
Crockpot chicken taco soup
Chicken breasts cook right in a smoky, beany tomato broth all day, then shred into tender strands with one squeeze of lime at the end.
- 380 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.21 a serving
- 340 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free

Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1½ cups frozen corn
- 1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, with the juice
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1½ lb chicken breasts
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
- 1 avocado, diced (optional)
- 2 cups tortilla chips, lightly crushed (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 340 calories, 36 g protein, 39 g carbs and 5 g fat, and costs about $2.21 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No black beans? Kidney beans work.
- No pinto beans? Kidney beans work.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No avocados? Guacamole works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, and and the beans in a colander.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Stir the onion, beans, corn, tomatoes with green chiles, tomato sauce, broth and all the spices and salt together in the slow cooker.
Nestle the chicken breasts into the liquid so they’re mostly covered.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours.
Timer: 360 min
Dolly’s tip: Keep the lid on the whole time. Lifting it lets out heat and slows everything down.Lift the chicken onto a cutting board and check the thickest part: 165°F, or white with no pink inside.
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the chicken with two forks and stir it back into the pot.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Squeeze in the lime juice, taste for salt, and serve topped with cheese, avocado and crushed chips.

Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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