Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken (Freezer Meal)
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Stock your freezer with the easiest, quickest crockpot FREEZER MEAL!!! Simply drop into the crockpot and you’re set!!!
Did you guys know about this?
This whole straight-from-freezer-to-crockpot situation?
Because I’m sitting here wondering where this has been my entire life.
It’s a game-changer, guys.
There’s no prep cooking ahead of time here.
- All you do is prep.
- Throw it in a Ziploc freezer bag.
- Freeze.
- Thaw.
- And dump into slow cooker.
And you know what?
It tastes freshly made.
It doesn’t taste like I’m eating 3-day old leftovers.
So again.
I ask.
Where has this been my entire life?
And you know I made burrito bowls with this cilantro lime chicken.
Just add some brown rice.
A dollop of sour cream.
Some avo.
Or guac.
And boom.
Done.
Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 10-ounce can Ro*Tel® Mild Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- ½ cup salsa, homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño, diced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Juice of 2 limes
Instructions
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken, beans, tomatoes, corn, salsa, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, cumin, chili powder and garlic. Place in freezer for up to 1 month.*
- Place chicken mixture into a 6-qt slow cooker; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours. Stir in lime juice.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe, I first made this as a prep dinner when I had a baby, best soup ever and I didn’t really have to cook, thank you!
P.s.I’m trying this on my instapot. if all this is thawed, how long would you pressure cook it?
I have made this probably about 15 times now – it is on my permanent collection of meals to put together when I have a few extra chicken breasts left from a large pack. We’ve enjoyed this in burritos, fajitas, burrito bowls, and quesadillas (using the leftovers). It’s so good, every time.
Last night I tried it as an instant pot meal (only because I forgot to get the crock pot going in the morning) and it just didn’t turn out as well. The chicken breast packs I get (aka the family sized, cheaper ones) have really big chicken breasts, and even after 24 hours in the fridge these were not thawed completely. I cooked it for 14 minutes, with a 10 minute natural release. One of the chicken breasts was at 153 degrees internally, so I did another two minutes. Everything was cooked, but overcooked. Chicken was tough to shred and just didn’t have that “wow” factor I’ve always had with this meal.
Adding this as a warning to others who scour the comment section looking for “convert to instant pot” tips – others have said 10 minutes with a 10 minute natural release is perfect. If you have regular-sized, thawed chicken breasts, hopefully this will work for you! I however, will be sticking to the slow cooker going forward.
Can I use bone in chicken breast? I just prefer it in the slowccoker.
So much flavor and so easy!
Delicious and very easy recipe. Even my picky no spice eater liked it (although I did not use the jalapeño pepper). Great flavor even without the pepper. Served it over rice with fresh red pepper slices on the side. Yum!
I just started cooking (due to quarantine) following recipes online here and there, and this recipe is bomb. It is damn delicious!haha Second attempt on using the slow cooker setting on my instantpot btw and this was a success. Thank you! Will be saving this recipe. Super love this!
i generally do not even try slow cooker recipes because i am always disappointed with the flavor, like it gets watered down and gets a weird flavor of whatever protein is in the dish. but i tried this one because of the wonderful combo of ingredients. oh my goodness, it was DAMN DELICIOUS. i made the mistake of putting the lime in with everything, so i just added one more lime at the end. really, sooooo good. so easy. i served it over brown rice and it is a dish i will return to for sure. next time, i will do some meal prep and make 3 or 4 packets to put in the freezer so that i have some in the freezer for ease. try it…you’ll like it! 🙂
I served this over rice with tortilla chips on the side, and a nice green salad for a great healthy mid-week meal. Followed the recipe exactly. It definitely has some spicy kick — on the warm side of medium, but not fire truck hot.
My husband and I enjoyed this recipe, and I really appreciate how simple it is, and that it can be prepared ahead of time as a freezer “dump” meal for the slow cooker. I made it right away in the slow cooker but I’ll make another batch for the freezer now that I know we liked it.
I made 2 slight modifications:
1 – I’m a wimp with spice so I substituted the jalapeño with a can of chopped green chillies.
