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A new go-to weeknight dinner – Crockpot White Chicken Chili Burrito Bowls. Seasoned chicken slow cooked with onions, poblano peppers, and spicy salsa verde. Served up bowl style, just as you desire, with cilantro-lime rice, lettuce, lots of cheese, avocado, sour cream, and plenty of salty tortilla chips, plus extra salsa. These colorful chicken bowls are the simplest dinner to make and full of wonderful Mexican flavors. A fun any-night-of-the-week dinner that everyone will enjoy.
When I set out to make new recipes to share with you all, I have a few things in mind that I want to get out of the recipe. It varies from recipe, to recipe, but one constant is to create simple, delicious, and colorful weeknight meals. We’re all busy, so my main goal is for everyone to enjoy a homemade dinner, even on the busiest nights of the year.
Sometimes I nail it and a new recipe is super simple, super colorful, and totally delicious. Other times the recipe may check off 1 or 2 of those boxes. When a recipe does check off all the boxes I have floating around in my head, I know it’s a keeper.
I just finished writing the recipe for these burrito bowls. And while it didn’t check off all of my boxes, it sure checks off the simple and easy box.
Without a doubt, this is my simplest recipe of the week. It’s one of those amazing crockpot dinners that you just dump everything in, turn the crockpot on, walk away, and then come home to dinner.
You’ll have to make a side of rice and gather all your toppings, so I guess there are those “extras”. But that’s only minutes of prep and the outcome is so worth it.
These colorful Mexican-inspired bowls are so delicious, yet so simple. I know you’re going to love them.
Here are the details
Before I dive in, you can make these bowls with the crockpot, instant pot, or simply on the stove. However, I do love the crockpot for this recipe.
The ingredients are as follows: chicken, onion, poblano peppers, a mix of seasonings, and then jarred salsa verde. Dump this all into your crockpot and cook, nothing fancy. No searing, broiling, or anything.
Next, shred the chicken, which by this time should easily fall apart. Mix in white beans or pinto beans, cheddar cheese, and cilantro. That’s all.
The most time-consuming element of these bowls is gathering up all of the toppings. Which I will admit can take a few minutes, since we all love a bounty of burrito bowl toppings.
But that’s the beauty of a bowl-style recipe, you can build your own!
I serve the chicken over bowls of buttered cilantro rice, which I share the recipe for in the notes. Then plenty of toppings.
I like to arrange the burritos like this. First the rice, then spoon over the chicken, peppers, beans, and sauce from the crockpot. From here, I top with cheese so that the hot chicken will melt the cheese (YUM). Next add lettuce, lightly mashed avocado, cilantro, green onions, jalapeños, and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.
Add salsa over top along with chips on the side…all the delicious important things!
The final verdict from the family, specifically Creighton, is that these bowls need to be on repeat. He especially loved the saucy salsa verde chicken, which really is the heart of the recipe.
I love a little extra salsa verde sauce!
And guys, that’s pretty much it for this one. Simple as can be, but so delish. Think a little spicy, a touch creamy, filled with chicken, peppers, cheese, and all those yummy toppings. I love a simple January dinner when the days are busy and the nights are long and cold!
Looking for other fall dinners with a little kick? Here are a few ideas:
Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey and White Bean Chili
Healthy Slow Cooker Chipotle Bean Chili
One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake
Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salty Lime Chips
Lastly, if you make these Crockpot White Chicken Chili Burrito Bowls be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite
Crockpot White Chicken Chili Burrito Bowls
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 470 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 cups salsa verde
- 1 can white beans, drained
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1-2 jalapeños or serrano peppers, sliced
- 4 cups cooked rice
- shredded lettuce, avocado, green onion, and yogurt/sour cream, for serving
- 1-2 cups favorite salsa
- lime zest and juice
- tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the chicken, onion, peppers, cumin, chili powder and paprika. Season well with salt and pepper. Pour over the salsa verde. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.2. Lightly shred the chicken. Stir in the beans, cheddar cheese, and cilantro. Cook until the cheese melts, 5 minutes. 3. Serve the chicken and sauce over bowls of rice. Top, as desired, with lettuce, yogurt/sour cream, cheese, avocado, cilantro, jalapeños, and green onions. Drizzle over the salsa. Zest lime over each bowl. Eat and enjoy with plenty of chips on the side.
Instant Pot
- 1. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the chicken, peppers, cumin, chili powder and paprika. Season well with salt and pepper. Pour over the salsa verde. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 8-12 minutes. 2. Finish as directed above.
Stove
- 1. In large pot, combine the chicken, peppers, cumin, chili powder and paprika. Season well with salt and pepper. Pour over the salsa verde. Set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stir, adding olive oil if needed. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes, until the chicken shreds. 2. Finish as directed above.
