Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken — An EASY recipe for fiesta ranch chicken that the whole family LOVES! There’s tender chicken, cream cheese, salsa, black beans, green chiles, and more which creates a little fiesta in your mouth! Serve it as-is, over rice, or in tacos. Perfect for busy weeknight dinners or make it for your next game day party!
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With back-to-school season just around the corner, having an easy chicken dinner recipe in your back pocket that the whole family loves is such a relief!
This slow cooker fiesta chicken is just that recipe.
There’s tender shredded chicken mixed together with cream cheese, salsa, black beans, corn, green chiles, fiesta ranch seasoning mix, and an array of other spices. It’s got a great Mexican meets Tex-Mex vibe to it.
The finished dish is great served as-is, over rice, or as fiesta ranch chicken tacos, which is how we love to enjoy this comfort food dinner the most! I mean tacos are always a good idea.
To save on cleanup, this family-friendly slow cooker chicken meal is made in one pot which is actually a Crock-Pot in this case.
As a bonus, there’s nothing to sear or start off first in a skillet and everything for your slow cooker fiesta ranch chicken is made right in the slow cooker.
Ingredients Needed
There are lots of ingredients in slow cooker fiesta ranch chicken, however all of them are easy to find and very common fridge and pantry staples including the following:
- Ground cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Chili powder
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- Olive oil
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Reduced sodium chicken broth (or water)
- Cream cheese
- Dry fiesta ranch seasoning mix
- Salsa
- Corn
- Canned black beans
- Canned diced green chiles
- Corn tortillas (or flour tortillas), if serving as tacos
- Queso fresco (or Mexican shredded cheese blend), optional for garnishing
- Mexican crema (or sour cream thinned with milk), optional for garnishing
- Cilantro, optional for garnishing
- Lime wedges, optional for garnishing
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Fiesta Chicken in a Slow Cooker
To make fiesta slow cooker chicken, follow these basic, easy, straightforward steps:
- Combine the dry spices and salt in a small bowl.
- Rub the chicken with olive oil and then coat all sides with the spice mixture.
- Place the chicken in a slow cooker with the chicken broth or water and slow cook on high for 3 hours.
- Shred the chicken when it’s done.
- Place it back in the slow cooker along with the cream cheese, fiesta ranch seasoning mix, salsa, corn, black beans, green chiles, stir, cover, and slow cook for 2 to 3 hours before serving as desired!
Optional Garnishes
The garnishes such as queso fresco and Mexican crema can be omitted or swapped for a Mexican shredded cheese blend and or use sour cream thinned out with a bit of milk as a crema alternative.
Cilantro, limes, fresh pico de gallo, or whatever you love to top your favorite Mexican recipes or tacos with is welcome of course, too!
Ways to Serve Fiesta Chicken
Slow cooker fiesta ranch chicken can be served a variety of ways. We love tacos so of course, I love to serve the creamy chicken mixture inside lightly blistered corn tortillas.
Additionally, fiesta chicken is great served over white, brown, or Spanish rice.
For those watching their carbs, skip the tortillas and the rice and make lettuce wraps instead with large Romaine lettuce boats or big butter lettuce leaves.
Tip for Serving in Tacos
If you are serving your fiesta chicken in tortillas as tacos, my tips to soften them are to wrap them in a kitchen towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds or just until warmed.
Additionally, you can blister or brown them in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. It only takes about 30 seconds per side, at most.
Make-Ahead Instructions
If you want to make this recipe for fiesta chicken in advance, feel free! After it’s done, just keep it on the lowest setting or the ‘warm’ setting and it will be fine for hours.
I’m thinking tailgating or casual entertaining where your guests can wander in the kitchen and help themselves.
Additionally, if you want to make it at home and then transport it somewhere, it’s a great plug-and-go recipe when you get to your destination.
Transport it right in the slow cooker and then plug it in when you get where ever you’re going. This works best if you have a Crock-Pot with Locking Lid.
Recipe FAQs
I suggest a large slow cooker for this recipe because it makes a big batch of food. Something at least 7 to 8-quarts is my recommendation. If you only have a smaller 4 or 5-quart slow cooker, then halve the recipe by halving each ingredient called for. Although the cooking time will remain approximately the same and that will not be halved.
Yes, you need to use a packet of fiesta ranch seasoning mix for this fiesta ranch chicken. You can also use a packet of u0022regularu0022 ranch seasoning mix instead of the fiesta ranch version. The fiesta just has a bit more oomph and pizazz however either are fine. For those heat seekers, use spicy ranch seasoning.
