Menu Musings of a Modern American Mom: Crock Pot Taco Chicken Loaded Nachos

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Crock Pot Taco Chicken Loaded Nachos

Every now and then, there is just me and the youngest two home for dinner. We had a night like that last week. A girl could be tempted to just pass through the drive through.... but you know, they end up getting the same dang thing each time. Who's with me on this?! I just knew that I had something in the freezer, fridge, and pantry that we could make an easy dinner out of, that would be both mom and kid approved and easy! I had a couple of individually packaged chicken breasts in the freezer. And let's face it, they are pretty huge these days, anyway!

We just threw those in the crock pot, threw some stuff on top, and let the crock pot do the work while we were off at school and work for the day. After cooking for several hours, the house smelled amazing, and the chicken was so tender that I literally shredded it with a couple of forks. That evening, we had some of the best loaded nachos around! Of course you could use this crock pot taco chicken for all manner of applications - tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, chimichangas, you name it! But loaded nachos is what appealed to us... and quite frankly, was what we had ingredients for on hand.

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Ingredients for the chicken: (4 - 6 servings)

2 frozen chicken breasts
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 packet of mild taco seasoning mix
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp cumin

Step-by-Step:

The great thing about nachos, is that each person gets to "build" their own... as my children call the process. You can make them as loaded as you wish. You can go with really decadent toppings, or really low fat toppings. Speaking of fat, this chicken is super lean. Another positive, is that is tastes really Mexican'y (yes, I know that's not a word), but it's not spicy at all. That's because I was cooking for small kids that night. If you want heat, feel free to substitute a can of Ro-tel tomatoes for the diced tomatoes, and perhaps a hotter taco seasoning. I'm sure you can find ways to spice it up.

Basically, just throw everything in the crock pot on high for about 4 hrs until you can shred it. Remember, the chicken I used was frozen. If you use thawed chicken, it will take less time. If you use bone-in chicken, expect it to take longer.

2 frozen chicken breasts

1 can Ro-tel tomatoes (I used mild, but use the amount of heat you would like)

1 package of Taco seasoning (available in varying levels of heat as well as low sodium)

1 Tbsp of cumin

After 4 hours on high...

Shred with two forks.

Now this chicken is going to be so juicy! And you can see how tender it is.

Note: There were three of us eating. We had SO MUCH left over!!! This sauce could have easily accommodated another chicken breasts and probably served 6 - 8 eating nachos with 3 the breasts.

If making nachos, top as you wish.
I added sour cream, guacamole, cheese, cilantro, jalapeno slices, and a big squeeze of lime. Of course you are limited only by your imagination and palate!

Here's a close up.
For a couple of stray chicken breasts in the freezer, this is NOT too shabby!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this simple and delicious recipe!

There are hundreds more in my Recipe Index, just waiting to be chosen and cooked! You can also visit my Film strips for pinning page, to see whole recipes at a glance, and to click-and-go right to the recipe.

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