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Crockpot Mexican Haystacks are a long-time, tried & true family favorite dinner recipe! They’re a delicious tex-mex twist to classic hawaiian haystacks with tender shredded chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, and a creamy sauce. Serve it ‘haystack style’ with Fritos corn chips, rice, and all your favorite toppings.

Crockpot Mexican Haystacks Recipe (Family Favorite Dinner Recipe)

Crockpot mexican haystacks are a tex-mex twist to the traditional Hawaiian Haystacks. A haystack starts with a base of rice, then it’s topped with some sort of creamy chicken mixture (like a chicken gravy), and finished of with all your favorite toppings.

This Mexican version has all those same layers; Fritos corn chips, rice, a creamy tex-mex sauce with tender chicken, beans, corn, and tomatoes. Add all your favorite taco type toppings and dinner is ready.

My family loves this recipe. It’s one of those recipes where I am not sure where it came from, but it’s one that I have been making for at least a decade. It never fails me, it’s perfect for serving a crowd, and yummy enough for guests.

A white crock pot with the cream chicken mixture for the mexican haystacks in it.

Why You’ll Love Chicken Mexican Haystacks

🍽 A Meal That Makes Itself : Set-it-and-forget-it crockpot dinner recipe
🍽 Versatile : Swap ingredients, make it spicy, create your own ‘haystack’ just how you like it
🍽 Everyone Loves It – I have served this for guests, at gatherings, potlucks, and kids and adults alike, all rave about this recipe
🍽 Tex-Mex Twist : A delicious southwestern, tex-mex twist to traditional haystacks, if you love Mexican food then this a must-try recipe

A scoop of the mexican chicken mixture for the haystacks

Ingredients Needed

There are three different components to this recipe – the chicken mixture in the crockpot, the creamy sauce that gets blended up, and then the ingredients for serving.

Chicken Ingredients

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Black Beans : Drained and rinsed
Petite Diced Tomatoes : Lightly drained in the can, no need to use a strainer or anything
Frozen Gold n’ White Corn

Creamy Tex-Mex Sauce Ingredients

Chicken Broth : I use regular, full-salted chicken broth or chicken bone broth
Diced Green Chilies
Cream Cheese
Sour Cream
Sweet Onion : Roughly chopped, the blender will do the rest of the work
Ranch Seasoning Packet
Chicken Taco Seasoning Packet

Serving & Topping Ingredients

Fritos Corn Chips : Scoops or regular Fritos work well, my family loves the Fritos Scoops the best
Rice : Make homemade rice, store-bought packaged rice cooked or microwaved to instructions, or throw some rice in the rice cooker
Taco Toppings of Choice : Chopped tomatoes, avocado slices, chopped cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, jalapeño slices, etc.

How To Make Mexican Haystacks In The Crockpot (Printable Recipe Card)

Put the chicken breasts into the crockpot. Add the beans, diced tomatoes, and frozen corn over top of the chicken.

In a blender, add all of the creamy tex-mex ingredients, and blend until its smooth and combined. Pour the sauce over top the other ingredients in the crockpot. Give everything a good stir.

Cover the crockpot with the lid and cook on LOW heat for 6-8 hours.

When done, remove the chicken from the crockpot and place it onto a plate, and use two forks to shred it. Return the shredded chicken back to the crockpot and stir everything together well.

Serve haystack style – Fritos corn chips, rice, a scoop of the creamy chicken mixture, and then top with all your favorite taco toppings. Enjoy!

How To Store Leftovers

Keep leftover creamy chicken mixture stored in an airtight container, in the fridge, for up to 3-4 days. I recommend storing the creamy chicken, rice, and toppings all separately.

Warm up the creamy chicken mixture in the microwave, or on the stove top, until heated through.

Substitutions & Ingredient Notes

This recipe is so versatile and the ingredients can be easily swapped with whatever you prefer! The recipe as written is the way my family loves it; but here are some options for variations and changes.

Black Beans : Use any canned bean you prefer such as pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, white beans, etc. Make sure the beans are drained and rinsed.
Petite Diced Tomatoes : Canned diced tomatoes or a can of Rotel can be substituted. I like the smaller texture of the petite diced tomatoes. Use Rotel if you want to add some spice to the dish (mild, medium, or hot).
Frozen Gold n’ White Corn : Any frozen corn works such as yellow sweet corn or white sweet corn. I don’t recommend using canned corn because the texture can get soft in the crockpot, but you could use canned corn that has been drained if wanted.
Chicken Broth : Chicken stock, chicken bone broth, reduced-sodium chicken broth, or water + bouillon can all be used. I use chicken bone broth when I make this recipe.
Canned Chopped Green Chilies : Use a can of mild, medium, or hot diced green chilies. I use mild.
Cream Cheese & Sour Cream : For the best creamy, thick results use full-fat dairy products only. But of course, the light or reduced-fat version can be used if wanted.
Onion : I use sweet onion but a white onion or yellow onion could be used.

