Salsa Chicken Recipe (Instant Pot or Slow Cooker) 

With just 10-15 minutes of prep time, this Salsa Chicken recipe is perfect for weeknight eating. It’s quick to prepare, budget-friendly, made with real food ingredients, and delivers flavors that both kids and adults will like. When it comes to serving this Salsa Chicken, we like to enjoy the juicy, shredded chicken served bowl-style over rice with toppings. We also give more serving suggestions to fit all your preferences for an easy recipe that never gets old. We provide both Instant Pot and slow cooker directions for a mostly hands-off recipe that comes together quick and provides many great meals. 

Bowl-Style Or Burrito-Style, This Salsa Chicken Recipe Is One You’ll Want To Make On Repeat

If you need a family-friendly, weeknight dinner that doesn’t require hours in the kitchen to prepare, you’ve come to the right place. This Instant Pot Salsa Chicken fits the bill on all accounts! The chicken salsa portion of this recipe is made with just 8 ingredients including many budget-friendly pantry staples like canned black beans, canned corn, broth, taco seasoning, and a jar of your favorite salsa for bold, Mexican-inspired flavors.

And while the Cilantro-Lime Crema is optional, we highly recommend you give it a try. It makes for an easy and flavorful saucy addition to the recipe and is made with just 5 simple ingredients. As far as how you serve this Salsa Chicken recipe, we leave that up to you but we provide several off our favorite suggestions below.

What Are The Ingredients In Salsa Chicken?

Here’s what you need to make this salsa chicken today:

• Olive oil or avocado oil – we like Primal Kitchen avocado oil and organic olive oil
• Yellow onion and garlic cloves – sautéed to bring out their best flavors
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts – you may also substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs. Butcher Box is our go-to when it comes to a source for quality meats
• Salsa – choose your favorite salsa, mild or medium. You’ll use the whole jar or about 2 cups of salsa
• Canned black beans
• Canned sweet corn – May substitute thawed and drained frozen corn
• Chicken broth – our homemade bone broth is perfect for this recipe and adds a boost of nutrition
• Taco seasoning – any pre-made taco seasoning will work. We always have our Homemade Taco Seasoning on hand, which works wonderfully in this recipe to season chicken and is made with real-food ingredients such as cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and paprika
• Fine salt and black pepper

For the complete directions and ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below. All of our recipes include the nutrition analysis, listing calories, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, sodium, and more per serving.

How Do You Make Salsa Chicken?

We offer two options for making this Salsa Chicken Recipe – one in the Instant Pot and one in a crockpot (slow cooker).

Instant Pot Option:

Here are the steps to make this recipe quickly in the Instant Pot:

1. Sauté: Set the Instant Pot to sauté, and add the oil and onion. Cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, and continue to cook, stirring to prevent the garlic from burning.
2. Combine the ingredients: Add the salsa, black beans, corn, broth, taco seasoning, salt, and pepper to the mix. Stir, and place the chicken on top, gently pressing it into the salsa mixture.
3. Cook: Lock the lid in place, and make sure the vent is in the sealed position. Set the Instant Pot to ‘High Pressure’. Once the cooking is complete, allow natural leasing for a few minutes. Then, flip the valve to ‘vent’.
4. Shred the cooked chicken: Remove the chicken, and shred it with two forks. Once shredded, place it back in the Instant Pot, and toss to coat it with the sauce.

Slow Cooker Option:

Here are the steps to make crockpot salsa chicken for a recipe for a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ meal perfect for busy days and meal prep:

1. Sauté: Heat oil in a pan on the stovetop. Add the garlic and onion, and sautée until they’re soft and fragrant.
2. Combine the ingredients: Add all of the ingredients except for the chicken to the crockpot. Stir to combine, and place the chicken breasts on top, pressing them down gently into the salsa mixture.
3. Cook: Cover the crockpot, and set it to cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.
4. Shred: Use two forks to shred the cooked chicken, and enjoy! Or try these meat shredding claws for super easy shredding.

Ingredients To Make Cilantro-Lime Crema

Cilantro-Lime Crema makes for an especially delicious addition to this salsa chicken recipe as well as any of your favorite Mexican-inspired recipes! We love it on our Instant Pot Barbacoa, Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos, Vegan Enchiladas, and Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken. Here are the ingredients you need:

• Sour cream – for dairy-free use a dairy-free sour cream such as Forager
• Lime – juice of 1 lime + ½ teaspoon lime zest
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Honey – may substitute agave or maple syrup
• Garlic clove – may substitute ¼ teaspoon garlic powder 
• Fine salt

How To Make Cilantro-Lime Crema

This topping looks and tastes gourmet but is quick to make with the two simple steps below.

1. Combine the ingredients: Add all the ingredients to a small blender or food processor.
2. Blend: Pulse until a smooth, creamy sauce is formed.

How To Serve Salsa Chicken

As noted above, there are endless ways you can serve this Salsa Chicken recipe. We like to serve it bowl-style on a bed of cooked rice or cauliflower rice with all kinds of fixings (or whatever we have on hand) for a homemade burrito bowl. A couple of other options include serving the tender, shredded chicken, burrito-style, tucked into lettuce wraps or tortillas, over lettuce for a low carb taco salad, stuffed in quesadillas, or sprinkled over tortilla chips for nachos.

How To Store Or Freeze Salsa Chicken Leftovers

To store the salsa chicken leftovers, simply place the cooled meat in an airtight container with lid and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

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Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter. 

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