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Slow Cooker queso Chicken tacos are tender, saucy, cheesy, and easy enough for a busy night. Just add the ingredients to the Slow Cooker, shred the chicken, stir in salsa con queso, and pile it into crispy shells or flour tortillas. The creamy filling is warm, a little spicy, and downright satisfying with all the favorite toppings.
Why You’ll Love It
- Easy prep — the prep takes about 15 minutes, including opening cans.
- Tender shredded chicken — the chicken cooks until it’s easy to shred right in the slow cooker.
- Creamy queso finish — salsa con queso gets stirred in after shredding for a creamy, cheesy filling.
- Flexible taco night — serve with crispy shells, flour tortillas, and favorite toppings.
- Great leftovers — the flavors settle together beautifully after a night in the refrigerator.
Ingredient Notes
Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts here—two pounds. No need to trim every last tiny bit of fat off them. Just remove anything obvious and move on with the morning.
For taco seasoning, use one packet of a favorite kind. Packets that are more chili-forward and less aggressively salty work especially well. Homemade seasoning works if it is already on hand, but packet seasoning keeps prep simple.
Rotel is the important tomato piece. Original Rotel is great, or the kind with cilantro and lime works nicely too. It brings tomatoes, green chiles, and a little tang without any fuss with fresh ingredients. The canned green chiles add another mild layer of flavor. They aren’t particularly hot and add mild flavor.
Salsa con queso is what makes the filling creamy. Use 3/4 cup, not an entire giant jar unless intentionally changing the recipe. This one has enough liquid already, so stick reasonably close. The goal is scoopable taco filling, not queso soup.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 can Rotel, Original flavor or the Rotel with cilantro and lime juice
- 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 3/4 cup salsa con queso
- Crispy taco shells or flour tortillas, heated according to the package directions
- Toppings of choice: sour cream, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, shredded Mexican-blend cheese, salsa, guacamole, chopped avocado, pico de gallo, chopped onion—whatever sounds good
Instructions
Put the chicken breasts in a large slow cooker and sprinkle the taco seasoning right over the top. No need to brown the chicken first. Browned meat has its place in the world, but skip extra steps here.
In a medium bowl, stir together the chicken broth, Rotel, and chopped green chiles. Pour it all over the seasoned chicken. It will look like an alarming amount of liquid at first. That’s okay. The chicken needs that moisture while it cooks, and the liquid will be removed later. Trust the process.
Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 6 hours. The chicken should be fully cooked and very fork-tender. If it doesn’t shred easily, it needs more time. Do not wrestle with it using two forks. Just put the lid back on and give it another little while.
When the chicken is tender, use a ladle to scoop all of the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into a bowl. Set it aside. Remove as much as reasonably possible. This is important because the salsa con queso will loosen up once it warms. If too much broth remains, the taco shells will surrender immediately, and nobody wants a taco that gives up before dinner begins.
Use two forks to shred the chicken right in the slow cooker.
Add the 3/4 cup salsa con queso and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid to the shredded chicken. Stir it all together until the chicken is coated in that creamy, cheesy sauce. Add more only if the filling truly needs loosening later. Reserve the remaining liquid briefly, then discard what isn’t used.
Cover the slow cooker again, set it to high, and cook for 20 minutes, just until the queso chicken is hot all the way through. While that’s happening, heat the taco shells or flour tortillas according to the package. Crisp shells baked in the oven hold up better than microwave-warmed ones.
Spoon the hot queso chicken into shells or tortillas and add toppings as desired. Sour cream and shredded lettuce are excellent toppings. Chopped tomatoes are welcome, but only if they’re decent tomatoes. Those pale, mealy winter ones can stay at the store.
Variations
Serve both crispy taco shells and flour tortillas for an easy mix-and-match option. Corn tortillas would be good too if warmed properly, though they can crack if rushed. A slow cooker dinner leaves no need to rush.
As for toppings, go with sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, corn salsa, onion, cilantro, extra shredded cheese. This filling is creamy enough that it doesn’t need a ton of additional cheese.
Black beans can make the queso sauce heavier and muddier than intended. Serve beans on the side instead. Let the chicken be the chicken.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftover queso chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days. Keep the shells or tortillas separate, obviously.
To reheat, spoon the chicken into a microwave-safe bowl, cover loosely, and heat in short bursts until hot, stirring once or twice. If it has thickened up in the refrigerator—and it will—stir in a small splash of the reserved cooking liquid, if reserved. A little chicken broth also works in a pinch. Don’t drown it.
It can also be warmed in a covered skillet over low heat, which is nice for reheating a bigger portion.
Final Notes
There’s something almost old-fashioned about a slow cooker meal. Not old-fashioned in the lace-curtain, everything-was-better-before way—because frankly, plenty of things were not better before—but in the sense that dinner can still be waiting. A warm thing on the counter. A kitchen that smells like dinner is ready.
Other nights involve heating tortillas while answering a text, looking for the sour cream that got shoved behind the pickle jar, and wondering why there is one single sock on the kitchen table.
Still. These tacos help.
Make them with crispy shells, soft tortillas, or both. Put out all the toppings or just the basics. Eat one standing at the counter before dinner begins. The chicken will be creamy and tender, the queso will do its little magic, and for one ordinary evening, dinner might feel less like another thing to manage and more like a small, good pause.
Slow Cooker Queso Chicken Tacos
Ingredients Â
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 packet taco seasoning favorite kind
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 can Rotel Original flavor or Rotel with cilantro and lime juice
- 1 can chopped green chiles 4-ounce can
- 3/4 cup salsa con queso
- crispy taco shells or flour tortillas heated according to package directions
- toppings of choice such as sour cream, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, shredded Mexican-blend cheese, salsa, guacamole, chopped avocado, pico de gallo, or chopped onion
InstructionsÂ
- Put the chicken breasts in a large slow cooker and sprinkle the taco seasoning over the top; there is no need to brown the chicken first.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the chicken broth, Rotel, and chopped green chiles, then pour the mixture over the seasoned chicken.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 6 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked and very fork-tender.
- When the chicken is tender, use a ladle to scoop all of the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into a bowl and set it aside, removing as much liquid as reasonably possible.
- Use two forks to shred the chicken right in the slow cooker.
- Add the salsa con queso and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid to the shredded chicken, then stir until the chicken is coated in the creamy sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker again, set it to high, and cook for 20 minutes, just until the queso chicken is hot all the way through.
- While the queso chicken heats, warm the crispy taco shells or flour tortillas according to the package directions.
- Spoon the hot queso chicken into shells or tortillas and add toppings as desired.