Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe

If you’re looking for an easy dinner for your family, this shredded chicken tacos recipe is exactly that! 

Just toss a few ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, and when dinner time comes, gather your tortillas and toppings, and you’re all set! 

It truly is one of my favorite busy day meals because while it’s incredibly quick and easy for me, everyone gets to enjoy a genuinely good dinner. 

Other meals I love on a busy day are egg roll in a bowl – so fast and delicious. 

Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe

Why use the crockpot? 

You could totally use the instant pot or oven to make these crockpot chicken tacos, but using the slow cooker offers a level of ease and hands-off that other methods don’t. With the instant pot or oven, you would need to be in the kitchen an hour beforehand to get your chicken cooking, and of course, you couldn’t really leave the house while they cook. 

So for me, I find that it’s a lot easier to get the slow cooker going and come and go as I please, the same as you can with sous vide recipes, throughout the day without worrying about what’s going on with dinner. 

What are the shredded chicken taco recipe ingredients? 

Part of what makes this recipe such a gem is its simplicity. For the slow cooker portion, you only need chicken and salsa. Other spices, such as cumin, are optional. I also like to sprinkle in some salt, but I’ve been told I’m a salt-a-holic. 

Apart from the chicken and salsa, the rest is up to your preference. Whatever you like to top your tacos with! 

I like to set out: 

• Tortillas
• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream
• Refried beans
• Tomatoes
• Avocado
• Diced onion
• Lettuce
• Olives

Of course, everyone in our family likes a different combination of those toppings, and I’m sure yours have their own preferences as well. 

How much should you make for your family? 

I typically shoot for 4 oz. of chicken per person for a meal, but I also like to double up (or more) with this recipe to have leftover chicken as a sort of meal prep for more easy dinners like chicken chili or nachos later on. 

Also, since my kids like to put refried beans on anything they eat in a tortilla – including chicken tacos – they tend to eat less meat with this meal than at some others. 

This is another area where it’s up to you. The recipe card below uses quantities meant to feed four people, but you’re the best judge of how much your family will eat. 

A few notes before we start

• I usually use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but if boneless, skinless thighs are on sale, you can bet your last dollar I’ll use them too. Straight swap. In my opinion, the texture is not quite as good, but my husband disagrees. There’s that preference again. 
• We use mild salsa because not everyone in our family likes heat, but this is, again, our preference. Use your fave!
• Use your electric mixer to shred chicken! It’s so easy and fast. You can see an example in this video on Instagram. 

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