This is an INCREDIBLY easy and delicious dinner. I am being totally honest when I say that it is a hit every time I make it. You’ll know what I mean if you try it out. It is super easy to put together, and the ingredients are kitchen staples. (Just be sure to pick up cilantro and an avocado before dinnertime.) Because it’s so easy, I used this recipe when we had a church activity for my Young Women (girls ages 12-17) to teach them how to serve at home by helping making dinner (and preparing for college). They all LOVED it. I’m glad they liked it – that will be good motivation for them to try it out on their own now. :) -Oh, and I can’t forget to give credit to my friend, Katherine, for introducing this life-saver dinner to me a few years ago. It’s been a sanity saver many times since then. :)
Crockpot Southwestern Chicken
submitted by Erin
1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (it’s safest to thaw them first before placing in the slow cooker, although I usually add them frozen)
1 16-oz jar medium salsa, such as Pace medium picante sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips
sour cream
chopped cilantro
diced avocado
Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans and jar of medium salsa. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken with forks. Serve with tortilla chips and add toppings to individual servings.
**It is very important that you use MEDIUM salsa in this. Mild simply isn’t flavorful enough. Be sure to serve with tortilla chips, and not tortillas. The salty crunchy chips make this so good!
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks and sounds really good.
Oh man, this really sounds good! My picky husband might even eat this – I’ll be trying it very, very soon!
I was looking for a “Chicken Taco” type recipe for tonight and I think I may have found it. Thank you.
I have been lurking on your site for a few weeks and all your recipes look easy and tasty. thank you all for doing this!
I love a good crock pot recipe and this sounds pretty tasty!
Erin,
How many will this feed? I’m thinking I could add more chicken to stretch it…what do you think? When you say 2 large breasts are you thinking about a pound of chicken? Let me know..
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I just made this earlier in the week with a few changes….my friend gave me the recipe and there was 1 can corn, 1 can black beans (both drained) the salsa and also a packet of taco seasoning. I used 4 frozen chicken breasts. It literally fell apart. For fun I then wrapped the meat in flour tortillas, put in a 9X13 pan, poured a can of enchilada sauce over it and sprinkled with cheese. Baked for about 30 minutes! Delish. The meat would have been good no matter how you served it. The original recipe said to serve over rice….
Hi Jill, I would say two large chicken breasts would be the equivalent of just over 1 lb, maybe 1 1/4 to 1 1/2lb.
If you only have small chicken breasts, you could add three and be fine. You could easily double the entire recipe in the crockpot if you wanted lots. I have a hard time pinning down servings, but I would say it would serve 5, maybe even 6, if you had a nice big green side salad to go along with it.
(Let me know if you see this – if I don’t hear back from you I’ll email it to you instead. :) )
I’ve just found your site and I’m loving it! I tried your macaroni grill bread the other day, and it taste so much like it I was in heaven. I make something similar to this chicken recipe, although I use fresh salsa and a packet of taco seasoning and I have never used corn. I’ll have to try it with corn next time. Another yummy variation is using refried beans, it combines with the salsa to make a delicious beany sauce. Thanks again for all the wonderful recipes!
Got it. Thanks Erin.
I tried this tonight. My whole family loved it. I will be blogging about it this week on my blog.
Hey Erin–have you ever tried it with canned corn?? I have a bunch in my food storage I need to use up. What do you think?
I haven’t tried canned corn, but it might be fine. I know Jed would notice the difference because he doesn’t like canned corn nearly as much as frozen corn. But you might not mind the difference…?
We ate it. We loved it. We ate all of it. yum!
We tried this while my parents were visiting this weekend – even the husband ate it!
I tried this and it was delicious!! And so easy – I’ll def be making it again. Since I love beans I added a can of pinto and then some taco seasoning since I was afraid the extra beans might dilute the taste. I loved it! The chips and avocado set it off perfectly. Thanks for sharing this one Erin!!
I made this for dinner last night… yummy! I want to try it enchilada style like Kowen said above. Although, my favorite part of it is how easy it is!
This was so yummy, we made this for our Halloween dinner (perfect colors and super easy!) THANKS
I have this recipe and use it as chicken tacos. So simple and really good!
We are hooked on this. I make it at least once a week. I make cilantro-lime rice with it and it is good as anything I have ever eaten in a mexican restaraunt. Thank you for this recipe.
We made this the other night. It was delicious! Thank you for the great recipe!
I made this on Sunday for the kids. My daughter loves southwestern chicken so I had been trying to find an easy recipe for it; this fit the bill. Today (Tuesday), my daughter called and asked me to make this again! She is a very picky eater and almost NEVER requests a recipe again.
When we had it Sunday, we had it over the tortilla chips but I was instantly thinking Tacos. Later that night, my daughter made some rice and had it over that. She said it reminded her of a Burrito Bol from Chiptole and said it was much better over rice.
Only change I might make to this is to use a hotter salsa and drain some of the liquid. I used a medium salsa and it was quite watery with little flavor.
I can't tell you how many times I've made this recipe!!! We love it! Thank you, thank you for posting this! I'm going to post this recipe on my blog & give your blog a big shout out! You sistas rock!
Love this recipe!! I recently over the summer added zuchini and yellow squash to it!! I added less corn to it… I also serve this over rice, my family loves it!!
I am finally getting around to making this – I have been wanting to try it forever, but just never did. But tonight’s the night! :) It’s already in the Crock Pot and smelling great, and I’m sure it will taste even better! Question though: is there a reason you do the first hour on high? (Is it to get the frozen chicken up to a safe temp faster?) I was wondering if you could just do it on low for an extra hour or so…?
Hi Blair! I hope you enjoyed it!
Good question about the hour on high. I’ve always assumed the same as you, but I read up on it a little and the USDA says “If possible, turn the cooker on the highest setting for the first hour of cooking time and then to low or the setting called for in your recipe. However, it’s safe to cook foods on low the entire time — if you’re leaving for work, for example, and preparation time is limited.” They didn’t specify, but you are probably right about getting the food to a higher temperature faster. But, in any case, YES, you can do it on Low the entire time instead, IF you use defrosted chicken…
Chicken and meat should actually be defrosted before putting it in the slow cooker. The USDA said, “Do not cook frozen chicken in a slow cooker or in the microwave; thaw it before cooking.” (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Chicken_Food_Safety_Focus/index.asp) Probably because frozen raw chicken spends longer at a low heat temperature where bacteria can multiply before it reaches the higher cooking temperatures. The USDA recommends cooking chicken to the safe internal temperature of 165 degrees and slow cookers cook between 170-280 degrees. It seems to me that if the frozen chicken was contaminated with bacteria it would reach (and pass) this internal temperature during the cooking process in the slow cooker. But of course the USDA has to be ultra safe-conscious, so they recommend the most safe method, which is thawing the chicken first.
Long answer for a short question! Anyway, hope that helps! :)
Thanks for that info! And yes, we loved the recipe. I am very picky about leftovers (to be honest, most nights I would rather eat cereal than the previous night’s meal!), but this was one meal that I can say gets even BETTER over time. We loved it, and will be making it again often!
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