Easy Crock-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
~ This Crock-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls recipe is such an easy way to enjoy a Mexican feast on even the busiest nights! So simple to throw together (hurray, slow cooker!) and a true family fave. Terrific for potlucks, tailgating, and make-your-own burrito bars. You can even skip the rice, set out some tortilla chips, and call it a hearty appetizer! This has absolutely everything going for it! ~
We’re about to share a pretty exciting recipe, and we sure hope you’re sitting down. It’s fantastic … and we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself out of sheer exuberance.
You see, we’ve got a really delicious, and ssssssuuuuuper easy dinner. Heck, you may even want to make this for dinner tonight. (Ahem … that’s encouraged, by the way!)
Check out our little tutorial video, and see for yourself how EASY … and totally drool-worthy … this recipe is!
Video Tutorial
See what we mean?!? Yeah – this recipe kinda has it all goin’ on!
It’s Mexican (always a hit!), and in the slow cooker (so simple … like all our crockpot chicken recipes!), and well, just plain scrumptious.
Crock-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls are your answer to pretty much all of life’s questions. Yes. They’re that good!
When we make this recipe for our families, they lick their bowls, exclaiming, “This is soooo yummy!” And then they ask, “When are you sharing this on THK??”
Well, families … it’s today! Today is the day!!
We originally published this recipe in a truly exceptional cookbook (read on to get your copy!) but we’ve waited over a year to publish it here on our site. We’ve been holding onto it for the perfect occasion …
A Little Backstory on These Chicken Burrito Bowls
If you’re a longtime THKer (thankyouverymuch!!), you may remember us talking about a special project we worked on with Feeding America last September. We were involved with other spectacular food bloggers, creating recipes for a fabulous cookbook to raise money for Second Harvest Food Bank.
Know what recipe we contributed??? 🙂 Yup! Crock-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls!
That cookbook, Where Slow Food and Whole Food Meet: Healthy Slow Cooker Dinners from our Kitchens to Yours has been such a success! It’s jam-packed with well over a month’s worth of healthier slow cooker recipes. And we gotta tell ya … the recipes are, indeed, phenomenal! (And we’re not just saying that because our recipe for Chicken Burrito Bowls is in there!)
If you love this Chicken Burrito Bowls recipe, you’ll be thrilled to know that it’s not too late to purchase a copy of the book and get all the other outstanding slow cooker recipes our blogging buds created for it, too!
Plus, if you haven’t already gotten the free ebook version, you can nab that just by subscribing to our email. (See that li’l box in the upper corner of our page – just enter your email! We’ll send it to ya soon!)
Pretty cool, huh?
Hunger Action Month (#Spoontember)
And, since it’s September, and September = Hunger Action Month, we just knew this was the exact right time to share this recipe with you, since it was originally published in a cookbook specifically created to raise funding in the fight against hunger here in America.
It’s also the perfect time to encourage you to take action, in any way that you can, to help combat hunger in our country.
Hmmm … but … you might be wondering why there’s a pic of us with spoons on our noses!
Well, there are lots of ways to get involved during Hunger Action Month – by volunteering, donating (both monetary donations and food), and by advocating and educating! Feeding America has also started “#Spoontember” and they’re inviting everyone to share a photo of yourself (with a spoon on your nose!) on social media, along with a hunger-related statistic … and then to challenge a friend to do the same!
And hey – when you send out that challenge, maybe you could even invite some friends to volunteer at the local food pantry! Ohhh … that would be awesome!
So, you see, this Chicken Burrito Bowls recipe really is the perfect recipe to share right now!
Why We Love These Burrito Bowls … and You Will, Too!
- These are so easy to throw together (so you have lots of time leftover for “spoon” photos, or to do some volunteering)! They’re basically a riff on one of the most popular recipes and absolute EASIEST recipes we’ve ever published – our 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos. This burrito recipe spins that super-simple taco concept into more of a Chipotle-style burrito bowl, but it’s still ultra quick and easy, we promise!
