If you’ve got 5 minutes, you’ll be on your way to the easiest Salsa Verde Chicken you’ll ever make (and love)! With just 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep time, it’s one of the easiest meals to put together and can be made in either the Instant Pot or Crockpot. And did we mention how versatile it is? It’s delicious over cauliflower rice as a Whole30 or Paleo meal or wrapped in a tortilla a taco with all of your favorite toppings.
Updated on February 12, 2021. Originally posted on September 19, 2016.
Salsa Verde Chicken makes for a quick and easy dinner for the weeknight
We love slow-cooked chicken chile verde! But we don’t always have an entire day to chop, sauté, simmer, and wait. So we created this ridiculously easy Salsa Verde Chicken recipe with the ‘set it and forget it’ mentality of the slow cooker. Need something even quicker? We’ve got you — there are Instant Pot directions for this recipe here too!
This recipe uses chicken in place of the pork, making this a cousin to the pork chile verde. It’s super versatile and just mildly spicy so it’s kid-friendly too.
This post may contain affiliate links that won’t change your price but will share some commission.
Ingredients for Salsa Verde Chicken
- Chicken – our favorite is to use a combination of boneless chicken thighs and chicken breasts, providing a nice balance of dark and white meat.
- Salsa Verde – a jar of salsa verde. We like the Trader Joe’s brand as it’s nice and mild, but any brand will work and they range from mild to medium such as Herdez, Pace, and Frontera. If you want to make your own, here is a recipe from Cookie and Kate.
- Green chilis – a can of fire-roasted green chilis.
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Sea salt and pepper – to taste
Shop Thrive Market to get the best prices on natural, organic, and specialty foods. PLUS get a free gift valued at $24 when you sign-up! Shop Thrive Market for all of your baking and cooking essentials!
How to make our Salsa Verde Chicken recipe.
This dish literally takes 5 minutes to prep. Talk about a weeknight dinner staple!
To make Salsa Verde Chicken in a Crockpot:
- Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, combine salsa, green chiles, cumin, and oregano. Pour over chicken.
- Place lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW heat for 4 – 6 hours.
- Remove lid and allow the chicken to cool slightly before shredding it with 2 forks right in the slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over cauliflower rice, cooked rice, or in a lettuce leaf wrap or tortilla of choice with optional toppings, if desired.
To make Salsa Verde Chicken in an Instant Pot:
Don’t worry, we have the Instant Pot directions right here to help you get dinner on the table even faster.
- Place ingredients in the Instant Pot. Put the lid on and make sure the vent is sealed.
- Set Instant Pot to ‘High Pressure’ setting then set the cooking time for 15 minutes.
- Once cooking is completed, allow natural releasing of pressure for 5 minutes then switch the valve to ‘vent’.
- When all of the pressure releases and the lid unlocks, remove the chicken and shred the chicken with two forks. Toss chicken back into the pot to coat with sauce (or carefully shred the chicken right in the pot, if you’d like).
Some Like It Hot – How To Add More Spice!
For this milder version of Salsa Verde Chicken (Crockpot or Instant Pot), we used Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde (Fresh tomatillos, green chile, water, onions, fresh jalapenos, salt, and spices). The Hatch Valley Salsa, also from Trader Joe’s, is a bit spicer thanks to those amazing Hatch chiles that are grown in the arid desert of New Mexico.
No Trader Joe’s nearby? No worries. Any brand will work and they range from mild to medium so you can choose one based on your preference. Brands include Herdez, Pace, and Frontera for example. If you want to make your own salsa verde, here is a recipe from Cookie and Kate.
Need even more heat? Grab some hatch chilis or jalapeno peppers and toss a few into the pot and revel in their spicy glory. Alternatively, you can grab a can of hot roasted green or Hatch chiles to stand in for the milder ones.
Curious about how to choose the best quality chicken? Check out this post where we help you decode poultry labels
How to serve Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken
There are so many ways you can serve this protein — get creative with it! Here are some of our favorite ideas:
- Serve over cauliflower rice and top with sliced jalapeno, sliced radish, fresh cilantro, and fresh lime juice. For the cauliflower rice, easily grab a bag of frozen from the grocery store or make your own cauliflower rice.
- Chicken Verde lettuce wraps – using leaf lettuce (we like romaine or butter) fill the center with shredded chicken verde, jalapeno slices, diced avocado, and a dollop of coconut cream.
- Salsa Verde chicken tacos – grab your favorite taco shell (flour, gluten-free, or corn shell), fill with shredded chicken, and top with shredded lettuce, cilantro, green chilis, avocado slices, and fresh lime juice, and a sprinkle of sea salt.
How to Meal Prep and Freeze Salsa Verde Chicken
If you’re prepping ahead, this Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken (also known as Chicken Chile Verde) is the ultimate freezer-friendly meal. After the chicken has cooked, shred the meat, then let it cool completely, transfer to a freezer-friendly, airtight container/bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
When it comes to thawing the meat, pull the container out the night before and let thaw in the fridge. To reheat in the microwave, start with 2 minutes and add 30 seconds at a time until hot. To reheat on the stovetop, place the chicken in a saucepan with a splash of water over medium heat and cook for 3-5 minutes or until hot, stirring occasionally.
