Crockpot Fiesta Chicken and Rice
When you’re in the mood for a creamy, cheesy, and perfectly taco-seasoned supper, make this easy and scrumptious crockpot fiesta chicken and rice recipe.
I’ve been on a roll lately with slow cooker chicken and rice dishes and I couldn’t resist bringing you just one more today. Being in a mood for Mexican food, I worked up a slow cooker fiesta chicken recipe that’ll have you doing the Mexican hat dance – if you know the Mexican hat dance. Umm, which I don’t.
I’ve been to Mexico more times than I can count. I love the food, atmosphere, sounds, and sights. And I especially love that Donald Duck is such a big supporter of the whole country, lending his name and talents so that folks everywhere can know what a wonderful place Mexico is. I suppose at this point I should clarify that the Mexico I go to is more of a kiosk version of the original, located in Disney World’s Epcot. It’s still lots of fun though…
Now, back to this crock pot fiesta chicken recipe! This ticks all my boxes: it’s ridiculously easy, delicious, and family-friendly. The ingredients include chicken (of course), cream of chicken soup for that creamy texture, corn and black beans, salsa, and taco seasoning mix for that quintessential Mexican flavor. Just pop all of the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it work its magic.
I’ve included recommendations below for how you can make this crockpot salsa chicken recipe your own so it suits your family. You can add heat, subtract heat, add veggies… go wild! You will also find lots of other easy-peasy crockpot recipes below because they just might be my favorite, but here are 10 slow cooker recipes with chicken breast to get you started. Alright, let’s get cookin’!
Recipe Ingredients
- Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Cooked rice
- Cream of chicken soup (use fat-free if you like)
- Corn kernels
- Black beans
- Salsa (I always use mild salsa but you can spice this up by using hot if you prefer).
- Taco seasoning mix
How to Make Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken and Rice
Place your chicken in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Pour the can of cream of chicken soup over the chicken in the slow cooker.
Then add the corn…
Black beans…
Salsa…
And the taco seasoning to the crockpot.
Give these ingredients a quick stir.
Don’t worry about being thorough here and don’t feel that you have to spread the cream soup evenly or anything.
Now cover that up and cook it on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
When that is done, right before serving, stir in your cooked rice.
Give that a good stir. By now your chicken is really tender and will just break up into shredded chicken perfectly when you stir it.
I love to top a bowl of crockpot fiesta chicken and rice with cheese, chopped green onion, and a dollop of sour cream. But I’ve included more serving suggestions below.
Enjoy!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat in the microwave. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months before thawing overnight and reheating in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- Now as far as chicken goes, you can use anywhere from one chicken breast to five or six. It’s totally up to you and depends on what you have on hand and what your budget is. Normally I would just use two and that is plenty for my whole family because we’re going to break them up a bit after they are done cooking. That is the thing I love about meals like this, they really allow you to stretch your meat budget. A little chicken or a lot, no one will ever know.
- As promised, here are some ways to make this crockpot fiesta chicken recipe your own:
- Substitute the cup of salsa for canned tomatoes or a can of Rotel tomatoes and green chiles if you want the added spice.
- Instead of taco seasoning, use a spicy or fiesta ranch seasoning mix.
- For a creamier dish, substitute the cream of chicken soup for a packet of cream cheese.
- If you want to add more veggies, opt for diced onion and bell pepper (I love the frozen blend).
- Substitute the black beans for pinto beans or kidney beans.
- Add 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro.
- Substitute the cream of chicken soup for an extra can of diced tomatoes to make this a dairy-free fiesta chicken recipe.
- Here are some serving suggestions too:
- Instead of burrito rice bowls, make a burrito with a tortilla.
- Use crunchy taco shells instead.
- Serve with tortilla chips.
- Add diced fresh tomatoes, pico de gallo, lime juice and/or guacamole on top, along with the sour cream and cheese.
- Spoon chicken mixture over baked potatoes.