- The recipe is really simple to double (in case you’d like to share with a friend or a family that could use a helping hand and a nourishing meal tonight).
- Plus, it’s super cost efficient – coming in at around just $3.25 per serving!
How (and When!) to Serve Them
Even if today is (finally!) the perfect day to share this recipe with you, you should definitely not save this recipe to enjoy only in September!
No, no … it’s also perfect:
- In the winter as a nice, warm, comfort-food dinner. Mmmmmmm … your house will smell so, so good when you walk in after a long day!
- Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo – of course!
- It’s also great at potlucks, for tailgating parties, or for a make-your-own-burrito bar (think easy graduation parties and family reunions).
- And it’s even wonderful as a hearty appetizer – no kidding! It pairs really {really!} well with whole-grain tortilla chips. Just skip the rice, and dig your chips on in there!
- Oh … and all those busy nights (which occur all year long!) … well the leftovers are just as tasty, so you can even stretch this meal over two nights!
So definitely enjoy this recipe with your family the whole year through! And this month, consider grabbing a spoon for a silly photo, and making a difference during Hunger Action Month!
Yep … perfect!
Easy Crock Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 1.25-ounce packet low-sodium taco seasoning (see note)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (from about two ears of corn if using fresh)
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (preferably organic or reduced-sodium)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onions
- 1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa
- 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chilies with juice (such as Ro-Tel)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
- Brown rice, cooked and hot, for serving
- For serving: your choice of optional toppings such as shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheese, chopped avocados or guacamole, reduced-fat sour cream, chopped green onions, additional chopped fresh cilantro, and hot sauce
Directions
- Place chicken in the slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning, corn, black beans, and onions over chicken. Pour salsa and canned tomatoes on top.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Just before serving, use two forks to shred the chicken. Add cilantro. Stir to combine ingredients.
- Serve over brown rice with optional toppings as desired.
Recipe Notes
Taco seasoning: We recommend avoiding taco seasoning mixes that contain MSG. Also, there are differences in the amounts of sodium (and other ingredients) in various brands, so it’s a good idea to read the nutrition information for the brands offered at your store.
To serve as an appetizer: To serve this as a hearty appetizer dip, simply omit the rice and serve alongside whole-grain tortilla chips.
Do you have the serving size/nutrition facts for this meal?
Two Healthy Kitchens says
Hi, Erica! Thanks so much for reaching out. 😀 Let me offer a little explanation of why we have (at least thus far) opted not to include nutrition info (including calories) with our recipes and how you might more accurately calculate your own.
We’ve actually debated since the beginning of this blog whether or not we should supply nutrition info (and address it in our FAQ (http://twohealthykitchens.com/about/).
Especially with Gretchen’s (my mom’s original business partner’s) master’s degree in nutrition, she could easily have calculated that manually – plus there are loads of online calculators to use. However, for a variety of reasons, we have decided over and over again not to do that. One big reason is that serving size can vary widely for many recipes such as this one, depending on whether it’s served as an appetizer or a meal — and even on whether or not you plan on serving sides with the meal. In addition, we generally don’t specify exact brands (although on some occasions we need to), so the final nutritional profile of a recipe can vary widely, depending on the purchasing decisions our readers make. In the end, it could almost be a bit misleading to quote nutritional info, if readers make significantly different purchasing choices than we did in testing. Although that problem certainly wouldn’t be a big issue for some of our recipes, it actually could be a stumbling block for a lot of others. For example, the final nutritional profile of our most popular recipe ever – our very simple 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos (http://twohealthykitchens.com/2014/01/08/3-ingredient-crock-pot-chicken-tacos/) – could vary tremendously (particularly, in this case, the sodium) depending on which taco seasoning and which salsa someone purchases.
My best suggestion would be to use your favorite online nutrition calculator, and plug in the exact brands you use to get the most accurate calorie information. Also – do you subscribe to our newsletter? A few months ago, we sent out a whole list of different recipe calculators in our newsletter. Too long to publish here (this is already such long answer! ? ), but shoot me an email if you’re interested, and I can send that along for you!
