This recipe for Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos creates incredibly tender, flavorful shredded chicken for easy tacos on a busy day. It’s super versatile and works perfectly for a variety of Mexican entrees.
More Mexican-inspired favorites include my Mexican Shredded Beef and Carnitas.
This recipe for slow cooker chicken tacos is one of the oldest, most beloved in my collection. As a busy working mom with a house full of hungry teenagers, I relied on it over and over again.
Our boys’ water polo games were frequently scheduled right at dinner time and I dreaded the idea of getting takeout for our big family a couple of times a week. If you have a child that is involved in sports or any extra-curriculars, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
When you’re walking in your door at 6:30 or 7:00 at night, you need a plan.
My slow cooker was my savior during those hectic times and still to this day. A good Crock-Pot recipe is as good as gold!
Table of contents
Recipe Highlights
- Easy Prep – This is an easy dump and go slow cooker recipe. Dicing a small amount of onion is the only advance prep required.
- Hands Off – The slow cooker does all the work. When you get home, toast some tortillas, prepare the toppings, and dinner is served!
- Big Batch – This recipe makes a big batch of delicious shredded chicken. Cook once and eat twice OR freeze half the recipe for an easy future meal.
- Versatile – I’ve used this recipe for everything from tacos, to burrito bowls, enchiladas, and more.
The Best Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos
What sets this recipe apart from others is that it does not call for a jar of store-bought salsa. I’ve made it that way and I think it ends up with an overwhelming jarred salsa flavor that just isn’t great.
Instead, I use a can of diced tomatoes and diced green chiles which yields a fresher, more authentic flavor. Save the salsa to use as a topping for the tacos instead!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken – You’ll need 3 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Although just 3 large pieces of chicken are pictured here, you will likely need 4 to 6 pieces of chicken to reach this weight.
- Taco seasoning – I always have a small jar of my Homemade Taco Seasoning in my pantry. I like to mix it up myself to control the amount of salt and tweak it just how I like it. You can substitute with store-bought taco seasoning and the result will still be wonderful.
- Onion – A little diced yellow or white onion.
- Diced tomatoes – I normally use a can of regular diced tomatoes with the juice but fire-roasted or the fire roasted garlic flavor work very well too.
- Diced green chiles – A small can with the juice.
- Cilantro – Optional be we love the flavor of cilantro mixed in to the cooked, shredded chicken.
How to Make Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos
- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker insert.
- Sprinkle the taco seasoning evenly over the chicken.
- Next, top with the diced onion.
- Then, pour the undrained diced tomatoes and diced green chiles with the juice over the top. Don’t stir. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until tender.
- When the cooking time is up, test the chicken by piercing it with a fork to see if it’s tender enough to shred.
- Then, use two forks to begin shredding the chicken into the cooking liquid.
- Continue to shred the chicken, mixing it with the liquid, until it reaches the texture you’d like.
- Add the cilantro, if you’re cilantro fans, and you are ready to serve!
Serving Suggestions
- Soft Tacos or Burritos – Toast flour or corn tortillas (or some of both) in a dry skillet and transfer them to a tortilla warmer. Load them up with chicken, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, hot sauce, and anything and everything else!
- Crispy Tacos – Cook the tortillas in vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 1 minute per side then transfer to paper towels to drain. Load up the crispy taco shells with toppings and devour!
- Burrito Bowls – Pile this Mexican-inspired shredded chicken on top of Restaurant Style Mexican Rice or Cilantro Lime Rice. Top it with black or pinto beans, Easy Corn Salsa and any other toppings you love.
- Enchiladas– This Crock-Pot Chicken Taco meat is the basis for my recipe for my favorite Easy Chicken Enchiladas.
- Nachos – Layer the chicken over tortilla chips with whole or refried beans and top with melted cheese and your favorite toppings – Blender Salsa and Corn Guacamole are both awesome choices. This is a great way to make use of leftovers for an easy lunch or dinner.
Storage Tips
- Refrigerate – Transfer the leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze – I like to store the chicken in freezer-safe plastic storage bags to save freezer space. Press out as much air as possible, seal the bag, and freeze flat. Once frozen, bags can be stacked and kept frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw safely in the refrigerator before warming.
FAQ and Valerie’s Tips
You should not cook chicken from frozen in a slow cooker due to food safety concerns. In addition, frozen chicken lets off a lot of liquid as it thaws so the end result would be very watery and not as flavorful.
The juice from the canned tomatoes and green chiles is enough liquid to get this recipe started. As the chicken cooks, it will let off enough juice for the chicken to cook and become tender and easy to shred without burning.
Cooking the chicken low and slow is key to breaking down the tough connective tissue and fat. If the chicken is too tough to shred, it needs to cook longer. I recommend using the low setting for these slow cooker chicken tacos for the best result.
It shouldn’t take more than 6 to 8 hours on the low setting to cook chicken until tender enough to shred. If you cook it longer, it can dry out or the texture can become rubbery. The exact cooking time can vary depending on how much chicken you are cooking.
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Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos
Video
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 heaping tablespoons Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix, or store-bought
- ¾ cup diced onion
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, regular, fire-roasted, or fire-roasted garlic tomatoes, undrained
- 4.5 ounce can diced green chiles, undrained
- ½ cup chopped cilantro, optional
For Serving
- Tortillas, corn or flour
- Vegetable oil, if frying tortillas
- Toppings like cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, hot sauce, etc.
