In a world of quick and easy recipes, this slow cooker salsa chicken and rice deserves a place among the quickest and easiest. Your favorite salsa deserves to be enjoyed this way.
Slow cooker salsa chicken
Chicken and rice show up as staples in many different cuisines, and for good reason. While each ingredient is great on its own merit, the combination basically acts as a blank slate for delicious spices and flavor combinations.
From curries to cream-of-mushroom casseroles, the chicken-rice duo is certainly versatile. This slow cooker recipe takes your favorite salsa and turns it into a full-on meal.
If you're skeptical that this is a winning combination, hear me out for a second. Do you like chicken? What about rice?
Now imagine your favorite salsa. Mouth watering yet? Just throw it together, add some broth to nail the consistency, and you're on your way to dinner (and lunches/dinners for the week, if you meal prep)!
Slow cooker salsa chicken ingredients
Salsa. Chicken. Instant Rice. Broth.
In bullet form:
- Chicken Breast
- Salsa
- Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
- Instant Rice
Still looks the same right? Yeah. Just those ingredients.
Those form the core of the recipe. You can serve this with cilantro, chips, cheese, tortillas, avocados—whatever you want! Toppings make this awesome, but it's also perfectly good as-is.
How to make slow cooker salsa chicken
You'll sometimes see this category of recipe called "dump and bake" because, well... you dump it all together and then bake.
This is basically one of those recipes but for whatever a slow cooker does. So... "dump and cook," I guess! Dump and cook. It's a thing.
Here's what's going to happen:
- Gather ingredients.
- Add chicken breast, salsa, and chicken broth to a slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 4 hours.
- Shred chicken and place back into the slow cooker. Cut the heat of the slow cooker to warm.
- Add instant rice to slow cooker and cook for about 10 mins.
- Stir together well. Serve with tortillas, cilantro, chips, cheese, avocado, or whatever you want!
Not too bad, right? The most work you'll do is shred the chicken, which isn't that much work at all, especially if you follow the hack I share below.
What can I do with a lot of salsa?
Imagine you find yourself with about 24 ounces of salsa. Perhaps you bought a giant jug of the stuff at the store and only used a little bit at the party. Maybe the farmer's market had some extra masons jars.
Whatever the reason, even the most dedicated struggle to down a ton of salsa with tortilla chips alone. Sometimes, you need to call in the heavy hitters, like this slow cooker salsa chicken recipe, to get the job done.
How do I thicken slow cooker salsa chicken?
Sometimes, in recipes involving chicken and some kind of liquid, it's hard to know whether you're in for some tender meat or a full-blown soup (not that soup's a bad thing). I've tried to set up the ratios in this recipe so you don't have excess broth/salsa hanging around after the cooking is done, but your mileage may vary.
The rice sets the textural tone here. If you've got an extra thin salsa, you may need to use less of it to avoid excess liquid. If it's chunky, maybe add some more broth.
Generally stick to the ratios here and you should be in the ballpark.
How long do you cook boneless skinless chicken breast in crock pot?
Four hours on high is plenty to cook this chicken breast all the way through, but it's a good idea for you to check the temperature using a thermometer to make sure it's come up to 165F, the recommended temperature for chicken.
Food safety. It's important!
How do I shred a chicken breast?
This depends on how much chicken you're making. For small recipes, I'll pull the chicken out onto a baking sheet or into a large bowl and shred it with forks.
If you're making a larger batch of chicken, it's possible to shred it using your stand mixer. Yes, I'm serious—I do it all the time! You still might want to go in stages so as not to overwhelm your KitchenAid.
Looking for more recipes?
Check out one of these Jordo's World staples:
Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken and Rice
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken breast boneless skinless
- 24 oz salsa whatever spice level
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups instant Rice
- serve with: cilantro, chips, cheese, tortillas, avocado, etc.
Instructions
- Gather ingredients.
- Add chicken breast, salsa, and chicken broth to a slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 4 hours.
- Shred chicken and place back into the slow cooker. Cut the heat of the slow cooker to warm.
- Add instant rice to slow cooker and cook for about 10 mins.
- Stir together well. Serve with tortillas, cilantro, chips, cheese, avocado, or whatever you want!
Melissa says
This is delicious!!! I made a batch today and shared some with my son to take to college for easy meal prep and kept some for me. It’s a definite addition to my regular rotation.
Tanya says
IYKYK.. this is so easy my husband made it for me!!! I love I can use any flavor salsa to change the taste. Just used a peach salsa and it turned out great!!
Tiffany Cantrell says
Love this recipe! So easy and good! The only thing I wish I had was the serving size - it says 6 servings and no where has the size in grams or ounces or cups even so trying to figure that out is a little hard. I love your recipes so much I wish you would use grams to calculate the nutrition so it’s easy to log in macros first or MyFitnessPal. Please consider this as I know a lot of other people would like that too! Thanks so much!
KarynV says
OMG, this was so super easy to make and absolutely delicious! Hubby could not get enough. We ate it straight out of the crockpot with shredded cheddar cheese on top. I am thinking of all the wonderful ways to eat the leftovers. Burritos, Bowls, Nachos. Oh, the possibilities are endless. This recipe will definitely be in the rotation for sure. Hubby just said again that was so good! ❤️
Cat says
I used this as a jumping off point. I has excess green peppers and a can of beans and an ear of corn, so I added that. I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. This is a perfect recipe to make on Sunday and eat on all week
Jordan Smith says
Hi Cat, I'm so glad you were able to modify this recipe for ingredients you had on hand! I've made using the original recipe and then added in a can of corn and can of black beans. I love that this recipe is one you can easily make and enjoy all week long!
Cindy Gillen says
Can you use frozen chicken or does it have to be thawed
Jordan Smith says
Hi Cindy, it's recommended to thaw frozen chicken before using in a crock pot. Here's an article that explains a bit more on why: https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Is-it-safe-to-cook-frozen-foods-in-a-slow-cooker-or-crock-pot
TR says
I don’t have a slow cooker can you make this on a stove top?
Jordan Smith says
Hi, I bet you could make something similar! I've never tried this method on the stovetop so I don't have specific instructions to share. My guess would be you could make the chicken in a skillet and then mix in a jar of salsa after cooking. I'd cook the rice in a separate pot and then mix everything together. Let me know if you try something and it works well!
TR says
@Jordan Smith, sounds good thanks
Hope Gustafson says
We really enjoyed this with some tortilla chips & avocado on top! Delicious!!!
Maayan says
Love this recipe! I made it in the instant pot and set it for 5 minutes which turned out great.
Logan says
This was super easy to make and taste great! The directions were accurate.
Jordan Smith says
Thanks for leaving a positive review and I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Jennifer Callaway says
This meal is really tasty! Perfect for meal prepping!
Jennifer Callaway says
Love this one! Perfect for meal prepping.
Katie says
One of my favorite recipes to meal prep with some homemade salsa from my garden. Delicious! Even got my mother addicted to it as well. Highly recommend.
Kathryn says
This recipe is amazing!! I love it wrapped in a tortilla or just by itself with some extra salsa!
Olivia says
Planning on making this tomorrow with extra salsa from a Super Bowl party! Can I freeze this?
Jordan Smith says
This is a great way to use extra salsa! Yes, you can freeze!