This Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken Will Be Your Favorite Weeknight Meal

You know that guilty feeling you get after telling yourself you’d cook dinner when you got home but you just… don’t? This recipe is the key to ensuring that the fam eats a delicious dinner even though you’d rather flop on the couch for a nappetizer instead. Oh, and bonus points for the leftovers being equally as tasty as when fresh! The only thing you’ll need is a slow cooker or crock pot. That’s it. 

Here’s how to make Salsa Verde Chicken:

What You Need: 

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (1.5 lbs, frozen or thawed)
• Salt & Pepper
• Salsa Verde (16 oz. jar of any spice level. I use Herdez, but any will do.)
• Corn (8 oz., canned/drained or frozen)
• Black Beans (15 oz. can, or whatever your preference is)
• Cream Cheese (6 oz. or ¾ of a block)
• Rice (16 oz. bag of Vigo, any flavor you prefer. I use either Cilantro Lime or Mexican)

Estimated Length of Time:

Prep Time: 3-5 minutes.

Slow-Cook Time: 4 hours on low OR 2 hours on low, 1 hour on high

Prep: 

The first thing you’ll need to do is add the chicken breast to the bottom of the crock pot. Then, season the chicken to taste with salt and pepper and cover the chicken with the entire jar of salsa verde. Next, add your drained or frozen corn, followed by whatever amount of black beans you want. I left them out completely because my husband hates them, and it turned out just fine. 

Top everything off with the cream cheese, and you’re ready to cook. You don’t even need to stir anything!

Cook:

Now it’s time to put the lid on the crock pot and set it for whichever cook time and temp variation you decided on. This is my favorite part — go do whatever you want while the food is cooking.

Once you have about 30 minutes left on the crock pot timer, cook your rice according to the package instructions. Once the rice is simmering, use two forks to pull the chicken until it’s all thoroughly shredded. Then, give the chicken one final good mix to incorporate all the ingredients.

Once your rice is finished, plate your rice and top it with the salsa verde chicken. Enjoy!

Pack It Up:

I usually pack containers with single-serve portions to make them grab-and-go for lunches throughout the week. This makes enough food for a family of four to have leftovers once or a family of two to have leftovers two to three times. 

This salsa verde chicken recipe marked the beginning of my crock pot meal obsession. Not having to stand over the stove and cook for what feels like forever after a long day really seals the deal. And I feel so accomplished for actually getting dinner on the table. The fact that this meal is packed with flavor and keeps well in the fridge is just salsa on the chips for me. 

Featured image via Denys Gromov on Pexels