Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos With Taco Seasoning

A super simple slow cooker recipe for shredded Mexican chicken taco meat made with chicken breasts perfect for tacos, burritos, rice bowls and more made with only three ingredients.

I've seen at least two dozen recipes for crock pot chicken tacos and they all have one thing in common: salsa (or Rotel or something similar).

While I was eager for a recipe for easy chicken taco meat, the recipes with salsa always put me off a bit. Blogger buddies, please don't hate me now!

Unless you're raising and processing your own chickens OR you have a killer local source for fresh, farm raised chicken (which by the way, if you have either of these, I am sooooooo jealous!) the chicken you're cooking is going to put off a lot of liquid when cooked in the slow cooker.

3-Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos! A super simple slow cooker recipe for shredded Mexican chicken taco meat made with chicken breasts perfect for tacos, burritos, rice bowls and more made with only three ingredients.

Adding a jar of salsa or a can of Rotel is going to add even more liquid. Which means that chicken is going to end up submerged in boiling liquid. And boiling chicken breasts (or any super lean meat) that long is going to yield dry, tough chicken. Sure, it's going to be sitting in liquid when you shred it, but the chicken itself will be dry and the texture will be tough and stringy.

Which leads me to the other conundrum I had with the salsa chicken recipes. I want my taco meat to be moist, but I don't want my tacos to get soggy once I assemble them. So, having the meat swimming in liquid wasn't going to work for me.

I was thinking about giving it a try anyway then stepped back and approached things from a new perspective.

I have to do that sometimes. When we see a thing over and over and over we start to think that it's just the way. The way it is, the way it's done, the way it's best, the way it must be.

And I ain't just talking about recipes.

So, OK. What did I want?

I wanted chicken taco meat that was:

Very EASY to make
Moist but not submerged in liquid
Tender with maybe a crisp bit here and there
Flavorful and delicious

Alright. Got it.

So, how do you get that?

Very EASY to make – use the crock pot and use minimal ingredients
Moist but not submerged in liquid– let it cook in its own juices and don't add liquid
Tender with maybe a crisp bit here and there – add butter since chicken breasts are so lean
Flavorful and delicious – use a taco seasoning packet!

So I threw everything in the crock pot and hoped for the best. And it was! It was THE BEST! The chicken was so delicious and tender and the family LOVED it!

I made a double batch then used leftovers two nights later in baked burritos (I assembled burritos, placed them in a baking dish then covered them with shredded white American cheese and whipping cream – the cream and cheese melt together to make a queso sauce).

Serve this and all your favorite Mexican recipes with Mexican Restaurant-Style Rice!

NOTES ABOUT MAKING CROCK POT TACO CHICKEN

Use the chicken in burritos, rice bowls, soft tacos, crunchy tacos, taco salad and anything else you might use traditional beef taco meat.
This recipe doubles beautifully. The only change would be to assemble ingredients in layers rather than to add all of the seasoning and butter to the top. Literally assemble the recipe twice (half of the chicken, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1/3 cup butter then repeat).
Trim all the fatty bits and any other undesirable parts from the chicken breasts before cooking.
You can absolutely use chicken thighs in this!
The chicken is so much better if you have time to let it rest before shredding so try to plan for that!

3-Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Taco Meat

Yield: Filing for 12 tacos

Prep time: 5 Min Cook time: 4 Hour Total time: 4 H & 5 M

A super simple slow cooker recipe for shredded Mexican chicken taco meat made with chicken breasts perfect for tacos, burritos, rice bowls and more made with only three ingredients.

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
1/3 cup butter

Instructions

Spray the inside of a small crock pot with cooking spray (optional but makes for easier clean-up). Place chicken breasts in the crock pot.
Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken breasts.
Slice butter into pats then arrange on top of seasoned chicken.
Cover then cook on Low for 4-6 hours or High for 2-4 hours.
If time allows, turn off heat then let chicken rest, covered, for 30-45 minutes.
Using two forks, shred chicken then serve with taco shells and favorite toppings.

Notes:

Use the chicken in burritos, rice bowls, soft tacos, crunchy tacos, taco salad and anything else you might use traditional beef taco meat.

This recipe doubles beautifully. The only change would be to assemble ingredients in layers rather than to add all of the seasoning and butter to the top. Literally assemble the recipe twice (half of the chicken, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1/3 cup butter then repeat).

Trim all the fatty bits and any other undesirable parts from the chicken breasts before cooking.

You can absolutely use chicken thighs in this!

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main dishes, supper, dinner, crock pot, slow cooker

Mexican