11 Crockpot Mexican Chicken Dinners

These crockpot Mexican chicken dinners are what gets requested at my house.

From salsa chicken over rice to chicken tinga tostadas and a pot of tortilla soup, they all start with chicken breasts, a jar of something, and a slow cooker.

Here are the eleven we eat most!

Most of them shred, which means one crock feeds us twice, once as the dinner it was meant to be and once folded into a quesadilla the next day.

I keep a bag of tortillas in the freezer for exactly that reason.

1. Salsa Chicken

Two ingredients, and I’m not exaggerating!

Chicken breasts and a jar of salsa go in together, cook on low for six hours, and shred with two forks right in the juices.

A packet of taco seasoning makes it better, and a block of cream cheese stirred in at the end makes it a different dinner entirely.

Over rice with cheese and avocado, or in a tortilla, or on a pile of chips when nobody feels like sitting at the table.

2. Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Enchiladas without the rolling, and I haven’t gone back.

Corn tortillas get layered with shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, black beans, and cheese, the way you’d build a lasagna, and it cooks until the edges crisp up against the crock.

Cut the tortillas in half so they lie flat and the layers hold together when you scoop.

Sour cream, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime on top.

3. Chicken Tortilla Soup

The soup I make on the first cool night of the year, and then every week after.

Chicken breasts cook in broth with fire-roasted tomatoes, black beans, corn, onion, and a handful of spices, then get shredded and stirred back in.

It’s the toppings that make it, so don’t skip them.

Crushed tortilla chips, avocado, cheese, and a lot of lime, and everyone builds their own bowl.

4. Chicken Burrito Bowls

The one I meal prep on Sunday and eat until Thursday.

Chicken cooks with salsa, black beans, corn, and cumin, and rice gets made separately so it stays fluffy.

I portion the chicken and rice into glass containers and add the cold toppings the day I eat it, so the lettuce doesn’t wilt and the avocado doesn’t brown.

5. Queso Chicken

Not health food, and I’m at peace with that!

Chicken breasts cook in a jar of queso with a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, and the sauce ends up creamy and a little spicy with all the chicken juices in it.

Shred it into the sauce, spoon it over rice, and scatter green onions over the top.

It also makes an unreasonably good baked potato topping.

6. Fiesta Chicken

Cream cheese, corn, black beans, and rotel, all cooked down around chicken breasts until it’s one creamy, cheesy pot.

My kids call it “the orange chicken,” and they eat it without argument, which is all I ask.

It goes over rice or pasta, and it’s just as good scooped up with tortilla chips.

Stir in the cream cheese at the start so it melts all the way, and give it a good mix before serving.

7. Chicken Tinga Tostadas

The most restaurant-tasting thing on this list, and it’s chicken breasts in chipotle tomato sauce.

Blend canned chipotles in adobo with tomatoes, onion, and garlic, pour it over the chicken, and cook on low until it shreds.

The smokiness is the whole point, so use two chipotles even if you’re nervous, and three if you’re not.

Pile it on crispy tostada shells with refried beans, lettuce, crema, and cotija.

Tacos work too, but the crunch of the tostada is what makes this one.

8. White Chicken Chili Burrito Bowls

White chicken chili, but thick enough to eat over rice, and that’s how I like it now.

Chicken cooks with white beans, green chiles, cumin, and broth, and a scoop of Greek yogurt or cream cheese goes in at the end to make it creamy.

Serve it over cilantro lime rice with avocado, pepper jack, and a handful of tortilla strips.

It’s lighter than it sounds and heartier than it looks.

9. Mexican Chicken Bowls

The plainest recipe here, which is why it’s the most useful.

Chicken breasts cook with chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion, and a can of tomatoes, and come out as a big batch of seasoned shredded chicken with no particular destination.

I use it for bowls the first night, with rice, beans, and whatever vegetables are around, and it turns into nachos, quesadillas, and taco salad through the week.

10. Salsa Verde Chicken Tacos

Green salsa, chicken, and that’s most of the recipe!

A jar of salsa verde with a little cumin and garlic cooks the chicken until it falls apart, and it comes out tangy and bright in a way the red salsa version doesn’t.

Warm corn tortillas, pickled red onion, cilantro, and a crumble of queso fresco.

I make the pickled onion while the chicken cooks, and it takes ten minutes and a jar.

11. Chicken Fajitas

Fajitas from a slow cooker aren’t the same as fajitas from a screaming hot skillet, and I’ve stopped pretending they are.

What they are is a whole pan of sliced peppers, onions, and chicken cooked in fajita seasoning and lime, with zero standing at the stove.

Add the peppers for the last hour only, or they go limp.

Flour tortillas, sour cream, and a spoon of the juices from the bottom of the crock.

Notes on Mexican Chicken in a Slow Cooker

Chicken breasts are done at six hours on low and stringy at eight, so for a full workday, switch to thighs or use a programmable slow cooker that drops to warm on its own.

Shred the chicken in the crock with two forks or a pair of shredder claws, then give it ten minutes in the liquid before you serve it, because that’s when the flavor goes back in.

Jarred salsa and enchilada sauce vary a lot in salt, so taste before adding any.

Canned chipotles in adobo keep for weeks in a jar in the fridge, and one can gets me through four or five of these dinners.

I heat tortillas on a cast iron comal right before dinner, and it takes thirty seconds a side and changes everything.

All of the shredded ones freeze well in their sauce for three months, and the casserole and soup do too.

More Crockpot Chicken on the Site

My crockpot meals with chicken breast that don’t dry out post has the timing rules I follow for every recipe above.

The quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post is where a few of these started.

And when I want something creamy without the spice, I make the crockpot chicken alfredo pasta.