And lastly … having said all of this … I want you to know that we get questions like this from other readers from time to time, too. As a result, we’re always re-evaluating this very good question and exploring how we may be able to offer nutrition information in a way that we can feel good about – a way that’s truly helpful and not potentially misleading. In the near future, we may be including nutritional information for all of our recipes! So stay tuned …
Thanks so much again for reaching out to us! I hope these explanations help you out at least a little!
Have a wonderful weekend! ~Amy
I found your recipe through Pinterest as I had recently had gallbladder surgery and wanted to start making healthier, cost effective meals at home. My husband and I made this today for dinner and it turned out delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this! I’ll be sharing this with my Facebook friends 🙂
Two Healthy Kitchens says
Hi, Lili! Hope you’re feeling better! I think it’s so awesome that you want to eat healthier (and on a budget!) and I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe — thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment! ~Amy
Can you share the nutritional info for this dish please?
Two Healthy Kitchens says
Hi, Amy! First of all … I love your name! 😉 Next: let me offer a little explanation of why we have (at least thus far) opted not to include nutrition info (including calories) with our recipes and how you might more accurately calculate your own.
We’ve actually debated since the beginning of this blog whether or not we should supply nutrition info (and address it in our FAQ (http://twohealthykitchens.com/about/).
Especially with Gretchen’s (my original business partner’s) master’s degree in nutrition, she could easily have calculated that manually – plus there are loads of online calculators to use. However, for a variety of reasons, we have decided over and over again not to do that. One big reason is that we generally don’t specify exact brands (although on some occasions we need to), so the final nutritional profile of a recipe can vary widely, depending on the purchasing decisions our readers make. In the end, it could almost be a bit misleading to quote nutritional info, if readers make significantly different purchasing choices than we did in testing. Although that problem certainly wouldn’t be a big issue for some of our recipes, it actually could be a stumbling block for a lot of others. For example, the final nutritional profile of our most popular recipe ever – our very simple 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos (http://twohealthykitchens.com/2014/01/08/3-ingredient-crock-pot-chicken-tacos/) – could vary tremendously (particularly, in this case, the sodium) depending on which taco seasoning and which salsa someone purchases.
My best suggestion would be to use your favorite online nutrition calculator, and plug in the exact brands you use to get the most accurate calorie information. Also – do you subscribe to our newsletter? A few months ago, we sent out a whole list of different recipe calculators in our newsletter. Too long to publish here (this is already such long answer! ? ), but shoot me an email if you’re interested, and I can send that along for you!
And lastly … having said all of this … I want you to know that we get questions like this from other readers from time to time, too. As a result, we’re always re-evaluating this very good question and exploring how we may be able to offer nutrition information in a way that we can feel good about – a way that’s truly helpful and not potentially misleading. In the near future, we may be including nutritional information for all of our recipes! So stay tuned …
Thanks so much for reaching out to us! I hope these explanations help you out at least a little!
Have a wonderful weekend! ~Amy
I made this during an indoor block party snow storm!! It was the best thing ever! Everybody absolutely loved it! Definitely making this again for new years!
Two Healthy Kitchens says
I’m just thrilled you loved this recipe! We always enjoy it so much, and we’ve shared it at neighborhood gatherings, too – people practically picked up the crock and licked the bottom LOL! So fun that your neighborhood made the best of a snowstorm by throwing an indoor block party – I LOVE that idea! Happy holidays to you and your family!! ~Shelley
I have made this over and over! It is so simple and so delicious. All my grandkids love this. Thanks for sharing it! I like salt so I add a little
Two Healthy Kitchens says
Oh Charlene, thanks bunches for taking a moment to leave this sweet comment! I truly do appreciate it, and it’s so helpful for other readers to know if a recipe turns out well. Thank you! And funny coincidence … I haven’t made these Chicken Burrito Bowls for a while, but as I was making my weekly grocery list this morning, I knew I needed an EASY slow cooker recipe for our busy Friday night … and this is exactly the one I picked to make! Can’t wait! 😉 ~Shelley