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These Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Tacos are your new favourite weekend treat. Tender chicken, tasty tortillas and gooey cheese with a quick lime sauce for dipping. The whole family will love them!
Those Mexican-style flavours are hitting our taste buds again, this time with another convenient slow cooker chicken recipe.
We’re changing things up a little with these Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Tacos and adding an extra step to create something really special.
Just before they’re served, we’re FRYING the tortillas with that delicious slow cooked chicken mixture inside, along with some cheese, after its been dipped in the tomato sauce, to create a crispy, sandwich-style, melted-together taco….Mmm.
Trust me – it’s SO worth doing this! And considering all the hard work as taken place in the slow cooker without us having to touch it, I don’t think this step is too much of a stretch if you’re willing to add 10 minutes onto the cooking time.
Of course, if you don’t have time for this, you can make up your tortillas as normal.
Why you’ll love these Pulled Chicken Tacos
⭐️ Easy prep-ahead dinner
⭐️ Deliciously rich and spicy flavours
⭐️ Sociable and fun meal
About this recipe
This recipe is a Tex-Mex style dish with some Mexican flavours, but lots of other influences.
If you’re after a more authentic chicken taco version, take a look at this Chicken Tacos by Mexican Food Journal blog.
(You may also like slow cooker versions of Veggie Enchiladas, Chilli Con Carne, Chicken Fajitas, Pork Carnitas, Beef Enchiladas and Chicken Enchiladas.)
I’ve seen heaps of cheesy pan fried tacos/quesadillas giving a GORGEOUS cheese pull over on TikTok and I had to come up with my own version. I hope you love it!
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Ingredients Notes
- Chicken breast – You can use thighs if you prefer but they may need slightly longer cooking time
- For the dipping sauce: Avocado, lime and yoghurt
- To assemble: Small tortillas, cheese and sunflower oil
How to make Chicken Tacos in the Slow Cooker
1. Put the slow cooker ingredients in and cook according to the recipe below.
2. When its cooked, take out the chicken and shred, then return to the mixture. Make up the creamy sauce.
3. Did each tortilla into the tomato sauce and fill on one side with the chicken mixture and cheese.
4. Fold the tortillas to make a taco and fry in hot oil on each side until golden. Repeat until you’re out of ingredients.
Hint: As the tortillas cook, press down slightly with a spatula to help them crisp up.
Substitutions
- Tortillas – If you can find CORN tortillas rather than flour, they work so much better with this recipe. Annoyingly they aren’t that easy to find in the UK though.
- Chicken – You can use chicken thighs instead of breast if you prefer. I’d use boneless and skinless and cook for 4-6 hours on HIGH or until very soft.
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully in the microwave, oven or hob before serving.
In the freezer The chicken taco filling freezes well. Just wait until it’s totally cold and then put into a freezer proof container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating.
Top tips
Frying the tortillas
This is an extra step we’re making in this recipe to get everything melted and mixed together really well in a delicious fried tortilla. Trust me, it’s worth it.
How: One at a time, dunk a tortillas in the slow cooker sauce so it’s covered with tomatoey liquid. Take it out, sprinkle on cheese and a pile of pulled chicken mixture on one side of the tortilla. Fold it over and fry on both sides in a pan until golden brown.
Tip: As the tortillas cook in the pan, press them down slightly with a spatula to help them crisp up.
If you prefer not to do this step, you can simply serve the chicken and sauce straight into tortillas, over rice or with nachos. OR you could fry them a little like I do with my BBQ Chicken Wraps.
Keeping them warm
Depending on how big your frying pan is and how many tortillas you can cook at one time, you may want to put the ones that are cooked in a warm oven to stay hot.
Making the sauce
For small jobs like this I really like this Mini Chopper. It’s affordable and not a pain to get in and out of the cupboard.
FAQs
There are so many side dishes you could serve alongside this dish. How about a rice salad? Or my Mexican-Style Salad or Veggie Loaded Nachos would work well too.
I always recommend my trusty favourite – the Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker. With this one you can brown meat on the hob first (for those recipes where you really have to) and it’s also really light.
If you have an induction hob, I would recommend the Lakeland Digital 6.5l Slow Cooker instead.
If you haven’t already heard me talking about it, here is the Tp Link Tapo Smart Plug too. This allows you to switch the slow cooker on a timer or from your phone while you’re out, making slow cooking even more convenient!
I’d say it’s low to medium spice, so suitable for children. You can adjust the amount of spice by using less or more chilli powder. You could also add chopped chillies on top before serving if you want some extra spice.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Pulled Chicken Tacos {Slow Cooker Recipe}
Ingredients
For the slow cook:
- 600 g Chicken breasts, x3 or x4 breasts
- 400 g Tinned tomatoes
- 1 Red onion, Finely chopped
- 1 Red pepper, Sliced
- 1 Green pepper, Sliced
- 2 tbsp Dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp Tomato puree
- 1 tbsp Garlic granules
- 1 tbsp Sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Mild chilli powder
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dipping sauce:
- 1 Avocado
- 1 Lime
- 200 g Yoghurt
To assemble:
- 2 tsp Sunflower oil
- 8 Small tortillas
- 250 g Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Put the slow cook ingredient into the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5-6 hours until the chicken is very soft and tender.
- Before the chicken is cooked, make the avocado dipping sauce by blending the ingredients in a small hand mixer or blender. Set aside to serve with the tacos.
- Remove the chicken breasts to a plate or board and shred using two forks. Return to the sauce and mix in well.
- Heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat on the hob, with 1 tsp of oil in.
- Take one tortilla and 'dunk' it in the sauce to cover it in the tomato liquid. Pull it out and add a sprinkle of cheese and a pile of the chicken mixture into one side of the tortilla, then fold in half. Add to the hot pan.
- Fry on both sides for about 5-10 minutes or until crisp and golden on both sides. TIP: As they cook, press down slightly with a spatula to help them crisp up.
- Repeat until all tortillas have been used up, adding more oil if you need it.
- Serve the tacos with the avocado dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! Used the leftovers for enchiladas the next night. Going to make more to stash in the freezer as I think it would also be nice in brioche buns too. So versatile. Thank you for the inspiration.
Cooked this tonight for my partner and 2 kids (16 & 13). Massive hit and we all loved it. Thanks Sarah for the mealtime inspo. X
My fussy three year old ate this and that’s a massive win in this house!