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker insert. Sprinkle the taco seasoning evenly over the chicken. Top with the diced onion and then pour the tomatoes over the top. Finally, top with the undrained green chiles. Don't stir. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.
- Remove the lid from the slow cooker and shred the chicken with two forks. Add the cilantro and mix to combine.
- Serve on tortillas or burrito bowls with the toppings of your choice. Also delicious in enchiladas and nachos!
Notes
- For soft tacos – Toast flour tortillas in a dry skillet over MEDIUM heat for about 30 seconds per side. Just long enough to get them slightly toasted and warm.
- For crispy tacos – Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a small frying pan over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. When the oil is good and hot (but not smoking) carefully add a corn tortilla. Cook about 1 minute per side then transfer to paper towels to drain. Blot the top of the tortilla with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Refrigerate – Transfer the leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze – I like to store the chicken in freezer-safe plastic storage bags to save freezer space. Press out as much air as possible, seal the bag, and freeze flat. Once frozen, bags can be stacked and kept frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw safely in the refrigerator before warming.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published November 3, 2012. Since then it has become one of the most popular recipes on the blog and in my own kitchen. The photos and text have been refreshed but the recipe remains unchanged.
This recipe is delicious!!! I love it!
Hello Patty! That’s great to hear. I appreciate you taking the time to give feedback and I’m so glad it worked out so well for you 🙂
Dumb question, but are the tomatoes drained or not? The chiles are specified undrained, so I’m assuming the tomatoes are not drained, but we all know what assuming does…
(it might say in the article..I tried really hard to read through it carefully, but I definitely could’ve missed it)
Hi Kristin. The tomatoes should be undrained.You want that liquid in there. Enjoy!
Thanks! I ended up draining them a little (but not thoroughly), and that ended up working just fine. Tasty recipe!
Great! I’m glad it worked out for you 🙂
Hi Valerie!
First time to your page recently via “A Thoughtful Place” (May 22) who linked to a post from “Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers” who brought me here! This recipe looked so good and so easy, I couldn’t resist. It was even better than anticipated! Thank you for sharing.
I look forward to exploring your site for other tempting options.
All the best,
Kristin
Hello and welcome, Kristin! I’m happy you found me 🙂 I’m very fond of this recipe myself. So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Love this recipe! Super easy and so delicious. I just recently posted a taco recipe and would love for you all to check it out 🙂
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Hi! This sounds so yummy! Curious though if you had a suggestion of an alternative to the canned tomato? My husband is highly allergic to tomatoes (sad I know!) so thats a no go but I’d love to be able to crock pot chicken tacos!
Hi Tiffany. I suppose you could just cook the chicken in broth and seasonings. It would still be very tender and shreddable but would definitely be missing a big flavor component.
Made this last night. I also used your seasoning recipe. Added some chopped green and yellow pepper as well. Came out great. Good recipe.
Thanks Kal! So glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
Can you use skinless boneless chicken thighs???
Absolutely, Diana. I think thighs would work very well. A combination of both would also be excellent.
Can I cook this on high for high the time?!!
Hi Caroline. Yes, you can cook it on HIGH but I’d plan for it to take at least 4 or maybe 5 hours (just to be safe) to be tender enough to shred.
OMG…I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and I absolutely LOVE your site. Thanks so much for sharing all your recipes. I will be trying this recipe this week and sharing with my daugher and know I’ll love it. You’re a blessing…thank you 😉
Hello and welcome, Angela! I’m so happy you found the site and I hope you finds lots of inspiration here. Thanks for the sweet comment 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Best tacos ever!!! Family absolutely loved them!!
Can’t wait to try this! Making it tomorrow for the football games.
Fantastic! Enjoy the games…and the chicken 🙂
Made this tonight. It was good, but I wanted to point out to anyone that uses a store-bought taco seasoning mix (I get mine at costco), the 3 heaping Tbls made this almost inedibly salty. And I’m a salt lover, so I would start low, and taste it after the chicken cooks to see if you want more. I also used a jar of my own canned tomatoes and that was really good. Because it’s so salty I’ll turn it into a tortilla soup tomorrow to water it down. I would make this again, and it’s a family pleaser (my boys are 5, 3, and 20mo and they all liked it). Needed some good mexican rice to go on the side. Thanks!
This is good to know, Rosie. I’ve never tried it with the packaged variety of taco seasoning mix but I do know the stuff you buy at the store contains a good amount of salt so definitely adjust to your liking. I’m glad you enjoyed it otherwise and thanks for the feedback 🙂
Hey Rosie. I was worried about that same thing happening when I made it, I only had two chicken breasts to work with so I was sceptical about using the 3 tbs. I used nearly half a packet of Taco Bell seasoning and I tell ya, it was amazing. Im not sure how much seasoning I actually used or if the Taco Bell one is less salty, but it worked a treat. Maybe give it another go with a different brand of seasoning… or make your own =)
I’m glad it worked out for you, Dana. I agree that making your own seasoning mix is the way to go. It’s so great to have on hand and you can totally control the amount of salt (check out my Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix). Absolutely reduce the amount of seasoning if you are using less chicken than called for here. Thanks for the good info!