Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

These easy Crock Pot Chicken Tacos cook tender and flavorful with salsa-style tomatoes, onions, and taco seasoning. Then, the mixture is spooned onto a lightly blackened corn tortilla and topped with lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, corn, and chipotle ranch.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Enjoy a delicious and easy weeknight meal with these 5 ingredient crockpot chicken tacos. Throw everything in the slow cooker and let it cook all day for a flavorful and effortless dinner. These crock pot tacos are so easy to make and always so full of flavor.

Customize the toppings to suit your taste. Better yet, set up a taco bar so everyone can choose their toppings, leaving you free to enjoy your meal.  Or use the chicken taco meat in taco salad, over rice, or over tortilla chips for nachos. 

Easy Ingredients – Outstanding Taste

• Onion – sweet yellow
• Chicken – boneless, skinless, chicken breasts or thighs
• Salsa – or salsa-style tomatoes
• Taco seasoning – preferably homemade
• Tortillas – corn or flour
• Toppings – romaine lettuce, red onion, corn, and tomatoes
• Limes – for garnishment

How to make Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Add the onions, chicken, salsa-style tomatoes, and taco seasoning to a crock pot. Cover and cook on low for several hours or until the chicken is fork tender. Then, using two forks, shred the chicken. Spoon the mixture onto charred corn or flour tortillas or taco shells, and top with chopped romaine lettuce, chopped red onion, sweet corn, and chopped tomatoes. Finally, drizzle with the easy two-ingredient chipotle ranch.

Recipe Tips

• Use the shredded chicken in salads, nachos, burritos, lettuce wraps, and enchiladas. 
• Customize the toppings to suit your taste. As I always say, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. If you don’t like corn, replace it with black olives. Other toppings to try include sour cream, avocados, guacamole, cheddar cheese, and cilantro. 
• Add a little lime juice to the slow cooker for a burst of citrus flavor, or include fresh lime wedges with the tacos.
• For extra flavor, try my homemade taco seasoning without all that added salt. You can also add a small can of green chiles.

How to char tortillas

For that authentic Mexican restaurant, look and flavor char those tortillas. There are three easy ways to char corn and flour tortillas.

Gas stove: Place the corn or flour tortilla on top of the lite burner using tongs. I turn the flame on medium-low, taking about 30 seconds to char each side lightly.

Skillet: Heat a dry, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Using tongs, add the tortilla. Char for about 1 minute, then flip and char the other side.

Broiler: Turn the broiler to high. Then, place the tortillas on a broiler pan and under the broiler for about 1 minute. Flip and brown the other side. Keep a close eye on them so they do not overcook, as broilers are somewhat unpredictable.

What is a Chipotle Pepper?

Chipotle peppers are aged, dried, and smoked jalapeno peppers. They are earthy, robust, and smoky yet still incredibly spicy, so only use a little bit. You can find them canned with adobo sauce in the Hispanic food section of most local grocery stores. Adobo sauce is a slightly sweet, tangy, rich, reddish brown sauce made with ground ancho and guajillo chiles.

The combination of the two is a taste sensation. One chopped chipotle pepper with a little bit of the adobo sauce can take your Mexican and southwestern recipes over the top. Store the remaining chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month or freeze them for up to 3 months.

Storage and Reheat

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave at reduced power for short increments until warm.

To freeze the cooked chicken, first cool it. Then, add it to a sturdy freezer container or bag. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight. 

More Taco Recipes

Crockpot Shredded Chicken Tacos

Tasty and tender Crock Pot Chicken Tacos made easy in the slow cooker.  Customize with all your favorite toppings and drizzle with chipotle ranch.

5 from 40 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: main meal chicken

Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 256kcal

Author: Beth Pierce

Ingredients

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

• 1 medium onion chopped
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 14.5 ounce can salsa style tomatoes (or salsa)
• 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
• Corn tortillas
• 2 cups romaine lettuce chopped
• ⅓ cup red onion chopped
• ⅔ cup corn
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• lime wedges

Chipotle Ranch

• ⅔ cup ranch dressing
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers

Instructions

• Add the onions, chicken, salsa-style tomatoes, and taco seasoning to a crock pot. Cover and cook on low cooking for 4 hours or high for 2 hours or until the chicken is fork tender. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken.
• In a small bowl, mix together the ranch and adobo sauce.
• Spoon the mixture onto charred corn or flour tortillas and top with romaine, red onion, corn, and tomatoes.
• Drizzle the tacos with the chipotle ranch and serve with lime wedges.

Notes

• Cook the chicken in the crock pot until fork tender and easily shreddable with two forks. This is about 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low.
• Use the shredded chicken in salads, nachos, burritos, lettuce wraps, and enchiladas. 
• Customize the toppings to suit your taste. As I always say, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. If you don’t like corn, replace it with black olives.  Other toppings to try include sour cream, avocados, guacamole, cheddar cheese, and cilantro. 
• For a burst of citrus flavor, add a little lime juice to the slow cooker or include fresh lime wedges with the tacos.
• You can use salsa-style tomatoes or any tomato-based salsa.
• For extra flavor, try my homemade taco seasoning. It is out of this world good with the fresh flavors of cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, paprika, and more.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 256kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 494mg | Potassium: 487mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1608IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg

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