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!

A serving dish of shredded crockpot chipotle chicken

We love a good, easy, hands-off recipe like this crockpot shredded chipotle chicken! There’s nothing better than a big batch protein you can use for virtually any meal, especially when it basically cooks itself. Use it from sandwiches and wraps to tacos, burrito bowls, and salads to help make your weekly meal prep super easy.

What This Recipe Entails

With just a couple minutes of prep work, you can easily have a delicious protein to add to lunches and dinners all week long.

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 4 hours

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 – We always have chipotles in adobo on hand as they’re one of our favorite ingredients. We love to puree a can and store it in the fridge for easy additions to recipes.
  • Fire roasted crushed tomatoes – Regular crushed tomatoes also work, but we like the added smokiness of the fire roasted tomatoes. 
  • White onion – A red or yellow onion would also work fine.
  • Diced green chiles – If you don’t already use diced green chiles in everything we hope this recipe will help convince you. 
  • 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.

How To Make Crockpot 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.
Shredded chipotle chicken in a serving dish

Serving Suggestions

There are so many great ways you can serve chipotle chicken throughout the week. Here are some of our favorites:

  • Make chipotle chicken sandwiches or wraps with pepper jack cheese and red onion
  • Use it in our chipotle chicken melt panini recipe
  • Add it to a salad for extra protein
  • Serve it in a burrito bowl with rice, beans, peppers, and tomatoes
  • Enjoy it over brown rice for a healthy high-protein lunch
  • Make chipotle chicken tacos with refried black beans and guacamole
  • Add it to these loaded sheet pan nachos for a fun game day snack
  • Use it to make a restaurant style quesadilla with cheese, peppers, and onions

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!

Shredded chipotle chicken made in a slow cooker

Expert Tips

  • Frozen chicken – Make sure to defrost frozen chicken before making this recipe as cook times are meant for thawed chicken. Also, drain any excess liquid that comes from defrosting the chicken, the extra liquid will make the sauce too thin – which we at least, don’t like as much.
  • Crockpot temperatures vary – Keep an eye on your chicken the first time you make this recipe. We highly recommend having a digital meat thermometer like this one handy so you can easily check if the chicken is done cooking.
  • Freeze it – Make a batch and freeze it for up to 3 months for easy chicken you can defrost for an emergency meal any time! We love using our Souper Cubes to freeze recipes like this in ready-to-go servings.

Love the flavor of chipotle as much as we do? You may enjoy these chipotle flavored recipes, too:

To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.

Like this recipe? Don’t forget to share it and follow us on Pinterest!

A serving dish of shredded crockpot chipotle chicken

Crockpot Chipotle Chicken

Nicole Langdon
This crockpot chipotle chicken is a super easy protein to add to all of your favorite sandwiches, tacos, salads, and more!
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
Course Dinner, Ingredient, Lunch
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 8 servings
Calories 187 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 14.5 ounces canned fire roasted crushed tomatoes
  • 7 ounces canned chipotles in adobo
  • 1 medium white onion quartered
  • 4 ounces canned diced green chiles
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 pound chicken breast trimmed

Instructions
 

  • Add the crushed tomatoes, chipotles in adobo (including the adobo), onion, green chiles, lime juice, garlic, salt, and chipotle powder to the blender. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  • Next, add a thin layer of vegetable oil to the crockpot (aim for about an eighth-inch of oil). Lay the chicken breast flat in the bottom of the crockpot in the oil, then pour the sauce from the blender over the chicken.
  • Cover the crockpot and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours, or until the chicken is tender.
  • Remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot, stirring it back into the sauce until combined.
  • Keep warm until ready to serve, or let cool and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Notes

Cooking chicken: We highly recommend having a digital meat thermometer around to accurately tell when the chicken is done cooking. Crockpot temperatures vary, so keep an eye on the chicken the first time you make this recipe as the cook time may vary.
Serving suggestions: You can use this shredded chipotle chicken in so many ways! Make sandwiches or wraps, add it to a salad, burrito bowl, or quesadilla, use it for chipotle chicken tacos – you name it. Check out our blog post above for more suggestions, and let us know your favorite ways to use it in the comments!
Storing & reheating: Store shredded chipotle chicken in the sauce 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. Or, use it cold on a sandwich!

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 187kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 25gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 549mgPotassium: 612mgFiber: 4gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 202IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 33mgIron: 2mg
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Keyword big batch, chicken breast, chipotle powder, chipotles in adobo, crockpot, fire roasted tomatoes, garlic, green chiles, lime juice, meal prep, slow cooker, vegetable oil, white onion

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5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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