Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken

Don’t worry about dinner tonight! This Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken is so easy to make it pretty much takes care of itself. And can be frozen as part of meal prepping as well. We love making taco bowls with it along with quesadillas as well. It’s super versatile and only takes a few minutes of prep work and the slow cooker does the rest!

Mexican food always sounds good to me, and I particularly love the flavor of smoky chipotle added into as many dishes as possible. It’s one of those flavors that simply never gets old. And maybe that’s because it’s so multidimensional, being simultaneously smoky/spicy/earthy/with a hint of sweetness hanging out there in the background.

This recipes is another super easy recipe along the lines of my Salsa Chicken or Salsa Beef which are pretty much the easiest slow cooker recipes ever. You basically place the meat in the slow cooker, top with salsa, punch in the cooking time, and walk away.

And while I’m still rather fond of this method, I thought it might be time to shake things up a bit. So I still kept things simple with just a few ingredients in this recipe. And this means it’s so easy, I can have this in the slow cooker in just 10 minutes flat!

I thought about going all out with fresh onions and garlic for a minute before realizing that no one including myself really wants to have to sauté onions before putting them into the slow cooker.

That’s my biggest pet peeve about slow cooker recipes is that you have to cook half the recipe before placing them into the slow cooker to cook them some more. This seems like too much work and too many dishes for an extra easy meal to me. And why get the stove top dirty if you don’t have to?!

Ok… now let’s jump in and talk about the ingredients for this Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken!

• Chicken – this recipe calls for chicken breasts, but you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs. They don’t take quite as long to cook, so I would start checking the slow cooker after about 4-5 hours on low.
• Tomato paste – makes up the base of the sauce for this recipe which is flavored with the spices below.
• Chicken stock – is to go along with the tomato paste for the base of the sauce. It also provides the right amount of liquid for super juicy shredded chicken.
• Spices – as mentioned above, to make this recipe extra easy there’s no fresh ingredients here, so the spices are key for flavor! I use a combination of onion & garlic granules along with cumin, chipotle powder and some sea salt. You can add some of the salt at the beginning of the cooking time, then season to taste at the end to makes sure it’s the perfect amount for you!
• Honey – or maple syrup is just the right touch of sweetness that compliments the chipotle flavors so well. But if you can’t have any kind of sugar, it can be left out as well.

Now let’s make this Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken step by step:

Step 1:

Measure out all of the ingredients listed in the recipe.

Step 2:

Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker bowl. And as mentioned above you don’t have to add the salt at this time, you can season to taste at the end of the cooking time.

Step 3:

Mix together all of the ingredients you added to form a thick sauce. You might find a whisk helpful here, but a spatula will work as well.

Step 4:

Add the chicken breasts to the slow cooker bowl.

Step 5:

Turn the chicken to evenly coat it in the sauce, and set the slow cooker to 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Tip: You may find your chicken cooks faster than the listed time. This is because the size of chicken breasts varies a lot. I’ve found it’s best to start checking around the 6 hour mark when you’re cooking on low.

Step 6:

When the chicken is done, pull it apart into shreds with 2 forks and serve!

How do you know when the chicken is done?

It’s easy to tell if your chicken is done by trying to shred it. If it resists shredding it needs to cook some more. If it comes apart easily, you’re ready to go!

More Slow Cooker Recipe Inspiration:

• Slow Cooker Chinese 5 Spice Pulled Pork
• Slow Cooker Honey Lime Teriyaki Chicken
• Crockpot Salsa Beef
• Slow Cooker Apple Pie Filling
• Crockpot Sweet Potato Chili
• Slow Cooker Spiced Pear Sauce
• Crockpot Rosemary Chicken with Butternut Squash
• Crockpot Applesauce

You can serve this chipotle chicken as part of anything Mexican you’d like. It’s great in Taco Bowls or as a filling in enchiladas or quesadillas. And weirdly enough it’s great over a bed of greens with a side of guacamole and salsa for a salad dressing.

You can also use these recipes below to serve this chipotle chicken:

1. In place of the shrimp in these Chipotle Rubbed Shrimp Tacos.
2. Subbed in for the Ancho Chicken in these Taco Bowls.
3. Instead of the salmon in these Fish Taco Lettuce Wraps.

I hope you enjoy this chipotle chicken as much as we have! It’s been a long time favorite, and you’ll almost always find a package in my freezer for those ‘just in case I’m really frantic days!’.

And if you’re looking for some more easy slow cooker dinners, definitely let me know below what you’d like to see! And If you do make this, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below, I always love hearing from you here.

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This recipe was originally published in 2016, but has been updated with more information, tips, nutritional info and new photos.