These easy Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos made in the crock pot with chicken breast, salsa, and spices are on repeat in my house!
Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
Chicken tacos are a popular dinner in my house. We love tacos because they are so customizable. You can switch up the meat, toppings, and tortillas, so you may never eat the same taco twice! Madison’s Favorite Beef Tacos and Fish Tacos are a couple of our favorites.
However, lately Madison has been asking me to make these every week! These are the best chicken tacos because they are easy and tasty. One of those dinners that you dump in the slow cooker. Then, when it’s time to eat, it takes just a few minutes to whip up the simple limey slaw, slice the avocado, and heat the corn tortillas.
Are chicken tacos healthy?
Yes, chicken tacos can be healthy – it all depends on the toppings. Cheese and creamy sauces are higher in calories than veggies. These healthy tacos are topped with a cabbage slaw and avocado. I use corn tortillas, which are a little lighter than flour tortillas.
How much chicken do I need for tacos?
To make 12 tacos, you need 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts. This chicken taco recipe has a serving size of three tacos, but you can definitely get more tacos out of the chicken, depending on how much you pile on the tortillas. If you need to make more than 12 tacos, you can easily double the chicken.
How do you make chicken tacos from scratch?
These chicken tacos are really easy to make from scratch.
Chicken. Start with the chicken since that takes the longest to cook. Season the chicken with adobo seasoning or salt, garlic powder, and cumin. Place in the slow cooker and cover with your favorite salsa. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high 3 hours.
Once the chicken shreds easily, it’s done. Drain the excess liquid from the pot while keeping as much of the tomatoes from the salsa. Shred the chicken with two forks.
Chicken Taco Toppings
To make the cabbage slaw, combine the shredded cabbage, lime, salt, and cilantro and mix together. Slice the avocado and cut the lime into wedges.
How to Heat Corn Tortillas
Heat the corn tortillas over the open flame of your gas stove. Hold the tortillas one at a time with tongs for 15 to 30 seconds. Once they are slightly charred, put on a plate and cover with a towel to keep warm.
If you don’t have a gas stove or are short on time, you can microwave the tortillas. Put them on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for about 30 seconds until warm.
You can also heat tortillas in the oven. Wrap them in foil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees until warm.
How to Assemble Tacos
Now that all your taco filling is ready, it’s time to assemble your tacos. Top each tortilla with chicken, slaw, and avocado and serve with lime.
To Make Ahead: You can make the chicken ahead and store in a container. Keep covered and refrigerate up to four days. To reheat, microwave in 30-second intervals until heated through.
To Freeze Meat: Let the chicken cool and store in a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to three months. To reheat, transfer to the refrigerator overnight or reheat from frozen in 30-second intervals until heated through.
Variations
- Use flour or whole-wheat tortillas instead of corn.
- Swap the chicken breasts for boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
- Top with guacamole instead of avocado slices. Just mash up some avocado and season with salt and lime for a simple guac.
- You can use chicken breast as I did here or make it with boneless chicken thighs, which we often do too.
How To Make Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
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Season the chicken with seasoning salt such as adobo, then transfer to the slow cooker and top with garlic powder and cumin.
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Top the chicken with the jarred salsa (no water needed).
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Cover and cook LOW for 4 to 6 hours, until chicken shreds easily.
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When cooked, drain excess liquid from the pot keeping as much as the tomato sauce as possible and shred with two forks. Cover and keep warm until ready to eat.
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Make the slaw, combine cabbage, lime juice, cilantro and salt in a bowl and toss.
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Heat the tortillas about 30 seconds on each side over the flame of your stove until slightly charred, transfer to a plate with a towel on top to keep warm and repeat with the remaining tortillas.
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To serve, place 3 tortillas on each plate, top with chicken, slaw, sliced avocado and serve with lime wedges.
