Crockpot Pina Colada Chicken

Last updated January 17th, 2025

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Do you dream of creamy coconut and pineapple chicken? This crockpot pina colada chicken will transport you to a tropical island! Easy to prepare in a big batch right in your slow cooker, this versatile chicken recipe is perfect for serving with rice, in tacos, or on a salad.

Shredded pina colada chicken in a serving dish.

What This Recipe Entails

There’s very little hands-on work involved in our crockpot pina colada chicken recipe! All you have to do is dice the onion and peppers before adding everything to the slow cooker.

  • Prep time: 10 to 15 minutes
  • Cook time: approximately 4 hours

Once the chicken is cooked, there’s a tiny bit of work before it’s ready to serve. You’ll drain the crockpot (reserving the cooking liquid), shred the chicken, then add the chicken back to the crockpot with the cooking liquid and coconut milk fat. Then it’s ready to serve!

It’s so easy, you won’t even have to think twice about making this tropical chicken for dinner or your weekly meal prep.

Crockpot Pina Colada Chicken Recipe Ingredients

You’ll only need 8 ingredients to make this easy tropical pina colada chicken:

  • Vegetable oil
  • Chicken breast
  • Pineapple juice
  • Lime juice
  • Coconut milk
  • White onion
  • Fresno peppers
  • Salt

The vegetable oil, pineapple juice, lime juice, and coconut milk act as a tropical marinade for the chicken as it cooks. The chicken will absorb all of these delicious flavors, yielding a super juicy and delicious pina colada flavored protein you can serve in so many different ways!

When you get home from the grocery store, put the coconut milk in the fridge! You’ll want to be able to separate the solid fats from the liquid in the can when it’s time to make this recipe.

We love cooking with fresno peppers for their bright color and spicy flavor. If you can’t find them at the store, you can swap them with pretty much any other pepper – jalapeno, serrano, poblano, or bell peppers work great. Fresno peppers are typically very small, so just make sure that you adjust the amount accordingly if you’re using a different type of pepper. (You should aim for the same volume of diced pepper when swapping for an alternative.)

A dish of tropical coconut and pineapple chicken.

How To Make Crockpot Pina Colada Chicken

Making our slow cooker pina colada chicken recipe is super easy! The whole process takes just over 4 hours from start to finish.

Here’s how to make our creamy coconut pineapple chicken:

  1. First, add the vegetable oil to the bottom of your slow cooker or crockpot.
  2. Then, lay the chicken breast in a single layer on the bottom of the crockpot.
  3. Next, add the pineapple juice, lime juice, liquid coconut milk (save the fat for later), onion, peppers, and salt.
  4. Cover and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.
  5. Once the chicken is cooked, carefully strain the contents of the crockpot into a large bowl – you’ll want to save the cooking liquid. Use a fine mesh strainer so as not to strain out the peppers and onions.
  6. Next, shred the chicken with two forks and return the chicken, peppers, and onions to the crockpot.
  7. Finally, add back in 1 cup of the cooking liquid, plus 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk fat. Stir to combine and serve hot, or keep your crockpot on the “warm” setting until ready to serve.

Adding a few tablespoons of the solid coconut milk fat along with the reserved cooking liquid creates a super creamy pina colada flavored sauce for the chicken. This step is essential if you want creamy, juicy pineapple coconut chicken!

Pina Colada Chicken Meal Prep

The best thing about big batch slow cooker recipes like this chicken is that they make meal prep so easy! Let the crockpot do the heavy lifting while you prep other ingredients like rice and veggies, then simply portion everything out for the week.

This pina colada chicken is delicious served over cilantro lime rice. Make both at the beginning of the week and store them together in pre-portioned meal prep containers for up to 5 days. When it’s time for lunch, simply pop it in the microwave for about 1 minute and enjoy!

Pina colada chicken and rice.

Storing and Reheating

You can store shredded pina colada chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it in meal-ready portions using containers like these 1-cup Souper Cubes, and it’ll keep for up to 3 months.

Reheat single servings of pina colada chicken in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds, stirring halfway through. If using from the freezer, we recommend defrosting it overnight in the fridge and then reheating as usual.