In my opinion, slow cooker fiesta chicken isn’t spicy per se but it does have a ton of flavor! What I love about this recipe is that you can really control the amount of heat the finished chicken dish has. For example:
-Rather than fiesta ranch seasoning mix, use spicy ranch seasoning.
-Use mild, medium, or hot salsa depending on what your goal is.
-Diced canned green chiles also are sold in mild, medium, and spicy versions. Plus there is also fire-roasted which usually implies more spiciness.
-Add extra chili powder to spice this Crock-Pot fiesta chicken up somewhat.
-For a much spicier recipe, add a few shakes of cayenne pepper!
No! Don’t use reduced fat cream cheese or any type of “lite” cream cheese. It is made with more water, rather than fat, and your fiesta chicken mixture could be soupy if you use a lite cream cheese product rather than full fat.
If you want thicker and chunkier fiesta chicken, use a thicker and chunkier salsa – perhaps one with bean and corn in it, too. I am not a fan of the real thin Mexican restaurant-style salsa for this recipe. But it’s up to you. You can use red or green salsa although visually, and for me the taste, red salsa is preferred.
Shredding chicken with two forks is what I always do because for me it’s easier than washing out my stand mixer. However, many people love to shred cooked chicken breasts by placing them in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and letting the mixer do the work and shred away on low speed.
Recipe Substitutions to Try
As I just alluded to, slow cooker chicken recipes like this Crockpot fiesta chicken where there are lots of ingredients all tossed into a Crock-Pot tend to be very flexible.
Therefore, if you are short on something or don’t have something, chances are the recipe will still turn out great!
For example, try this swaps and substitutions:
- Use boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts
- Try a bit of actual diced white onion rather than onion powder
- Freshly minced garlic works instead of garlic powder
- Smoked paprika gives such an awesome smoky flavor but regular paprika is fine
- I am partial to red salsa but a tried and true salsa verde is okay
- Frozen or fresh corn are acceptable swaps for the canned corn
- Corn tortillas are always my go-to for tacos but flour tortillas are fine
- The garnishes such as queso fresco and Mexican crema are optional and you can use a shredded Mexican cheese blend and thinned out sour cream instead.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Storage: It’ll keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat: Anytime there is cream cheese in a recipe, always reheat it carefully and gently so that it doesn’t “break” (take on a weird appearance) which can happen if you blast it on very high heat in the microwave because you can breakdown the dairy proteins.
What to serve with Fiesta Chicken
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Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, regular paprika may be substituted
- 1 teaspoon chili powder, use 2 to 3 teaspoons for a spicier dish
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts*
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth, or water
- 8 ounces brick-style full-fat cream cheese, cubed and softened to room temp**
- one 1.1 ounce packet dry fiesta ranch seasoning mix, or your favorite flavor of ranch seasoning mix
- 12 ounces red salsa***
- 15 ounces canned corn, drained well (frozen or freshly shaved corn may also be used)
- 15 ounces canned black beans, drained and rinsed (I use reduced sodium beans)
- 7 ounces canned diced green chiles, do not drain
- 10 corn tortillas, or flour tortillas, if serving as tacos
Garnishes (Optional)
- Queso fresco, or Mexican shredded cheese blend
- Mexican crema, or sour cream thinned with milk
- Cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- In a bowl combine the cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and stir to combine the spice rub mixture.
- Evenly drizzle the chicken breasts with olive oil and then pat on the spice rub evenly all over both sides of each chicken breast.
- Place the chicken breasts in a large 7 to 8-quart slow cooker, cover, and slow cook on HIGH heat for about 3 hours, or until chicken is done (165F internal temp).
- Place the chicken on a cutting board and shred it using two forks. Alternatively, you can shred chicken by placing it in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted the the paddle attachment, and mixing on low speed until shredded.
- Add the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker.
- Add the cream cheese, fiesta ranch seasoning mix (or another flavor of dry ranch seasoning mix), salsa, corn, beans, green chiles (do not drain), stir to combine, cover with the lid, and slow cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours, or until bubbly; OR slow cook on HIGH for 1 hour or until bubbly.
- Serve immediately, as desired – either plain and as-is, over rice, in a lettuce leave like a lettuce wrap, or in tortillas. Tip – Soften tortillas by wrapping them in a kitchen towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds or just until warmed. Additionally, you can blister or brown them in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. It only takes about 30 seconds per side, at most.
- Garnish with your favorite cheese, Mexican crema, sour cream, cilantro, lime juice; all optional and as desired. Fiesta chicken will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently and on low heat.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Really delicious recipe. I love it yummy!!! It’s really awesome
Really delicious recipe. I love it yummy!!! It’s really awesome
great