More Taco Recipes You’ll Love:
- Easy Grilled Chicken Tacos
- Healthy Cod Fish Tacos
- Union Cantina Lobster Tacos
- Thai Chicken Peanut Lettuce Tacos
- Shrimp Scampi Tacos
Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos Recipe
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- adobo seasoning, or salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 cup chunky mild or medium salsa
tacos
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 ounces from 1 medium haas avocado, sliced
- lime wedges for squeezing
- 12 corn tortillas
Instructions
- Season the chicken with adobo (or salt), then place in the crock pot and top with garlic powder and cumin.
- Top chicken with salsa (no water needed).
- Cover and cook LOW for 4 to 6 hours, until chicken shreds easily.
- When cooked, drain excess liquid from the pot keeping as much as the tomato sauce as possible and shred with two forks. Cover and keep warm until ready to eat.
- Make the slaw, combine cabbage, lime juice, cilantro and salt in a bowl and toss.
- Heat the tortillas about 30 seconds on each side over the flame of your stove until slightly charred, transfer to a plate with a towel on top to keep warm and repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- To serve, place 3 tortillas on each plate, top with chicken, slaw, sliced avocado and serve with lime wedges.
These are really easy and really tasty! We’ll be adding this to the rotation. The slaw and avocado add nice flavour.
Easy and dependable! I told my husband we could get the chicken cooking in five minutes; he set the timer and we finished with thirty seconds to spare. Assembly/chopping/etc. at the end is another 5-10 mins depending on your speed. Anyone can make this dish!
omggggg soooooo good !! i did insta pot, no water and 15 min and came out perfect!
My family loved these and asked me to make them again. Great flavor combination and easy on time prep. Crockpot in the am and pre chop the toppings if you have the time makes delivery a breeze. Definitely a go to meal for me and I can see this working for a large crowd.
So simple and so delicious! Definitely make extra and freeze some for later.
Everyone loved this recipe, super easy, delicious and also great for meal prep!
This was delicious and so simple. The slaw and avocado are a must.
Absolutely Delicious Love 💗 her recipes I also made her slow cooker sweet potato 🍠 had the chicken & enchilada sauce left over froze it & threw into this recipe to give it a little kick.
Tried this tonight. So easy and so delicious! Thank you!
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always delicious. This time, I bought chicken thighs by mistake! Do you think it would still work?
These are so easy and delicious. We usually make once a week!
Yay!!
These chicken tacos are delicious and easy!!! All 5 of my kids liked them! The slaw mix gives it a nice crunch and restaurant flair! Definitely making these again! Thank you!
Perfect!!
I’ve made this recipe twice now and it couldn’t be easier. I use 2 large chicken breasts and it easily feeds four of us (kids are 8 and 12) with leftovers the next day. Even the picky eater gives 5 stars.
These are amazing!
What is your salsa recommendation?
Honestly whatever brand I can find.
Delicious! I doubled the slaw recipe. Served with fresh avocado, your cilantro lime rice and black beans. This would be good as a bowl too, without the corn tortillas. I don’t have a gas stove but I toasted the corn tortillas in a cast iron skillet about 15 to 30 seconds per side. My kids said we need this once a week mom!
I’m making this today for at least the 20th time – absolutely one of our favorite Skinnytaste recipes! I always cook the chicken for six hours so that it’s fall-apart tender, double the slaw (so good!), and sub Trader Joe’s Chunky Spicy Guacamole in place of the avocado. Thank you, Gina!
Delicious and so easy! I love the cabbage slaw too. I throw in a package of frozen skinless chicken thighs and cook on high about five hours. Great dinner.
THIS was the comment I was looking for, someone using frozen chicken 🙂 thanks for time/temp variation!
Delicious, filling, and so easy! I made this exactly as written, except I used green cabbage instead of red for my slaw. Great “throw and go” crock pot recipe for taco Tuesday!
These tacos are so delicious and very easy to make!
I have some sazon seasoning that’s been lingering in my cupboard for a few months. Would that work in this recipe?
Can you make this in the instant pot?
Thank you!
Does anyone know how many weight watcher points the chicken would be alone without the tortilla and toppings.??
one of my favorite recipes! Wondering – have you ever used with mango peach salsa?
can you use bone in chicken thighs for this? And how would you adjust for it?