Serving Suggestions: Tropical Pina Colada Chicken Recipes

There are so many ways you can use this tropical pina colada chicken! Here are a few of our favorite ways to enjoy it:

  • Serve pina colada chicken and rice for dinner, topped with fresh avocado slices and hot sauce (we love pairing it with our cilantro lime rice!)
  • Make a tropical chicken and rice bowl with pineapple or mango chunks, avocado, and fresh cilantro
  • Try tropical pina colada tacos by serving this chicken with rice, corn tortillas, guacamole, and mango salsa or pineapple habanero hot sauce
  • Opt for tropical chicken lettuce wraps instead of tacos, swapping corn tortillas for butter lettuce
  • Add pina colada chicken to a salad with fresh arugula, pineapple, peppers, and macadamia nuts

What will you make with this tropical crockpot chicken recipe? Try our pina colada chicken recipe and let us know in the comments!


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Tropical pina colada chicken in a serving dish.

Crockpot Pina Colada Chicken

Nicole
This pina colada chicken is the creamy, tropical coconut and pineapple chicken of your dreams! Cooks in a crockpot for easy meal prep.
No ratings yet
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 15 minutes
Course Ingredient, Main Course
Cuisine Fusion
Servings 6 servings
Calories 248 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • pounds chicken breast
  • 6 fluid ounces pineapple juice
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • 13.5 ounce canned coconut milk refrigerated
  • ¼ medium white onion diced
  • 3 medium fresno peppers diced
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Add the vegetable oil to the bottom of your slow cooker or crockpot, making sure it covers the entire cooking surface. Then lay the chicken breast in a single layer on the bottom of the crockpot.
  • Add the pineapple juice and lime juice to the crockpot.
  • Next, scrape off the solid fats from the top of the coconut milk (it should have separated while in the fridge). Set the fat aside in a small bowl – you'll need it later.
    Add the remaining coconut milk (liquid) to the slow cooker.
  • Add the diced onions, peppers, and salt to the slow cooker.
  • Cover and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.
  • Once the chicken is cooked, carefully strain the contents of the crockpot into a large bowl – you’ll want to save the cooking liquid. Use a fine mesh strainer so as not to strain out the peppers and onions.
  • Shred the chicken with two forks and return the chicken, peppers, and onions to the crockpot.
  • Add back in 1 cup of the cooking liquid plus 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk fat (per 1.5 pounds of chicken breast) to the crockpot.
    Stir to combine with the chicken, and serve hot or keep on the "warm" setting until ready to serve.

Notes

Coconut milk: When you get home from the grocery store, put the coconut milk in the fridge! You’ll need to separate the solid fats from the liquid. By refrigerating it, the fats will move to the top of the can so you can easily scrape it off and set it aside.
Fresno peppers: We love cooking with fresno peppers for their bright color and spicy flavor. If you can’t find them at the store, you can swap them with pretty much any other pepper – jalapeno, serrano, poblano, or bell peppers work great. Fresno peppers are typically very small, so make sure that you adjust the amount accordingly if you’re using a different type of pepper (you should aim for the same volume of diced pepper when swapping for an alternative).
Meal prep suggestion: This pina colada chicken is delicious served over cilantro lime rice. Make both at the beginning of the week and store them together in pre-portioned meal prep containers for up to 5 days. When it’s time for lunch, simply pop it in the microwave for about 1 minute and enjoy!
Storing and reheating: You can store shredded pina colada chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it in meal-ready portions using containers like these 1-cup Souper Cubes, and it’ll keep for up to 3 months.
Reheat single servings of pina colada chicken in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds, stirring halfway through. If using from the freezer, we recommend defrosting it overnight in the fridge and then reheating as usual.
Serving suggestions: You can use this versatile protein in so many different chicken dishes! We love serving pina colada chicken with rice, in tacos, or in a salad. Or, try our tropical chicken bowls recipe. Check out our blog post above for detailed meal suggestions.

Nutrition

Calories: 248kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 25gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.04gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 524mgPotassium: 543mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 113IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 15mgIron: 1mg
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Keyword big batch, chicken breast, coconut milk, crockpot, fresno peppers, lime juice, meal prep, pineapple juice, salt, slow cooker, tropical, white onion

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