Top view of a serving of the mexican haystack and the crockpot of the creamy chicken mix

Serving Suggestions

Rice : Cook white rice on the stove top or rice cooker, buy a box of rice and cook according to package instructions, use microwaved rice, or make my Cilantro Lime Rice or this Easy Mexican Rice. I always make my cilantro rice when I serve these Mexican haystacks.
Fritos : We love Fritos scoops but regular Fritos works too, or tortilla chips. Or don’t use any chips and just make rice bowls.
Toppings : My family loves shredded cheese, avocado slices, chopped tomato, and chopped cilantro. Other options are sliced fresh jalapeños, guacamole, shredded lettuce, hot sauce, taco sauce, black olives, etc.

These are meant to be served ‘haystack style’ where you start with a layer of Fritos corn chips, add some rice, a scoop of the creamy chicken mixture, and then your preferred toppings.

The creamy chicken also makes a really great nacho topping (a great use of leftovers) or use the creamy chicken inside a flour tortilla for burritos or quesadillas.

Top views of a serving of the mexican haystack with taco toppings

Pro Tips From The Test Kitchen

Make It Spicy : This recipe as is, is very mild, and kids love it. However if you want it spicier, simply use spicy or hot ingredients; such as medium or hot diced green chilies, serve with pepper jack cheese, use a packet of hot & spicy taco seasoning (instead of chicken taco seasoning), add a can of jalapeños or serve with jalapeños, use a can of Rotel diced tomatoes for more spice, add some hot sauce or cayenne red pepper.
Chicken Breasts : I recommend trimming the chicken breast before adding them into the crockpot. Trim off the fattier pieces and chewy tendon areas of the chicken breasts. If they are really large then you only need 3 of them. I use 4 grocery-store sized chicken breasts. The ones you get at the club stores (Costco and Sam’s Club) can be much larger in size than the grocery store.
Fritos Scoops & Cilantro Lime Rice : My “secret” to the best haystacks are the Fritos Scoops chips and my recipe for the perfect Cilantro Lime Rice. Trust me, so good!
Leftovers : Extra creamy chicken is great for making quesadillas, taquitos, or as a nacho topping for baked nachos. I can usually get two dinners from this one recipe!

The white slow cooker with the cream chicken mixture, a serving spoon, and a side of rice.

A serving of the mexican haystacks with a fork

More Crockpot Chicken Dinner Recipes

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5 from 7 votes (5 ratings without comment)

10 Comments

Sheri says:

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How many does the recipe serve

1. Together As Family says:
  
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  Oh, a lot! Easily serves 8 adults. I would guess you can get even more out of it because people end up taking less because of all the toppings they add to it as well. But easily, plan on 8 adult servings.
  
Sara Parker says:

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Hi! Your Mexican haystack rice bowls were my favorite recipe and I noticed that you took them off. Is there any way you could share them with me still?

1. Together As Family says:
  
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  That recipe is still up. The pictures were updated so it probably looks different. Here it is https://togetherasfamily.com/chicken-mexican-haystacks/
  
  1. Tiffany Sherman says:
    
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    Do you still have the Mexican haystack with beef recipe?
    
    1. Together as Family says:
      
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      Unfortunately no, but you can use this recipe but with beef instead. You can either brown the beef before cooking or not (whichever you prefer) and cook as normal!
      
Linda Cameron says:

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I think you mean, in the NVs, it DOES NOT include additional toppings…? Looks yummy!

1. Together as Family says:
  
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  Yes, it is typed incorrectly on the post. Thanks for pointing that out!
  
2. Together as Family says:
  
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  Yes, it is typed incorrectly on the post. It should say, “does NOT include additional toppings.” Thanks for pointing that out!
  
Kim says:

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I have made these delicious Mexican haystacks several times. it has become a family favorite!

Crockpot Chicken Mexican Haystacks

Crockpot Mexican Haystacks Recipe (Family Favorite Dinner Recipe)

Why You’ll Love Chicken Mexican Haystacks