2 – My husband doesn’t like cilantro, so I kept the cilantro separate so I could add it to my plate.
I served this over rice with a good dollop of guacamole on top, and that really took it to the next level. Next time I might try chicken thighs and see how it is.
Note: Be sure to add the lime juice at the end. It’s key to brighten up the flavours after being in the slow cooker.
The chicken was perfectly cooked and very tasty, but for some reason my beans were rather hard and flavorless. Do you know what would cause the beans to be hard?
It’s hard to say, Taylor! What kind of beans did you use?
Were they raw? She called for canned
Can this be done in the instant pot instead?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I made this a couple months ago— delicious!! I wish I’d waited to put lime in til end- but definitely a repeat recipe. I can’t remember now if I used in slow cooker hotpot (just had a baby, so just happy to have had a yummy meal 🙂
I did this recipe in my instant pot. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil after the pot heated up on Saute and browned the chicken for 2-3 minutes. Put all the rest of the ingredients into the pot in the order of the recipe, but it probably doesn’t matter. Changed Instant Pot to Pressure for 10 minutes. When done, let it release pressure naturally for 10 minutes before doing a quick release. It turned out ymmy! Put it over rice with a dab of Greek yogurt on top. Good eating.
A girlfriend of mine made this after the birth of my second daughter and it was heavenly. She served it with shredded cabbage and plain Greek yogurt. When I made it myself it wasn’t as good.
Yesterday I tried again for my daughter’s third birthday party and the tweaks I think made it excellent were:
1) seasoning the chicken breasts with adobo and Browning them before adding them to the Crock-Pot
2) using salsa Verde instead of a tomato based salsa.
I also used recommendations from other comments to stir in the lime juice and cilantro at the end. I agree with others that it would be super helpful to add “thaw for 12-24 hours” as a step between freezing and cooking instead of a footnote. Otherwise, the recipe and instructions were easily understood and communicated.
Hi…i was wondering if you have tried chicken tenders and if so would it change the cooking time…thanks Catelin
Hi Catelin, we have not unfortunately. I would say keep it the same, but check in with it periodically, since the chicken tenders will probably cook faster than the breasts. Sorry I can’t be more precise. As always, please use your best judgement when making modifications and substitutions.
The thing with IPs is that meat cooks per volume (size of the piece(s) of meat). As the chicken tenders are smaller than shoe breasts, you would have to adjust the cooking time. The amount of meat doesn’t matter except that it would take a bit longer to come to pressure. So doubling a recipe would be the same cooking time, but a change in the size of pieces would not. If you do a search online, there are guidelines on this.
This was a pretty darn good recipe and easy to prepare for the freezer. I put the lime juice in a snack bag so it would freeze separately. I didn’t want to get ready to make it and realize I had no limes.
Very smart! So glad you enjoyed this, Candice! 🙂
just made this today. Put everything in the slow cooker and went about my cleaning. It turned out amazing. It is so damn good. I had to share with my neighbor who always enjoys great food. Thank you so much for all the great recipes.
Great looking recipe ! Can you PLEASE update the recipe for the Instant Pot ??
PLEASE !?
Question: I assume I can prep this the night before so my husband can dump it into the slow cooker in the morning, right? No need to freeze — or is it bad for the beans and corn to sit with the raw chicken overnight in the fridge? Thank you.
Yes, you certainly can but please keep in mind that food safety, especially when it comes to raw meat, should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with. Hope that helps!
If in doubt just put the chicken in a separate zip lock & dump in with the rest in the AM.
This was so delicious! I made one to eat and two to freeze. Due to time constraints I threw it in my instant pot with a cup of water and stirred the cilantro in with the lime juice at the end. This one is going in my freezer meal line-up for sure!
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Did you saute the chicken ahead of time or just threw everything in right from the bag?
Amazingly delicious!! I cubed my chicken and served it on a bed of orzo.
I was a little afraid of all the “heat” so only used 1/2 a jalapeño.
It did take me quite a bit longer to prepare, but I’m a slow preparer, so not surprising.
Thanks for sharing with us, Meg!
Can I add rice to the slow cooker too? If so, at what point? Thanks! Love your recipes!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.