A Better Crockpot Salsa Chicken

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Most of us have done it. Thrown chicken breasts into a crockpot and tossed in a jar of salsa with it. It is easy. It tastes good. And there are so many fantastic ways to use the chicken once it is cooked.

Chicken Tacos. Chicken enchiladas. Chicken salad. Chicken tostadas. Chicken quesadillas. Chicken empanadas. Chicken burritos. Chicken casseroles. Chicken and rice. Chicken…

“That-that’s about it.”

For the last few months, I have been adding a few items to my crockpot salsa chicken to give it a greater depth of flavor. It is still easy. It makes your mouth water. And the best part about it is, it just does not taste like crockpot chicken. And that is…

“All I have to say about that.”

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders (Tip: do not ever crockpot chicken breasts with salt water added to them. Those are fine for grilling, but if you put them in a crockpot, the salt water will seep out and create a very salty, watery product)
1 1/2 cups of medium salsa (I used Pace)
1 four oz. can of diced green chiles
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground mexican oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Knorr’s chicken seasoning
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions:

Put chicken breasts in crockpot. Place all other ingredients on top of chicken. Cover and cook on high for four hours or low for six. I was preparing for company coming over that morning so I forgot to take a picture of the chicken in the crockpot. Trust me, it was there. Unlike my brain in my head that day.

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Remove bay leaf and throw it away. Take chicken out of the crockpot.

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Shred the chicken. Ladle some of the liquid from the crockpot over the shredded chicken until it is moist. This is usually three-four ladlefuls for me. Taste. Add salt as needed.

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Serve however you would like.

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I make such a big batch because for my family I can eke out three meals from this one batch. With this batch: The first day I always make chicken tacos (fry white corn tortillas in vegetable oil, allow to cool in layers on paper towels. Add shredded chicken, taco veggies, shredded monterey jack cheese, cilantro. Serve with sour cream and taco sauce on the side). The second day we had tacos again and the third day I made my chicken enchilada casserole (post to come next week).

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This chicken is so good. It is great to feed a crowd. It goes with everything.

Or as Forrest Gump would say, Me and Jenny crockpots and chicken goes together like peas and carrots.”

14 thoughts on “A Better Crockpot Salsa Chicken

  1. I love tacos! And burritos! I also do the salsa thing with tofu and make tacos. YUM! I have never heard of mexican oregano. I am going to have to check that out.

    • Thanks Cynthia! Mexican oregano is actually different in a few ways from Italian oregano. It is a fine powder. It tastes different. I started using it a few years ago in all of my Mexican dishes. You can find it in those little packets in the Mexican food aisle at the grocery store. A little goes a long way!

      Have a delicious Friday!

      Jenni

    • Thank you so much for pinning it Brynne! I very, very much appreciate that! : ). We ate this twice last week and my kids were asking for it again yesterday. I want it again, too, so maybe Saturday night will be chicken tacos again! ; )

      Sweet dreams!

      Jenni

      • Bought the ingredients last night to make this! Will be firing up the crockpot today. Squee!
        Will try and drop you an email this weekend to catch you up on what’s going on in my little world. XXOO

      • Oh! I hope it turned out! I am so excited. My kids have requested this again this week. I really, really want to hear from you. I have been thinking of you.

        I hope you are having sweet dreams!

        Jenni

  2. I pinned this too, looks so tasty! Also, our River Fade dress went on sale today (finally!), were you able to get one? So many things I liked from summer went on sale, luckily I had a couple of returns so it wasn’t such a huge shock to my wallet …

    • Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate you pinning it. I was worried about the pictures because I was serving some people and trying to take pictures at the same time. I did not have a chance to make the plate pretty. So thank you for saying that and doing that!

      So many things went on sale for me, too. I had saved a gift card for the River Fade Dress, but I ended up getting some other things too! I cannot even look in a store window in September. I was hoping they would go on sale in September, but this is better with the 20% additional off. The dress has all ready shipped! They were all items I had been waiting so long on. I am really happy they finally got marked down.

      Are you worried the fit will be off on the dress? I read online that some dresses varied so I hope the one I receive fits the same as the one I tried on in the store.

      Have a happy Friday!

      Jenni

    • Thank you Liana! I cannot imagine it being cold yet. It was so unbearably hot today. I hope we get some real winter weather here this season. It has been so weird to not have any real rain. And so, so, so bad for the drought. And the honey making.

      I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      Jenni

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