Slow-cooker Mexican Chicken Recipe With Vegetable Rice: The Spice Blend Makes This Dish a Winner by Melissa Vickers

This slow-cooker recipe uses more spices than I am used to cooking with, but they are all common and likely in your spice cabinet. The chicken mixture creates a wonderfully flavorful liquid that gets used to make rice, loaded with vegetables. 

This is another chicken recipe you can make as hot and spicy as you dare, and pick and choose what vegetables you put in the rice. We enjoyed it!

Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 to 6 hours in the slow cooker and 25 minutes on the stove 
Total time: 5 to 7 hours
Servings: 4

Ingredients

Chicken 

• 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts (I used boneless thighs)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup mild salsa (or medium if you like spicy)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar (if you use mild salsa and no chipotle chili pepper or 4 tablespoons if you use medium salsa and/or chipotle)
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (I left this out)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I left this out)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• hot sauce, to taste (I left this out)

Vegetable Rice

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups liquid drained from cooked chicken
• 1 cup white rice

Here’s how to make it:

1. Rub chicken with oil and place in the bottom of slow cooker. Add all the remaining chicken ingredients except for the hot sauce. Cook on high for 2 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 7 hours, or until chicken is tender enough to shred. Shred chicken and let it cook on low for an additional 20 minutes to absorb some of the liquid and flavors. Strain chicken over bowl to catch the liquid, pressing chicken to remove excess moisture.
   
2. In a large skillet, heat oil and add vegetables and uncooked rice. Cook until the vegetables start to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of liquid from chicken (add water as necessary to make 2 cups). Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook until rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve chicken over vegetable rice. Top with hot sauce if you dare, or even add some shredded cheese.
   

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