Check out these other scrumptious slow cooker recipes:
Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice
Slow Cooker Angel Chicken (Gluten-Free and Low-Carb Pasta Options)
Ingredients
- 2-4 chicken breasts whatever you have on hand and however much meat you want to use
- 1 can cream of chicken soup can use fat-free
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 cup salsa
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 2 cups cooked rice
- cheese or other desired toppings
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker. Top with the cream of chicken soup, corn, black beans, salsa, and taco seasoning. Stir lightly.2-4 chicken breasts, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 can corn, drained, 1 can black beans, drained, 1 cup salsa, 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- Cover with the lid and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. When ready to serve, stir in your cooked rice.2 cups cooked rice
- Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy! This heats up really well too.cheese or other desired toppings
Nutrition
“I don’t really care if my glass is half full or half empty-
I’m just happy to have a glass.”
~Joe Farrell
Special thanks to Valerie Cuff for sharing this one. To submit your quote, please click here.
This recipe looks fantastic. Could you through in the rice to cook with chicken? I’m all about a one dish meal! Call me lazy! 😛
I made this yesterday for dinner and my hubby just raved about it! I served it over
tortilla chips, which made it extra yummy! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Yay!!! So glad to hear ya’ll liked it!
Christy,
I absolutely LOVED this recipe! A definate keeper recipe for our family.
I had to substitute a few things as I couldn’t find any black beans in the
supermarkets in Australia so I used cannelli beans. I also had a can of cream
of celery handy which worked out great and I used brown rice. OMG. It is
delicious! The recipe makes tons which is fabulous!
Please keep posting any other delicious crock pot recipes you have.
Smiles!
Hi Shona! SO glad you were able to find some substitutions…and to hear that it turned out good for you!!
I made this tonight and it is super YUMMY!!! Thanks for a great website!! Love, love, love it!!
THank you so much Amanda! I am so glad you likes the recipe!
Here in the mid-west, we’re having more of the white stuff. This is perfect. By the way my in-laws came over for dinner and we fixed your Chicken n Dumplins and Banana pudding for dessert. We all really enjoyed it! The biscuits were super easy.
Yummy! What a great dinner!! Hope you stay warm and keep all that white stuff with you.
Maybe you can answer this for me… whenever I cook chicken in the slow cooker it had a weird flavor… kind of burnt and it is dry. It doesn’t matter if I put it in the cooker first or last or resting on sliced onion on the bottom. Maybe just have a cheap slowcooker. I have given up cooking chicken in the slow cooker because I feel like I am wasting good chicken and money. Do you know what’s causing my chicken woes?
Do you have a slow cooker recommendation?
thanks! Gabe
Hey Gabe! It sounds like your slow cooker is cooking a little on the high side. Are you using the high setting? If so, I’d try using the low setting. Also, do you happen to know about how old your slow cooker is? It may be that over time it has just started to cook a little hotter. I’ve never had chicken come out dry in mine and it’s always fall apart tender so I definitely want you to have the same results in your home 🙂
I would go ahead, if you can, and invest in a new slow cooker. All of mine are Hamilton Beach but any new one is fine, just check out your local wal mart or target and what not and see what is on sale. I really prefer a slow cooker that has a “warm” setting so I can turn it down to warm if it gets done before we are ready to eat and you might really like that too.
A good budget for a slow cooker is 30-40 dollars but you may be able to find a great one for as little as twenty if you look.
I hope this helps and I hope you have moist and fall apart chicken soon!
Gratefully,
Christy
I understand about the overcooked chicken. I use my slow cookers frequently and have found that with the newer models I can only cook my boneless chicken about 5 -6 hours on low. After that it quickly becomes “mealy” – as my mother would have said (dry with an unpleasant texture.) Luckily my hubby can drop the crock in the base and turn it on when he runs home for lunch if I have it ready and waiting in the fridge. Maybe bone-in chicken can cook longer?
BTW, I make this recipe often and it is a GREAT “cook once-eat twice” by adding an extra chicken breast. It freezes very well (without the rice) and can turn into nachos, taco filling, casserole base, burritos, quesadillas etc some night when I know I don’t have time to start from scratch.
Sorry – I misspelled recipes. 🙂 Judy