Salsa Chicken Rice Bowls

Hi! Before I go into my usual musings on today's recipe, I wanted to take a moment to thank my friend, Jessica, of The Novice Chef Blog. She's hosting a fun 'Foodie Block Party' featuring some of her fellow food blogger friends the whole month of July. Jessica is featuring me on her blog today along with a summer recipe I shared for Fresh Georgia Peach Ice Cream! Please check out her site for her delicious recipes, amazing photography and the Fresh Georgia Peach Ice Cream I brought to her virtual Foodie Block Party!

Some folks only use their crockpots during the cool fall and/or winter months. I happen to love using it during the summer months! It certainly makes it easy to enjoy the fun summer days without slaving in the kitchen. Another bonus is that cooking in a crockpot won't warm up your kitchen like a stove or oven would. The most recent summer crockpot meal we enjoyed were these Salsa Chicken Rice Bowls. Made with two kinds of salsa and chicken, it was effortless to prepare and perfect for a no-fuss summer meal...

The original recipe that inspired me to make this was for a crockpot burrito filling. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit and made a chicken filling that was perfect on top of rice and our favorite accompaniments. You could use the chicken filling for a variety of Tex-Mex dishes including burritos, quesadillas, tacos, taquitos, enchiladas, lasagnas, paninis, etc. But more than anything, I love how I just put the ingredients in a crockpot, set it and let it cook away. The chicken came out so tender, flavorful and because it makes quite a bit, it even freezes well!

Salsa Chicken Rice Bowls
inspired by AllRecipes

For Salsa Chicken:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup jarred or homemade salsa verde
1 cup jarred or homemade salsa
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

For Rice Bowls:
cilantro rice or plain steamed rice
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
sour cream
or whatever toppings you prefer


Place all the chicken ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. With a fork, start pulling the chicken meat apart into thin strings inside the crockpot. Keep pulled chicken meat and sauce, covered in the crockpot on the warm setting.

To assemble the rice bowls, place some rice on the bottom of an individual serving bowl. Top with some chicken and garnish with your preferred toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, etc).