Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken (Freezer Meal)

Table of Contents

This sluggish cooker salsa hen begins life as a 10-minute freezer bag. Dump it within the crock pot within the morning, and you’ve got tender shredded hen for tacos, bowls, and burritos by dinner.

Gradual Cooker Salsa Hen At A Look

⏱ Prepared In: 10 minutes prep + 6 to 7 hours on LOW (or 3 to 4 hours on HIGH)
🍽 Serves: 6 servings, 4 with out the perimeters/toppings.
🌱 Food regimen: Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, high-protein
💪 Vitamin Highlights: Round 35 g protein per serving (break up six methods), plus fiber from the black beans
🍗 Principal Components: Hen breast or thighs, salsa, black beans, sweetcorn, cumin, garlic powder
🍅 Taste Profile: Savory, tomatoey and gently spiced, gentle or sizzling relying in your salsa, with a squeeze of lime to complete
🧊 Meal-Prep Pleasant: The uncooked bag freezes for as much as 3 months, and cooked leftovers maintain 4 days within the fridge or 3 months within the freezer
Finest Served With: Rice, tortillas, nachos, baked potatoes or a giant inexperienced salad

This salsa hen within the sluggish cooker is about as low effort as dinner will get. You spend ten minutes filling a freezer bag, and later it turns right into a pot of juicy shredded hen with black beans and candy corn in a tomatoey salsa sauce.

The salsa does many of the work: it already has tomato, onion, chili, and acidity in it, so just a little cumin and garlic powder is all it wants. What I like most is that one bag offers you so many meals. Monday it’s tacos, Tuesday the leftovers go into rice bowls, and the remaining finally ends up on nachos or in a lunchbox.

With roughly 35 grams of protein per serving, it’s an excellent one for busy households, new mother and father, or anybody who desires a stack of straightforward dinners within the freezer.

PS. This recipe isn’t only for freezing, you may throw every little thing immediately within the sluggish cooker and prepare dinner straight away.

👩‍🍳 You may also like these sluggish cooker hen recipes:
→ Marry Me Hen In A Gradual Cooker
→ Gradual Cooker Shredded Hen
→ Gradual Cooker Hen Tikka Masala
→ Gradual Cooker Honey Mustard Hen
→ Gradual Cooker Hen Thighs
→ 20 Wholesome Gradual Cooker Hen Recipes

What You’ll Want

Here’s what you’ll want for this sluggish cooker salsa hen recipe. Discover the total measurements within the recipe card beneath.

Hen breast or thighs: Breast offers you lean, high-protein shreds. Thighs keep juicier over a protracted prepare dinner and forgive you if you happen to depart it an additional hour. Each work, so use no matter you have got.
Salsa: That is your sauce, your seasoning and your liquid multi function, so select one you’d fortunately eat with chips. I like a chunky tomato salsa. Medium or sizzling salsa offers you a spicier pot, and salsa verde works too for a tangier, greener model. Verify the label if you happen to want it to be gluten-free.
Black beans: Drain and rinse them first so the sauce doesn’t go murky. They add fibre, further plant protein, and make the hen go additional. Pinto or kidney beans are tremendous swaps.
Sweetcorn: Canned or frozen each work. It provides little pops of sweetness that stability the salsa.
Cumin and garlic powder: Cumin offers the nice and cozy, earthy Tex-Mex flavour, and garlic powder rounds it out. A teaspoon of smoked paprika or chili powder is a pleasant further when you’ve got it.
Salt and black pepper: Go straightforward on the salt to start out, as a result of jarred salsas fluctuate so much. You possibly can all the time add extra after shredding.
To serve (optionally available): Lime wedges and recent coriander (cilantro). A squeeze of lime on the finish actually wakes every little thing up.

How To Make Salsa Hen In A Gradual Cooker

Discover the total recipe and dietary info beneath. Listed here are some useful step-by-step images for tips on how to make sluggish cooker salsa hen.

Fill the bag: Add the hen, salsa, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper to a big freezer bag (I exploit a 3-liter / 1-gallon zip bag), then add the drained black beans and corn.
No freezing required? Add all components on to the pot with out freezing.
Combine and seal: Gently therapeutic massage the bag so the spices coat every little thing. Press out as a lot air as you may, seal, label with the date, and lay it flat within the freezer.
Thaw: The evening earlier than, transfer the bag to the fridge to thaw.
Gradual prepare dinner: Tip every little thing into the sluggish cooker and prepare dinner on LOW for six to 7 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, till the hen pulls aside simply.
Shred: Shred the hen proper within the pot with two forks and stir it by the sauce. As you stir, the beans and corn combine in and the sauce clings to the hen.
End: Style for salt, squeeze over some lime and scatter with coriander.