This recipe gets rave reviews from my husband and me, one of our favorite Skinnytaste taco recipes so far! I punched up the heat just a bit with a dash of cayenne to the raw chicken before putting it in the slow cooker. I also put the corn tortillas in the oven to broil since I don’t have a gas stove to char them. Will definitely put these in the regular rotation!
Awesome!
These tacos are PHENOMENAL!! They taste so authentic and have so much flavor. My husband absolutely loved them as well. I’m making these again ASAP!!
So glad you enjoyed them!
I made this last night and oh my goodness it was wonderful! Light and refreshing! I love meals that my family can build their own tacos/burritos. I used a packet of sazon and a pineapple tomatilla salsa that I already had in the fridge. Served it with refried beans, sour cream, cheddar cheese, avocado slices, extra salsa and lime wedges. Thank you for this winner!
Wonderful! I had to tweak it a bit using a can of no salt diced tomatoes and about 1/2 cup of very garlic-y salsa. Love the simple slaw recipe and I see shrimp and fish tacos in my future.
Another huge Skinnytaste winner! There is nothing that I have tried that hasn’t been fabulous. I was trying to get back into the mode of finding things for my pre teen boy who is very picky but getting very interested in food and hubby and this made our Tuesday night so fun and wonderful. I followed the instructions exactly except for the adobe salt -I watched the video too late and decided to add some taco seasoning that I had to the top of the salsa as I realized I didn’t season the chicken enough with salt. Thank you for making our night so special!
My favorite go to taco recipe! So delicious and easy!
I am so glad!
Looks amazing!
Can you substitute lettuce for cabbage?
If you wish!
What bran corn tortillas do u recommend?
Tried this tonight, except I used Old El Paso Stand N Stuff Taco Shells instead. I think this pulled chicken is gonna be my go-to recipe when I need something simple without a ton of ingredients. I always have chicken breasts and salsa in the house! Thanks for this recipe!
We love this recipe!
I made this recipe last week and it was a hit but we didnt use Avocado as my hubby doesnt like it but it was very fresh tasting. Even my two year old gobbled them up. Next time though I may add a little more spice to it as it was a little bland in the chicken and I do find the corn tacos dry so I may add some greek yogurt with a dash of cumin to keep it low fat but to add moisture. Would definitely make again!
So simple and easy!! Even tastes like a restaurant taco! Have made these multiple times, will definitely be a staple in my family’s rotation!
Hey! I love this in the crock pot, but do you know if I can make this in an insta pot?
What if the chicken is frozen, would the timing be the same?. I can NEVER remember to take it out ahead of time!
Yes. I put 3 frozen chicken breasts in a 4-qt slow cooker and it was done in 5-6 Delicious!
Can the chicken breast be frozen?
What kind of salsa is best here – a fresh style on or one from a jar?
Made this for dinner tonight. It was so easy and surprisingly delicious. I added diced onions to the tacos and subbed sazon complete for the adobo since I was out. So tasty… Thank you!
Made this tonight. Turned out great! Plenty of leftovers!
Can I make this with chicken tenderloins.
Could you do the chicken in the pressure cooker? How long would you recommend?
Made these last night and they were huge hit!
Hi, please share how I could make this is an Instantpot. Been a fan for years ❤️
You can see how I do it here https://www.skinnytaste.com/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-easy-salsa/
Can I make this in the instant pot?
I think its better in the slow cooker, but see how I do it here: https://www.skinnytaste.com/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-easy-salsa/
This sounds great and I love how simple it is and the creativity of placing them in the slow cooker! So innovative!
Do you think this would work in the Instant Pot like your salsa verde chicken recipe?
yes
I am excited to try this. Any idea how long the cabbage slaw will keep in the refrigerator?
Can you please tell me what size corn tortilla you used in the recipe?
These look delish! Do you think these can be done in the Instant Pot?
https://www.skinnytaste.com/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-easy-salsa/
Do you think this would work in the instant pot like your recipe for the salsa verde chicken?
yes
These tacos look amazing! Corn tortillas taste so delicious with chicken tacos!