Chicken taco bowls are made with fresh taco ingredients and slow cooked chicken, and are served on a bed of brown rice for extra whole grain goodness.
If there’s one thing I do consistently every week to ensure my family and I eat healthy its food prep. I simply take an hour or two after grocery shopping on the weekend to chop vegetables, wash and slice fruit, and cook or marinade protein [such as chicken breasts or lean ground beef]. The reasoning behind this is simple: when the 5 o’clock dinnertime scramble hits OR the 10am or 2pm “hangry” snack time with toddler’s rolls around, I am prepped and ready to go with healthy foods vs. calling the nearest pizza place for delivery—- which still does happen here and there. Lately I’ve been doing my best to ensure I have almost if not most components of weeknight meals prepped and ready to go on the weekend, such as the ingredients in this chicken taco bowl. Why? Do you really have time for my laundry list???
Seriously though. This weekend I prepped these chicken taco bowls because I knew this week was going to be a bear. Ted is back to work [in Las Vegas that lucky duck], Joey is still fighting naptime and bedtime, and Anthony hasn’t quite kicked the habit of wanting to be held from 4pm on. SO, as you can see, I knew dinner was going to be tricky. While I already have one night of dining out planned, these chicken taco bowls [which turn into nachos and tacos for the kids— they love their carbs!] were dinner one night and turned into chicken tortilla soup the next night! See what I did there?!
Here’s how the food prep went for these chicken taco bowls:
- I used my method for slow cooker shredded chicken + added 1 cup of my favorite salsa to the crock while it cooked
- I took one cup of frozen corn from the freezer and let it defrost in the refrigerator overnight
- I opened a can of black beans, rinsed them, and stored them in an airtight container in the fridge
- I cooked a big batch of brown rice and stored the cooked rice in an airtight container in the fridge
- I bought shredded cheddar cheese—- Mom loves that store bought shortcut!
- When it comes time to eat, nuke everything in the microwave just before serving! Or add everything to a nonstick skillet to warm through.
Once the chicken was cooked and shredded, I stored that in the refrigerator too. So by the time our weeknight hunger hit, I could make my chicken taco bowl with all of these ingredients and use the kid’s favorites as filling for tacos and nachos as I mentioned above. While it was a mouthful to get my method for the chicken taco bowls food prep out, I assure you it’s much easier than my rambling makes it out to be. Day one of this crazy week and Mom. Has. Survived. And she’s well-fed too!
- 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 cup salsa + extra for serving
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups brown rice, cooked
- Add chicken to your slow cooker, and cover with salsa and taco seasoning. Cook on low for 4 hours or until cook through. Shred with two forks.
- To assemble taco bowls, add rice to serving bowl [or individual bowls]. Top with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately and garnish with sour cream, avocado, and hot sauce.
Don’t forget, you can use all of the ingredients in these chicken taco bowls, add a little chicken broth, and BAM, you have yourself chicken tortilla soup!
I’m pretty sure this is the easiest slow cooker chicken ever. Pinning so I never forget. Because I’m always looking for EASY slow cooker! Love the flavors and luckily so will my kids.
How does one make a small dish like this when they have a 6 quart crock pot?