Slow Cooker Creamy Fiesta Chicken

Fiesta Chicken is an easy slow cooker dinner recipe with only 5 main ingredients and no chopping or prep work needed. An easy set-it-and-forget-it crockpot chicken recipe with tender, fall-apart chicken, corn, beans, and salsa in a creamy sauce. Serve creamy fiesta chicken over rice with all your favorite toppings.

For more fiesta-inspired dinner recipes try Fiesta Chicken Casserole and Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken Tacos.

Easy Fiesta Chicken Made In The Slow Cooker

Fiesta chicken is made in the slow cooker and it’s a dump & go crockpot recipe with just minutes of prep work, and no chopping needed.

Dinner doesn’t get any easier than this recipe, with only 5 main ingredients + dried seasonings, it’s one of my favorite recipes to make when I need something quick and something that’s ready to eat at dinnertime.

The chicken cooks low and slow, and it’s fall apart tender! The best part is the creamy sauce and all the fiesta mix-ins such as corn, beans, and tomatoes.

The tender fiesta chicken does really well on the warm setting of the slow cooker, so it’s a great dinner to keep on warm until the family can eat, or if everyone needs to eat at different times.

Simple Ingredients Needed

1. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts : You will need about 2-3 pounds of chicken breast, which is equal to 4 large pieces of chicken breast.
2. Salsa : Use your favorite salsa in this recipe; such as mild, medium, or spicy heat, or picante sauce, or get creative and use a black bean and corn salsa or a corn salsa.
3. Black Beans : Drain and rinse the black beans before adding them into the slow cooker.
4. Corn : Drain the corn and use whatever variety of canned corn you prefer such as yellow, white, gold n’ white corn, southwestern corn, fire-roasted corn, etc.
5. Cumin, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, Kosher Salt : The dried seasonings needed for the recipe.
6. Cream Cheese : I prefer full-fat cream cheese but the reduced fat cream cheese can be used as well. Be sure and cut

How To Make Slow Cooker Creamy Fiesta Chicken (Printable Recipe Card)

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker.

In a small bowl, mix together the salsa, black beans, corn, and dried seasonings. Dump this over top the chicken.

Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Shred the chicken inside the slow cooker using two forks, or you can use a handheld mixer on low speed to shred it more evenly. Stir everything together.

Microwave the bar of cream cheese for 1 minutes to get it soft & warm. Add it into the shredded fiesta chicken mixture inside the slow cooker and stir together well.

Serve fiesta chicken over rice with all your favorite taco toppings.

Serving Suggestions For Creamy Fiesta Chicken

My family’s favorite way of eating fiesta chicken is to make rice bowls with it. I make my Cilantro Lime Rice or Easy Mexican Rice (or use cooked white rice or brown rice) and use it as the base, scoop on some creamy fiesta chicken, and then add your favorite toppings – such as shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes or pico de gallo, guacamole, avocado chunks or slices, chopped black olives, shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, sliced jalapeños, and we also love this Copycat Cafe Rio Dressing drizzled over the top.

I also have made this Fiesta Avocado Salad as a topping for the fiesta chicken rice bowls and it’s delicious.

My kids love to scoop up the fiesta chicken + rice with some tortilla chips or Fritos corn chips (the larger Scoops).

You can also make fiesta chicken quesadillas, tacos, oven baked nachos, burritos, filling for baked chimichangas, or oven baked taquitos.

How To Store Leftovers

Store any leftover creamy fiesta chicken inside an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3-4 days. Leftovers make fabulous quesadillas, nachos, or taquitos.

To reheat, put the fiesta chicken into a saucepan, over medium-low heat, and cool until heated through. If it’s too thick, add a splash of water, broth, or milk as needed.

This makes a great freezer meal (uncooked) if wanted. Place all the ingredients, even the cream cheese, into a gallon size Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, dump the frozen contents into the slow cooker and cook on LOW heat for 8 hours. Or you can thaw the bag of frozen food in the fridge overnight, and then dump it into the slow cooker on LOW heat for 6-8 hours.

My Tips For Success

• I don’t recommend using frozen chicken breasts as it will add moisture/water to the slow cooker contents as it thaws. If using frozen chicken breast, I suggest thawing them in the fridge overnight before making this recipe.
• For a spicy fiesta chicken add a can of jalapeños or diced green chilies into the slow cooker with the other ingredients. You can also add some cayenne pepper, hot sauce, or garnish your fiesta chicken rice bowls with jalapeños and/or shredded Pepper Jack cheese. Use a hot or medium salsa for more heat.
• If you will be gone all day or don’t want to worry about the extra step of adding the cream cheese at the end of the cook time – that’s just fine! Simply place the bar of cream cheese on top of the ingredients, cover with the lid, and let it all cook together on LOW heat. I prefer the texture and taste once I add the warmed/melted cream cheese at the end of the cook time, but it can all cook together if wanted.
• For a true dump & go slow cooker recipe, skip the mixing bowl step, and instead put everything into the slow cooker.
• I love using an electric hand mixer to shred the chicken on low speed, right inside the crockpot, because it shreds everything more evenly and into finer shreds.

More Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Inspired Dinners

• Easy Crockpot Salsa Chicken
• Crockpot Bean Dip
• Crockpot Shredded Chicken Tacos
• Slow Cooker Queso Chicken Tacos
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Enchilada Meatballs
• Slow Cooker Taco Ranch Chicken Chili
• Honey Lime Salsa Verde Ranch Chicken Tacos