pepper flakes, it was not too spicy for us. This recipe will be used all year, made tacos last night and will be great for sandwiches or adding to salads. Thanks for the simplest most delish thing ever!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thank you Linda — we’re so happy you enjoyed them! :D
Hi there! I would love to make this and be able to log it in the calorie counting app that I use. Would you happen to have an estimate of how many calories would be in, say, a 1 cup size serving?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Mary! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
Who doesn’t just love recipes like this. This is unforgettable, impossible to mess up too! I used a mango peach salsa and threw in an adobe chili pepper… Soo looking forward to eating this tonight!
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Thanks, Alicia — we hope you love it, and that mango peach salsa you added sounds amazing! :)
I loooove this recipe ! I was wondering if I could half it (since it’s only me!) or if I could freeze the rest of the chicken?
Thank you! love your site :)
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hi Sasha! You could do half the recipe if you have a smaller slow cooker (4-qt), or you could just freeze the rest of the chicken if you do the full amount. We hope you enjoy! :)
Hello! I’m making this for a party tomorrow and would like to double it (4 lbs chicken) in a large crock pot. Would it still cook for 4-hours or should I increase cook time?
Hayley @ Gimme Some Oven —
Hello Samantha! How large is your crockpot? We used a 6-qt one for this. Just make sure yours is large enough! If you cook it on high, it will probably take a bit longer than 4 hours, since it’s much more meat. We’d recommend setting the timer for 4 hours, and then checking the internal temp of the chicken afterwards. You want it to be 165 degrees. We hope this helps!
I love making this. It is so easy and the results are wonderful. For variety, I add a small can of mushrooms and sometimes small black olives. My 99 year old father loves this over mashed potatoes. The second day, I take the left overs and add chicken broth and make soup. I never throw any of this away!
I am 84 and I love to cook. most recipes come from internet or cooking shows on tv.
I saw your recipe for 2 ingredients meal. only two? That would not taste very good
‘BOY WAS I WRONG’ That ended up as my number breast recipe, by far.
I like to change most recipes but not this one, but only had one breast on hand so added
some pork ribs. Ribs were outstanding.
my rate 10 stars out of 5 stars.
thanks for the idea.
Jerome Darol
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I love making this so much! Do you think you can do frozen chicken breasts?
We’re glad to hear that Kelly! We wouldn’t advise using frozen chicken breasts for this though. We’ve learned that putting frozen ingredients in a slow cooker (especially frozen meats) isn’t the safest thing to do. Slow cookers often can’t get frozen meats up to a safe temperature in time, which means your meat will spend too long in the “danger zone” – 40-140 degrees). This While we’ve tried using frozen meats before and been fine (it does work), it’s just too risky, as it raises the likelihood of unsafe bacteria forming, and the possibility of food borne-illnesses.
I used 1 can diced tomatoes and I can diced tomatoes with green chilies instead of fire roasted. I picked the wrong kind of canned tomatoes
Salsa seems very spicy
Should I have used fire roasted tomatoes instead?
It is still cooking in crock pot
I hope it will turn out not too hot.
Any idea what to add to make it less spicy?
Hi Susi! Hmmm, we use salsa in this, not a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles. But we wonder if the diced tomatoes with green chiles you got were the really hot kind? We usually get mild when we use those. We don’t feel like fire-roasted tomatoes are spicy (they just have awesome flavor)! We recommend making this with salsa, and if you don’t like much heat, we would just go with mild or medium.
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I haven´t a slow cooker. How can I cook this ?
Hi Magda! Unfortunately this recipe was written for a slow cooker!
Hi . . can you tell me how many pounds for the 4 chicken breasts…. Just completely new to cooking to would like some advice ..many thanks
Hi Mike! We call each portion a boneless skinless chicken breast, but we use chicken breast halves in this recipe. So just use 4 chicken breast halves (should be around 2 lbs). We hope you enjoy the recipe!
