Cilantro Lime Crockpot Chicken

My sister in law, Tiffany, pinned this a few weeks back and I thought it looked and sounded delicious so naturally I had to give it a try. I have to confess, I tried the Cilantro Lime Crockpot Chicken week before last and messed it up. I forgot to add the lime juice from the start, so basically I made cilantro crockpot chicken. Luckily my sister could add the lime juice a few hours into cooking and the chicken still turned out pretty good. But this time I wanted to make to correctly and add the lime from the beginning.

Though after getting Easton’s seal of approval on the first attempt, I almost didn’t try it the right way.  I mean when this cute kid approves, what more do you need, right?

This time instead of trying to create the Cilantro Lime Crockpot Chicken from Delight’s Bites in the am before work, I thought I’d let it cook over night and be ready for me to bring in for lunch today.  Since I wasn’t half asleep and fixing this I remembered to include all the ingredients.

A couple weeks ago I ventured up to the Frisco Square Farmer’s Market (here are details on the farmer’s market) and while I was there I stumbled up this Hickory smoked Habanero Powder and thought I’d add it to this recipe to spice things up a bit.

One of the things I like most about this recipe is it another clean and easy recipe for cooking chicken in the crockpot that makes a lot of meals.  I haven’t tried freezing this chicken yet, but plan on trying it out with a serving or two this time.

Cilantro Lime Crockpot Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
1 generous cup of salsa
1 cup of cilantro
1 minced jalapeno
2 limes
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of Mexican seasoning (I used a low sodium taco seasoning packet b/c I have yet to make my own taco seasoning)

After trimming off all the yucky parts of the chicken I put it in the crockpot and used the habanero powder to season one side of the chicken as suggested in the original recipe, but then I wimped out on seasoning the other side with it too and opted to use chili powder.  Oh and on Delight’s Bites she suggests spraying your crockpot with non stick spray, I use a liner so I skipped that step.

Next I measured out my cup of salsa and dumped it in a bowl and then added a tablespoon of the taco seasoning.  Then I cut up a cup of cilantro roughly and added it to my bowl.  Then it was time to mince the garlic and jalapeno and add them to the bowl.  I love garlic so I always tend to add a little extra to recipes.  Last but not least I juiced 1 lime into the bowl and mixed it all together.  Then I spooned the mixture onto the chicken and let it cook on low for 6 hours.

Delight Bite’s suggests that if you cook it for much longer than that you may want to add some broth a few hours into the cooking process.

When I got up this morning I shredded the chicken and mixed it all up with the juice in the crockpot then I portioned it out into 6 servings.  As best I can calculate, one serving of this chicken has just under 200 calories.  I really like the Mateo’s salsa that is made right here in Frisco, TX because I feel like that makes it more fresh and they don’t add any bad stuff to their salsa.

Because this chicken was cooked in the crockpot the Cilantro Lime Crockpot chicken shreds with very little effort.  I was going to test out my brand new Kitchen Aid standing mixer for shredding but it wasn’t washed and honestly this chicken shreds so easily it seemed like using it would take more effort.

The other lime called for in the recipe is to squeeze onto the chicken before eating.  The Cilantro Lime Crockpot chicken is perfect for tacos but is also great on it’s own.  I like to added diced onions, a little more cilantro and a squeeze of lime to each taco.  You could add on a little avocado or cheese if you prefer.  I have a feeling this chicken would be great in enchiladas as well.

Once I try freezing the Cilantro Lime Crockpot Chicken, defrosting it and then eating it, I’ll update the post and let you know how that turns out.

I haven’t spent much time on Delight’s Bites’ website, but if any of her other recipes are as great as this one you won’t be sad you took the time to look. So head over to her site and give her some love!