Notes
Cilantro Rice: Combine 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk and 1/2 cup water in a medium pot. Bring to a low boil. Add 1 cup white rice and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine, cover, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to cook 10 minutes on low, then turn the heat off completely and let the rice sit, covered for another 15-20 minutes (don’t take any peeks inside!). Remove the lid and add a pat of butter and 1/3 cup chopped cilantro. Fluff the rice with a fork.
Husband and I really enjoyed this. Didn’t use peppers or cilantro (hubby has that soap tasting gene). Used a combo of salsa verde and medium salsa and the spice level was perfect. Delicious crockpot dinner on a rainy NorCal day!
Hey Julie,
Amazing!! Thanks so much for trying this dish and sharing what worked well for you, so glad it was enjoyed! xT
For all the instant pot users – I rinsed the canned beans under warm water and just stirred them in with the cheese at the end. The temp was just fine, the cheese melted (and it was vegan cheese!). It was delicious. So the five minutes, if that long, was just spent stirring.
Hi Jeri! Thank you for trying out the recipe! I’m so so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 xT
This was easy to make and delicious! I doubled the recipe but only had one bottle of salsa, so I added some chicken broth, and it still came out great!
I signed up for your weekly menu but so far, I haven’t received it.
Hey there! Thank you so so much for trying out the recipe! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment as well! 🙂 xT
Could you use regular salsa in place of salsa verde for this recipe?
Hi Christina! Yes, that should work just fine! 🙂 xT
This recipe was delicious and a keeper!!! I just didn’t have the poblanos and used a garlic jalapeño hot sauce instead. My whole family love it!!
Hi! Thank you SO much for trying out this recipe, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! xT
This was delicious! Made it in the crockpot and it was so convenient! Didn’t realize how the lime zest and juice enhances the cilantro flavor.
Definitely a keeper.
Have already shared with several friends.
Hey there! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for giving it a try! xT
Hi!
We LOVE this in our house. I was just curious. If we do it in the instant pot. Do we need to put it back in for 5 minutes on pressure? It takes like 12 minutes to get back once you open it to shred the chicken!
Thank you!!
Made this last night and my husband and son-in-law where all over this. It’s a keeper and I also added jalapeno’s to the the recipe plus had them on the side with all the fixings. They each had two bowls of it.
Thanks so so much! Always love to hear when a recipe is enjoyed! Have a great weekend 🙂 xT
This was friggen dynamite and so easy! Paired with homemade salsa??! Hello, welcome to the heavy rotation!
Hi there! I’m so glad that you’re enjoying the recipe! Thanks for giving it a try! xT
This has been my go-to recipe this year, I have made it countless times and it wows every single time. So much flavor! And it’s super easy to throw in most of the ingredients while I work from home, take a work out class, and when I come home dinner is ready and the leftovers last for days! Plus, my fiancé loves it too!
Thanks so so much for trying out the recipe, I really hope you loved it! xT
Does any liquid go into the crockpot? In the video it looks like liquid is poured in there but nothing in the directions. Worries this will be very dry!
Yes, the salsa verde is the liquid:)
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! So nice to throw everything into the crockpot earlier in the day and have your house smell great and dinner be ready in the evening! Served it over a little brown rice with some tortilla chips on the side (along with chopped scallions, cilantro, avocado, and greek yogurt). Yum! Looking forward to the leftovers later this week. Thanks Tieghan!
Thank you so much Amanda! xT
I love this recipe! Easy, flavorful and great for dinner and leftover for lunches through the week.
Thank you so so much Brianna! xT
This is another winner! We’ve been meal prepping meals under 500 calories recently and this was a perfect fit. It was so tasty and the crock pot made it feel like very little work to make!
Thank you for giving this recipe a try! I really hope you loved it 🙂 xT
I make a lot of recipes from this blog and usually I remake them and share them and make them for company. This one isn’t up to par. Very easy but I don’t live it with rice and cheddar is the wrong kind of cheese in my opinion.
Hey Nicole, thank you for the input! I appreciate it!
This sounds so yummy! We buy a big bag of frozen chicken from Costco and use our instant pot a lot. Normally for frozen chicken I need to turn on manual for 20 mins. Do you think that would work for this recipe? Would love to try! Also, do you have other instant pot recipes in one place? Thank you!
Hi there! Yes, that should work super well! xT
I made this recipe tonight for the first time and omg I wish I’d found this recipe sooner! Wow, so healthy, such a time saver, and absolutely delicious! So looking forward to making this again.
Hi Bri! Thank you so much for trying out the recipe! Have an amazing week! xT