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Slow Cooker Spicy Salsa Chicken

Slow cooker spicy salsa chicken is an easy yet fiery recipe. Low-carb, paleo, and whole30 compliant, this is healthy chicken recipe is packing the heat! You can also make this chicken dish in the Instant Pot. 

close up of cooked Spicy Salsa Chicken in the slow cooker

If you like spicy food then this recipe is for you. This is a basic salsa chicken recipe with spicy ingredients added in. 

Ingredients For Spicy Salsa Chicken

The ingredients for this slow cooker chicken recipe are very simple and can be found at your local grocery. 

  • Chicken: Use your preferred cut of chicken. I like to use boneless, skinless chicken so I can shred the meat.
  • Salsa: Grab your favorite salsa or make your own! 15 ounces of diced tomatoes is a good substitute for salsa. 
  • Jalapeño or Chipotles in Adobo: Add the heat! Make this recipe as spicy as you want it to be. Use 1 or 2 jalapeños or chipotles in adobo.
  • Bell peppers & Onion: I used a red & green bell pepper to make it colorful. One of the same color works just fine. 
  • Garlic: One garlic clove, use more if you like. 
  • Seasonings: Salt, cumin, chili powder, and paprika. 
uncooked Slow Cooker Spicy Salsa Chicken in the slow cooker

before

How To Make Slow Cooker Spicy Salsa Chicken

Making this salsa chicken is very easy, especially when you use the slow cooker or Instant Pot. 

Slow Cooker

  1. Season the chicken with salt & pepper. Add the chicken and all other ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. Season chicken with salt & pepper.
  2. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot, add the oil, onion, and bell pepper & cook 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Turn off the Instant Pot.
  3. Stir in salsa and broth. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the Instant Pot by using a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of pot to remove any bits that stuck to it.
  4. Add chicken and all other remaining ingredients. Stir to mix well.
  5. Close and seal valve. Select high pressure and set time for 15 minutes. When cooking time is completed, quick-release the pressure.
cooked Slow Cooker Spicy Salsa Chicken

after

What Cut Of Chicken To Use

Like most of my slow cooker or Instant Pot chicken recipes, you can use your preferred cut of chicken whether it be boneless, bone-in, skinless, skin-on, thighs, breasts, etc. Personally, I like to shred the chicken so I tend to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs. What you see in the pictures is thighs. If you use breasts, lower the cook time by an hour or so and definitely don’t let it sit on the warm setting. White meat cooks faster than dark meat so it’s easy to overcook. 

close up, side view shot of cooked, shredded spicy salsa chicken in a white bowl with cauliflower rice

How Spicy Is It?

You can control how much heat you give this. I like to use one of two options to add spiciness to this recipe: 1 or 2 jalapenos with seeds or 1 to 2 chipotles in adobo sauce. 

Don’t like spicy at all? Simply remove the seeds from the jalapeno or use a couple teaspoons of the adobo sauce and leave the chipotles alone. Regardless of what you choose to do, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling the peppers. Especially before touching your eyes. Yes I speak from experience.

How To Serve Spicy Salsa Chicken 

This spicy salsa chicken can be served with many different things. I usually pair it with riced or mashed cauliflower. What you see in the pictures is riced cauliflower. It is also great with potatoes or sweet potatoes & green veggie. Rice and quinoa (not low-carb, paleo, whole30) are also good options.

cooked, shredded spicy salsa chicken in a white bowl with cauliflower rice

served with cauliflower rice

FAQs & Tips

  • Make this with a different protein! Feel free to substitute beef or even pork.
  • While the recipe will no longer be paleo, Whole30, or low-carb, a great addition is 15-ounces of canned black beans and/or corn.

 

Spicy Chicken Recipes

Air Fryer Spicy Naked Chicken Tenders

Spicy Chicken & Sausage

Spicy Curry Chicken

Sweet & Spicy Slaw

Print
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close up of cooked Spicy Salsa Chicken in the slow cooker

Slow Cooker Spicy Salsa Chicken

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 2 reviews

Slow cooker spicy salsa chicken is an easy yet fiery recipe. Low-carb, paleo, and whole30 compliant, this is healthy chicken recipe is packing the heat! You can also make this chicken dish in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 pounds chicken
  • 2 bell peppers, chopped or sliced
  • 1 small onion, chopped or sliced
  • 1 cup salsa of your choice or diced tomatoes
  • 12 jalapenos with seeds, sliced or 2 chipotles in adobo sauce
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or more)
  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (Instant Pot only)
  • 1 tablespoon oil (Instant Pot only)

Instructions

Slow Cooker

  1. Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
  2. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. Turn on the pressure cooker and select sauté. Once hot,  add the oil, onion, and bell pepper & cook 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Turn off the Instant Pot.
  2. Stir in diced tomatoes, broth. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the Instant Pot by using a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of pot to remove any bits that stuck to it.
  3. Add chicken and all other remaining ingredients. Stir to mix well.
  4. Close and seal valve. Select high pressure and set time for 15 minutes. When cooking time is completed, quick-release the pressure.
  • Author: Shannon Epstein

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Carl

Friday 18th of August 2023

Saw this on your Instagram post on early summer made it 3 times so far and think it’s my favorite crock pot dish in recent memory, mine comes out a bit more like pulled chicken , not chunks. I add the heat but what I been doing is using peach mango salsa for a bit of sweet with the heat, tonight I’m having it without the peach mango just regular salsa & a side of grilled squash. Highly recommended

Camille

Monday 18th of January 2021

This has so much flavor! And I even used canned tomatoes instead of salsa. I put it over cauliflower rice, but should have seasoned it first. This chicken deserves something more than just plain steamed cauliflower rice. I'll probably do with potatoes next time. It would be great for taco, burrito or quesadilla filling. This is going on our regular list!

Sarah

Saturday 9th of January 2021

Hi, this recipe looks amazing! If I wanted to add a can of black beans to the instant pot version, would you recommend adding them before you pressure cook everything, or after cooking?

Shannon Epstein

Saturday 9th of January 2021

Ooh adding black beans sounds good. I'm assuming you're using canned black beans? If so, I would just add them when you add the chicken and all the other remaining ingredients. Enjoy!

Kris

Thursday 11th of June 2020

Delicious! I went for the Instant Pot version and the chicken was cooked perfectly! I didn't have access to fresh jalapeños so I used some jarred ones along with red hot chilis. To make it lower in FODMAPS, I swapped the regular onion for green onion and used less garlic. I will definitely make this again and make shred the chicken for tacos!

Shayna

Sunday 21st of October 2018

I will shred the chicken and serve with a small portion of rice. It is in the crockpot now. Thank you!!!!!