Crock Pot Fiesta Chicken

Feast chicken is a great combination of Mexican flavors with chicken, black beans, and corn. Make burritos, a taste Mexican bowl, or use it on nachos, salads, or rice. Only a few minutes of active work will get you a dinner to remember.

Introduction

This is a great recipe for when you want something a little different the ordinary and don want to work for it.

This is one of those "I read the recipe, but I changed a lot" things. I have chicken, and I had the crock pot, but I wanted something a little different. I ended up with
Crock-Pot Chicken With Black Beans & Cream Cheese at Food.com. But it just wasn't quite right.

First, it made way too large. Second, I didn't want cream cheese. And finally, I felt the technique including the cooking time was off.

My Rating

A high 4 or low 5. Very nice and almost no work.

📋The Ingredients

The Chicken, Beans, and Corn

This recipe calls for two skinless boneless chicken breasts which will be about 1 ½ pound give or take some. They need to be cooked to 165° to be safe and shred easily. You can use chicken thighs and they need to cook a bit longer to about 175°-180° to shred well.

Pre-cooked chicken like rotisserie chicken will be fine. It will take about 3-4 cups of shredded chicken. Cook the initial ingredients with the cooked chicken for about 2 hours then add the dairy for another 30 minutes.

I like lots of black beans in this recipe so I use a full can of beans, drained and rinsed. If you want the more standard amount, use half that amount.

The Seasoning

This needs some tomato component and a nice salsa you like it a great start. But there is a lot of meat and other components and no matter how the tasty the salsa, it needs more spices so I added those in.

This was medium to a little light on the spiciness so adjust for your taste.

The Dairy

I like sour cream with my Mexican, so I added some sour cream near the end. I did not want to cook it much and have it separate.

The original recipe and most others will use cream cheese instead of sour cream. I have included that option.

♨️Cooking

This fits nicely in a 3-4 quart crock pot. You can use bigger if you want. A double recipe should be in a 6 quart or bigger crock pot.

Most recipes for this will cook for 8 hours on low. That is too long and will give very dry chicken breasts.  3-4 hours is generally enough to get to 165° which is the safe internal temperature and the chicken will shred well.

The cooking time varies some due to the varying size of chicken breasts and the variability of crock pots.

When the chicken is shredded, add it back so it can absorb some great flavors. Add your dairy component at the same time.

✔️Tips

Serving: We are big nacho people at our house but this is great when made into barrettes or quesadillas. Serve it over a salad or on rice.

Storage: Good stored air thigh refrigerated for 3-4 days. Can be frozen for 3-4 months.

📖Tex-Mex Recipes

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Easy Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos / Nachos

🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions

Trim chicken of any trimmable fat.

Drain and rinse a 15 oz can of black beans. Half a can is enough but I like a lot of beans and use the full can.

To a smaller crock pot, add the black beans, 1 cup frozen corn, 1 cup salsa, 1 tablespoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon of cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well.

Add the chicken into the mixture and spoon some on top. Cook on low for 3-4 hours until the chicken is tender and 165°.

Remove the chicken breasts and shred. Place back in the pot and add ½ cup sour cream or cream cheese. and finish cooking another 30 minutes.

Serve as you wish, usually as nachos.

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📖 Recipe

Editor's Note: Originally Published August 21, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.