If you love 5-ingredient dishes, then please check out my recipes for the Best Easy 5 Ingredient Chicken Marinades, this 5 Ingredient Chicken Verde Tortilla Pie, and this 5 Ingredient Sweet Paprika Chicken. When I set out to make 5 ingredient recipes, I try to create ones that are not only delicious, but that can be made with ingredients you probably already have on hand. Because what good are few ingredients if those are hard to come by? Then what was once a seemingly easy task becomes a chore. For this easy, kick-butt chicken dish, I added jarred salsa verde (though you can feel free to make your own), cheese, and salsa and that’s about it. Well, also cilantro for a quick garnish, but even that’s optional.
How to make this dish
What is salsa verde?
Salsa verde is a salsa that’s typically made with tomatillos, which are a variety of green tomatoes. There are also typically some other green ingredients in the green salsa as well, such as jalapenos, cilantro, and lime juice. There is also usually some garlic and cumin in there too. You can find salsa verde all over Mexico, and of course, all over your grocer’s international aisle.
How to make this in the slow cooker
Making salsa verde chicken in the slow cooker is about as easy as it is baking it, except that you have to let it slow cook, so it’s going to take longer. The other difference is that this chicken will shred versus being able to cut it up into nice pieces after being baked. Slow cooker salsa verde chicken is great for instant tacos and burritos, enchiladas, on top of a salad, or anywhere you feel as though you need some shredded, spiced chicken in your life.
Serving suggestions
I like to serve this chicken in whole pieces with a nice green salad (Portillos Chopped Salad for example) or a Mexican rice dish on the side. I also like to cut this chicken up into bite-size pieces and add it to a corn or flour tortillas and top with cilantro, hot sauce, black olives, black beans, sour cream, pickled onions — basically any and all the taco toppings. (For a taco recipe, try my Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Tacos.) If you’d like to make an entree-size salad, create your salad first using whatever greens you have and maybe some other ingredients that would complement the flavors of the chicken. Corn, black beans, pickled jalapenos or onions, diced bell peppers, diced red onions, sliced avocado, and cherry tomatoes are all great choices. Slice a chicken breast and lay it on top of your salad. Drizzle with more salsa or your favorite dressing. (I like to mix salsa with a little bit of ranch dressing for my own southwestern dressing.)Add diced chicken to a baked potato topped with more salsa, cheese, and sour cream. Slice the chicken and use it to top a halved baked sweet potato for a nutritious, delicious meal. For a low-carb option, try serving this chicken (and, yes, of course, more salsa) inside a halved spaghetti squash. Yum! This chicken would also mix in nicely with leftover cilantro rice or plain pasta. Use your imagination to dress it up however makes sense to you and your tastebuds.
