Crockpot Chipotle Chicken

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This crockpot chipotle chicken is a super easy protein to add to all of your favorite sandwiches, tacos, salads, and more! It takes just 10 minutes of work then cooks for 4 hours in the slow cooker.

We love a good, easy, hands-off recipe like this crockpot shredded chipotle chicken! We’ve found the secret to creating a deep, restaurant style flavor is blending together chipotles in adobo and fire-roasted tomatoes, along with some other ingredients, to create the perfect sauce to cook the chicken in. 

It only takes 10 minutes of prep work and 4 hours in a slow cooker for us to have a super versatile chicken. We use it for sandwiches, wraps, salads, rice bowls, and all our favorite Mexican recipes.

If you’re like us and like prepping proteins ahead of time, you should also check out our slow cooker gochujang chicken and our slow cooker chicken tinga.

Why We Love This Recipe

Key Ingredients

• Chicken breast – Fresh or frozen is fine, but if you want to use frozen chicken make sure to defrost and drain it first. 
• Chipotles in adobo – This is where the main flavor comes from. We use the full can, the chipotle peppers and the adobo sauce, in this recipe.
• Fire roasted crushed tomatoes – Regular crushed tomatoes also work, but we like the added smokiness of the fire roasted tomatoes. 
• Lime juice – Bottled lime juice is fine for this recipe, but if you want to use fresh lime, a half a lime should do.
• Garlic – We like to save time in recipes like this by using pre-minced garlic. It’s not as good as fresh garlic, but in this recipe it doesn’t make a big difference.
• Chipotle powder – We like this recipe to be both spicy and smokey, so we always add some extra chipotle powder to make sure the chipotle flavor comes through in every bite.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How To Make Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken

We love slow cooker recipes because we can easily make a big batch of food with very little effort. And all you need to make this recipe is a blender, a large crock pot (5-qt or bigger), and about 10 minutes of hands-on time. 

1. Blend – Add crushed tomatoes, chipotles in adobo (including the adobo), onion, diced green chiles, lime juice, garlic, salt, and chipotle powder to the blender. Blend until smooth.
2. Add the chicken – Add a thin layer of vegetable oil to the slow cooker and lay the chicken breast flat on the bottom.
3. Add the sauce – Pour the sauce from the blender over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours, or until the chicken is tender.
4. Shred the chicken – Remove the chicken from the sauce and shred with two forks. Return the shredded meat to the crockpot, stirring it back into the sauce until combined.
5. Enjoy – Keep warm until ready to serve, or let cool and store in the fridge for later.

Serving Suggestions

• Sandwiches – Use it for easy sandwiches like our chipotle chicken melt. 
• Salads and rice bowls – Add protein to your favorite salads and bowls, like our chipotle lime black bean burrito bowl or our Panera southwest chili lime salad. 
• Serve with sides – Enjoy this chicken as a main and serve it with some cilantro lime rice and Mexican bean dip or some homemade tortilla chips and fire roasted salsa.
• Your favorite Mexican dish – This chicken is perfect for easy tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and nachos. Add it to our loaded sheet pan nachos, shredded chicken tacos with pico de gallo, healthy green chicken enchiladas.

Storing & Reheating

This big batch recipe is perfect for Sunday meal prep. You can make a ton of shredded chipotle chicken and store it away for easy reheating throughout the week by keeping it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Reheat single servings in the microwave for about 1 minute, stirring halfway through, or in a frying pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. This saucy chipotle chicken also tastes great cold! Add it to a sub roll or multigrain bread with cheese and red onion for a delicious, easy chipotle chicken sandwich you can take on the go.

Try our recipe for crockpot shredded chipotle chicken and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a comment. If you love this recipe, check out our other easy slow cooker meals here!