I love this recipe and use it all the time! One thing I add to make it 3 ingredients is a packet of taco seasoning. It gives it great flavor.
I love this recipe and make it all the time! One thing I add is a packet of taco seasoning. It gives it great flavor!
Thanks for sharing Maureen — we’re glad to hear you enjoy this! :)
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So simple, it’s even delicious to keep the chicken breast un-shredded and served over Mexican rice. :)
We’re glad you enjoyed this Brittany, and that’s a great sounding idea! :)
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This was awesome! You were correct about adding salt and pepper, I’m trying to go easy on sodium so only added plenty of fresh ground pepper and had to add salt at the end. I used fresh chunky medium salsa and added some red pepper flakes, it was not too spicy for us. This recipe will be used all year, made tacos last night and will be great for sandwiches or adding to salads. Thanks for the simplest most delish thing ever!
Thank you Linda — we’re so happy you enjoyed them! :D
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This sounds delicious – I wonder if it could be used with other meats? Like pork?
Thanks Alyssa, we hope you enjoy! And we think you could definitely try this with pork butt/shoulder!
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Hi there! I would love to make this and be able to log it in the calorie counting app that I use. Would you happen to have an estimate of how many calories would be in, say, a 1 cup size serving?
Hi Mary! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
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Who doesn’t just love recipes like this. This is unforgettable, impossible to mess up too! I used a mango peach salsa and threw in an adobe chili pepper… Soo looking forward to eating this tonight!
Thanks, Alicia — we hope you love it, and that mango peach salsa you added sounds amazing! :)
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Pingback: Put raw chicken in a slow cooker. Dump salsa on top, and few hours later, enjoy a delicious meal
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Hi there,
I loooove this recipe ! I was wondering if I could half it (since it’s only me!) or if I could freeze the rest of the chicken?
Thank you! love your site :)
Hi Sasha! You could do half the recipe if you have a smaller slow cooker (4-qt), or you could just freeze the rest of the chicken if you do the full amount. We hope you enjoy! :)
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I used boneless skinless thighs, sliced onion, sweet peppers and mango & lime salsa, salt & pepper
Awesome, we hope you enjoyed it! :)
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Excited about making this tonight! This is a dumb question but when you say slow cooker are you referring to a “crock pot”? Lol thanks!
Yes, a crock pot! :) We hope you enjoy!
If cooking for four hours, do you use the low or high setting on your crock-pot, and do you use the same setting for the whole cook time?
Hi Moll — if cooking for four hours, you want to use the high setting for the whole cook time. We hope you enjoy!
Hello! I’m making this for a party tomorrow and would like to double it (4 lbs chicken) in a large crock pot. Would it still cook for 4-hours or should I increase cook time?
Hello Samantha! How large is your crockpot? We used a 6-qt one for this. Just make sure yours is large enough! If you cook it on high, it will probably take a bit longer than 4 hours, since it’s much more meat. We’d recommend setting the timer for 4 hours, and then checking the internal temp of the chicken afterwards. You want it to be 165 degrees. We hope this helps!
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I love making this. It is so easy and the results are wonderful. For variety, I add a small can of mushrooms and sometimes small black olives. My 99 year old father loves this over mashed potatoes. The second day, I take the left overs and add chicken broth and make soup. I never throw any of this away!
★★★★★
Sounds delicious!
If I wanted to make this in the oven instead of slow cooker, what temperature and how long would you reccomend? Thanks!
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I am 84 and I love to cook. most recipes come from internet or cooking shows on tv.
I saw your recipe for 2 ingredients meal. only two? That would not taste very good
‘BOY WAS I WRONG’ That ended up as my number breast recipe, by far.
I like to change most recipes but not this one, but only had one breast on hand so added
some pork ribs. Ribs were outstanding.
my rate 10 stars out of 5 stars.
thanks for the idea.
Jerome Darol
★★★★★