Add this easy and family-pleasing Slow Cooker Chicken Chile Verde to your meal plan this week!
- White Chicken Chili (Slow Cooker)
- Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
- Instant Pot Taco Soup (with Slow Cooker instructions)
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili Verde Stew
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email below & we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Salsa Verde Chicken (Crockpot or Instant Pot)
If you’ve got 5 minutes + a slow cooker, you’re on your way to the easiest Salsa Verde Chicken (Crockpot or Instant Pot) you’ll ever make (and love)! With just 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep time, it’s the easiest salsa verde chicken you’ll ever put together thanks to the crockpot (or Instant Pot).
Ingredients
- 2 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs and/or breast (we like to use a pound of each)
- 1 (12-ounce) jar Salsa Verde (such as Trader Joe’s)
- 1 (4-ounce) can fire-roasted green chiles
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Fine salt and pepper to taste
For serving options: Cauliflower rice (or cooked rice – not Whole30), lettuce leaves or your favorite tortillas (not Whole30).
For optional toppings: Fresh cilantro, lime wedges, sliced jalapeño, diced avocado and/or thinly sliced radishes for serving.
Instructions
Slow Cooker Directions:
- Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, combine salsa, green chiles, cumin, and oregano. Pour over chicken.
- Place lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW heat for 4 – 6 hours.
- Remove lid and allow the chicken to cool slightly before shredding it with 2 forks right in the slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over cauliflower rice, cooked rice or in a lettuce leaf wrap or tortilla of choice with optional toppings, if desired.
Instant Pot Directions:
- Place ingredients in the Instant Pot. Put the lid on and make sure the vent is sealed.
- Set Instant Pot to ‘High Pressure’ setting then set the cooking time for 10 minutes.
- Once cooking is completed, allow natural releasing of pressure for 5 minutes then switch the valve to ‘vent’.
- When all of the pressure releases and the lid unlocks, remove the chicken and shred the chicken with two forks. Toss chicken back into the pot to coat with sauce (or carefully shred the chicken right in the pot, if you’d like).
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive so we can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 3 oz. chicken without toppings
- Calories: 195
- Fat: 7g
- (Sat Fat: 3g)
- Sodium: 495mg
- Carbohydrate: 5g
- (Fiber: 3g
- Sugar: 1g)
- Protein: 27g
Dietary
Pin it Now, Make it Later!
All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and link back to the source recipe here on The Real Food Dietitians. Thank you!
Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter.
Why thighs and breasts? To keep it moist? What adjustments would I make if I just wanted to use all breasts?
Yes, we have found that thighs work best as breast have more of a chance of drying out. However, feel free to use an equal amount of chicken breasts in place of the thighs – I’ve actually made this recipe with just chicken breast and it turned out great. Enjoy!
Have you tried to make this recipe in an Instant Pot on either the “slow cook” or pressure cooking mode? Just wondering if it might change the cook time. I’m trying today on slow cook mode. Hope it ties out well.
Hi Katie,
I use the Slow Cooker feature on my Instant Pot regularly but find that even on it’s lowest setting (“Keep warm”) it runs much hotter than my regular slow cooker – and the cooking time is nearly halved. I’m not sure if it’s just my Instant Pot since it’s a few years old – or if they all run hot when using the slow cooker function. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on this issue?
If you want to you can use the “Poultry” mode (preset for 15 minutes at high pressure). I live at high altitude and sometimes have to add a few extra minutes to my cooking time (about 10%) when the atmospheric pressure is low (aka it’s really cloudy and overcast) – not sure why but that seems to be the case. Start with 15 minutes then release the pressure and see if it’s cooked through. If it’s almost done, I say turn it to ‘saute’ or ‘slow cook’ to cook a little longer if you have the time or lock the lid back in place and give it another 2-3 minutes. Once you do it the first time you’ll have a good idea of how long it takes to cook that amount of protein.
Hope that helps!
Welp I’m going to make this tomorrow in the slow cooker, I am going all boneless, skinless thighs and I did find the verde in the local Trader Joe’s can’t wait! I am going to serve it with corn tortillas and rice and beans though.. little more fattening but I think it’ll be great! Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome Dave. Those changes and additions sound great! Enjoy!
Hi Stacie!
I made this dish yesterday and it’s true! It couldn’t be more simple and delicious!
So easy, everyone should run out and get the ingredients for this a grand slam for sure!
I froze the rest and will make a nacho variation of this for the next meal. Thanks again for the great recipe Stacie!
Hey Dave!
Glad you loved this dish and thank you for your very kind words! It’s truly one of the easiest things you can make in a slow cooker.
Can I make this a day ahead and leave in the frig then warm up the next day without the chicken drying out?
Hi Susanna, that should work just fine! It shouldn’t dry out the chicken especially if you use chicken thighs. This is a great meal prep recipe!
Delish!
We spiced it up a bit with jalapenos and added corn!
Thanks for the recipe!
Nice! I like mine spicy too 🙂
This is a savior in whole 30…so good, goes good with breakfast, lunch, dinner. Late night snack….wait no snacking. Lol. Super easy, super good.
Hahahaha!! I couldn’t agree more. Though I suppose if you had to snack, snacking on this wouldn’t be frowned upon 😉