Add some extra veggies to your meals with this Veggie Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken, a meal prep staple seasoned with salsa verde.
It’s almost Friday! And you know what Friday means, right? Time for a little meal planning and prep!
Whether or not you plan to prep a few things over the weekend, you should bookmark this Veggie Mexican Slow Cooker Chicken. It’s an awesome recipe to “batch cook” and keep in your fridge all week long. You can eat it on salads, sandwiches, tacos, over rice, and more! It also freezes well, and is a great lean, veggie-filled protein to have on hand.
Plus, it’s made in the slow cooker, so you can dump all of the ingredients in before you run errands on Sunday and forget about it.
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- Veggie Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken on a salad
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- Veggie Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken on tacos
As you know, adding veggies to recipes in different ways is one of my favorite things to do. Take my Beet and Carrot Veggie Applesauce for example. That one’s a really fun, colorful recipe with hidden veggies that boost taste, color, and nutrition!
I developed this recipe in a similar way. A half hour before I took the chicken out of the crockpot, I threw in some frozen spinach and diced bell peppers for a burst of color, a little extra flavor, and of course, some added fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Sounds easy enough, right? It is!
But the real winning ingredient in this recipe is salsa verde (a.k.a. green salsa). I used a jar of it to marinate the chicken while it cooked, and WOAH, it adds an incredible flavor! Hence why I’m calling this a Mexican chicken. If you’re wondering, salsa verde is typically made with green tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, and peppers.
The final result is a flavorful, extra nutritious meal prep staple! I think you’ll enjoy it…
Veggie Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken
A delicious shredded chicken recipe with salsa verde and added spinach and bell peppers.
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1 12 oz jar salsa verde such as Trader Joe's brand
- 1 10 oz package frozen spinach cooked and drained
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
Instructions
Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Pour the jar of salsa verde over them. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until they are cooked through and have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot and shred with two forks on a cutting board. Return the chicken to the crockpot. You can also shred the breasts in the crockpot with tongs or forks.
Prepare the spinach according to package instructions, wrap in a paper towel, and squeeze out any excess moisture. Add the cooked spinach and diced bell pepper to the slow cooker. Mix well and cook on low for another 30 minutes.
Serve over rice, in tacos, or on a salad. You can store the rest of the chicken in the fridge for 3-5 days or in the freezer.
Recipe Notes
There will be a lot of liquid/salsa still in the slow cooker when you shred the chicken. The shredded chicken and vegetables should absorb most of this (it has a ton of flavor!), but if it's too much, you can drain some of it.
Want to make this over the weekend? Pin it now!
Happy (almost) weekend!
Lizzie
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