Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

One of my favorite recipes! It's simple, delicious, makes plenty, and very versatile. The recipe came to me from my friend Sunnie, who generously gave permission for me to share it here.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

3 - 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 jar salsa or picante sauce (I use Pace Picante, medium)

1 packet taco seasoning

Place chicken breasts in a crock pot. Mix together salsa and taco seasoning, then pour over chicken breasts. Cover with crock pot lid and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.

Shred with a fork and serve with your favorite taco toppings.

I like to serve these on flour or corn tortillas, with a delicious homemade pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole or avocado slices, and shredded cabbage or lettuce. A Southwestern style rice and refried beans or black beans are excellent sides to compliment the dish. Chicken taco bar is a favorite meal in our family. It's delicious and requires almost no effort to make.

Mild Pico de Gallo

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

juice of 1-2 limes

Mix ingredients together and add a generous pinch of pepper. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep ingredients well mixed. Add diced peppers and garlic if you want it spicy.

We LOVE this recipe for chicken tacos. It also works very well for beef (using a basic roast cut) and pork (with cheap carnitas or a loin roast).

My favorite part of this recipe is the versatility. Especially with the leftovers! The above recipe will make enough for 2-3 meals, and the shredded meat freezes very well. I've used the leftover shredded chicken to make enchilladas, quesadillas, taco salad, sandwiches, tortilla soup, and more. It's good on rolls or bread, tortillas, lettuce, pasta, even rice!

I used leftovers from our Chicken Taco Bar dinner to make lunches the next day.

For the Dude, I put together chicken taco salad. Lettuce forms the base, and is topped with the shredded chicken and pico de gallo, with black beans and a sprinkle of shredded colby-jack cheese, garnished with a few grape tomatoes. On the side he has a small container of guacamole and some crushed tortilla chips to mix in with his salad. He also has an orange slice and a few strawberries.

Brick's lunch was pretty close to the same, but with a few less toppings. 

He prefers his salads to be a little less fancy. His is just the lettuce and chicken with shredded cheese on top. He has pico de gallo and ranch dressing on the side, as well as the crushed tortilla chips to add a little crunch.

A couple of orange slices and strawberries add a little vitamin C to the lunch, as well as a bit of sweetness.

For Princess and Bean, I turned the leftover chicken into quesadillas.

Princess has a kitty cat chicken and black bean quesadilla with pico de gallo on the side for dipping and scooping. She also has grape tomatoes (her favorite) and an etched banana, with a small salad on the side.

I also put in a little bit of sweet strawberry yogurt topped with cranberry-raisin granola for a delicious dessert.

And what goes with a cat? Why, a squeaky little mouse, of course! Bean has pretty much the same lunch, with a little chicken and black bean quesadilla mouse.

Etching bananas is easy. I used a toothpick to scratch a message into the banana skin. By lunch time the message was nice and dark, very easy to read.