Recipe Ideas

Lay the baggage flat to freeze. They freeze sooner, stack like books, and thaw rather more evenly than a lumpy bag.
Verify hen breast early. Breast is lean and might dry out on a protracted LOW prepare dinner, so verify it on the 5 to six hour mark. It’s prepared when it shreds simply and reaches 165°F / 74°C.
Too saucy? Salsa manufacturers fluctuate in how watery they’re. If the pot seems to be soupy after cooking, shred the hen and depart the lid off on HIGH for 20 to half-hour to thicken it up.
Skip the freezer if you happen to like. You can also make this the identical day. Simply add every little thing straight to the sluggish cooker and prepare dinner as regular.
Make it spicier. Use a sizzling salsa, add a chopped chipotle in adobo, or stir in chili flakes.
Make it creamy. Stir by 4 oz / 125 g of cream cheese or a couple of spoonfuls of bitter cream after shredding (it gained’t be dairy-free then).
Batch it. This is among the best sluggish cooker freezer meals to scale up. Doing three or 4 baggage directly takes barely longer than one.
Storage: Cooked salsa hen retains 4 days in an hermetic container within the fridge and freezes for as much as 3 months.

Serving Strategies

My favourite approach is a giant rice bowl with avocado, just a little grated cheese, a dollop of Greek yogurt or bitter cream, and loads of lime. It additionally makes nice smooth tacos with shredded lettuce, and it’s incredible piled on nachos or stuffed right into a baked potato.

For lunches, wrap it in a tortilla with some rice and cheese, or spoon it over greens for a fast taco salad.

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Ten minutes of prep will get you a freezer bag of hen, salsa, black beans and corn that sluggish cooks into tender shredded hen. It’s good for tacos, rice bowls and straightforward lunches all week. Discover step-by-step images beneath and extra recipe ideas above.

To prep the freezer bag:

Add the hen, salsa, garlic powder, cumin, salt and black pepper to a big freezer-safe bag.
Add the sweetcorn and drained black beans.
Gently therapeutic massage the bag to unfold the components and spices evenly.
Press out as a lot air as doable and seal tightly.
Label with the date and freeze flat for as much as 3 months.
No freezing required? Skip this step and put all components immediately into the crock pot.

To prepare dinner:

Thaw the bag in a single day within the fridge.
Tip the contents into the sluggish cooker.
Cook dinner on LOW for six to 7 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, till the hen is cooked by (165°F / 74°C) and shreds simply.
Shred the hen within the pot with two forks and stir it again by the sauce.
Style and regulate the salt, then end with a squeeze of lime and recent coriander.

Vital Ingredient Ideas: The salsa is the sauce, so its taste carries the entire dish. Choose one you like. Rinse the beans nicely, and verify that the salsa is gluten-free if you happen to want it to be.
Key Recipe Ideas: Freeze baggage flat. Verify hen breast early on LOW so it doesn’t dry out. If the sauce is skinny, shred the hen and prepare dinner with the lid off on HIGH for 20 to half-hour. Add sizzling salsa, chipotle, or chili flakes for extra warmth.
Storage Ideas: Preserve cooked salsa hen in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 4 days. Freeze cooked leftovers for as much as 3 months and thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than reheating.
Make-Forward Ideas: Prep the uncooked baggage as much as 3 months forward. Make a number of directly for a simple freezer stash.
FAQs:
Can I exploit frozen hen? For the sluggish cooker, thaw it first. Frozen hen takes too lengthy to return as much as a protected temperature on a sluggish prepare dinner, so thaw the bag within the fridge in a single day earlier than cooking.
What salsa works finest? A chunky tomato salsa works fantastically, however any favourite salsa will do, together with salsa verde.
Can I make this spicy? Sure. Use a sizzling salsa, or add chili flakes or a chipotle pepper.
Does this freeze nicely after cooking? Sure, cooked shredded salsa hen freezes very well for as much as 3 months.
Can I exploit this for meal prep bowls? Positively. Portion it over rice along with your toppings for straightforward lunches, or freeze particular person bowls.
Can I prepare dinner it with out freezing first? Completely. Add every little thing straight to the sluggish cooker and prepare dinner as written.

Key phrases: sluggish cooker salsa hen, crockpot salsa hen, salsa hen in sluggish cooker, hen with salsa in sluggish cooker, sluggish cooker freezer meal, dump meal, shredded salsa hen

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