Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Have you ever made slow cooker chicken tacos?  Once I discovered how incredibly easy it is to use my slow cooker to make the chicken for chicken tacos, it became a menu staple for our family.  

This is one of my favorite recipes to make in my Crock Pot, it’s quick to prep, easy to make and the whole family loves it. If you are looking for gluten free tacos or keto tacos, this easy slow cooker taco recipe may be perfect for you! We love to use this chicken when we make nachos!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

These delicious tacos could not be easier to make. 

To make them, in the late morning I place some frozen chicken in my slow cooker, along with a jar of salsa and a little bit of taco seasoning. By dinner time we have perfectly cooked chicken that is ready to go into taco shells.

Shredded Chicken 

This shredded chicken filling is also perfect for lettuce wraps, taco salads, chicken burritos, on top of nachos or even in chicken quesadillas. I also add some of this to my cheese enchiladas to make chicken enchiladas!   

While this recipe is for tacos, you really can use this chicken in so many ways.  Truth be told, on some days I start making the chicken in the morning and figure out later in the day exactly how I will serve it.

If you have a stand mixer and have not yet used it to shred your chicken, you are in for a treat.  Yes, that’s right, you can shred your cooked chicken with your stand mixer, and it is amazing.  

I don’t know how many years I stood in the kitchen, with two forks, burning myself, doing a really poor job at shredding chicken.  

Toss that same chicken into your mixer, attach your paddle and turn it on for less than a minute and you have shredded chicken that is restaurant worthy.  I still get a thrill from it every time (hey, sometimes it’s the little things in life, right?).

Before I pull my chicken out of the slow cooker, I get my other ingredients ready.  When I’m keeping it really simple, that includes taco shells, tortillas or lettuce to make lettuce wraps, some cheese such as shredded cheese, tomatoes and sour cream. I’m not big on taco sauce, but I LOVE to top these with a drizzle of red enchilada sauce! 

If I’m making something a bit more elaborate, I’ll also add black olives, pinto or black beans, corn, avocado, whatever we have on hand that will work. If you are trying to cut back on carbs or gluten, using a piece of lettuce as your taco shell is a great option. As always, whatever you have on hand, you can make it work. 

These slow cooker chicken tacos are so very flexible, I know you’ll find many ways to use this shredded chicken.  I love to pair this with my Mexican Spanish Rice. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos Recipe

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Easy and delicious shredded chicken tacos made in your slow cooker.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Chicken, tacos

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 5 hours 15 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 131kcal

Author: Christi Johnstone

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 pound chicken breasts approximately three large or four small chicken breasts, chicken thighs also work
• 1 jar 16 ounce jar of salsa
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning optional, you can go with none, more or less depending on your tastes

Flour tortillas, taco shells or lettuce

Taco Toppings Of Your Choice, Such As

• Shredded Cheese of choice
• Sour Cream
• Cooked black or pinto beans
• Sliced black olives
• Tomatoes
• Sliced avocado
• Shredded lettuce

Instructions

• Place chicken breasts, salsa and seasoning into slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for six to eight hours. If using frozen chicken breasts, cook on high for five to six hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and cut or shred. If desired, add some salsa left over in the slow cooker to the chicken. Serve chicken in taco shells, tortillas, lettuce wraps or on top of a salad and garnish with toppings of choice. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 131kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 184mg | Potassium: 420mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 93IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 1mg

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If you are looking for other great ways to use this chicken, you could simply replace the ground beef in other recipes with this shredded chicken.  You could also use the shredded chicken in these mini taco bowls.

If you want to carry the taco theme right through to dessert, may I suggest some chocolate tacos?

A few other easy dinner ideas for you here on the site, that are both big hits with the kids…

Pizza Kabobs

Originally published January, 2014. Disclosure: As a Kraft Tastemaker, I am compensated for my posts with Kraft.  All opinions and recipe choices are however mine and mine alone, and ones that I feed my own family.