Mexican Style Shredded Chicken

This easy Mexican Shredded Chicken recipe is made with boneless chicken breasts, salsa, canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, authentic Mexican seasonings and cheese.  Our Mexican pulled chicken is juicy and flavorful and perfect for making tacos, burritos, taquitos, and more.  

Learn how to make the best shredded Mexican chicken that your whole family will love. You add everything to a Dutch oven (or a slow cooker) and let it cook until the chicken is easy to shred. It’s easy to make and there’s little clean-up.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Quick and Easy. This is a quick and easy recipe that you can make any night of the week. You add everything to a Dutch oven and let it cook. Then you’ll remove the chicken to shred and add it back into the sauce. It’s SO good!
• Great Tasting. The chicken is juicy and loaded with flavor. It’s a family favorite recipe that we’ve been making for years.
• Simple Ingredients.  There’s no fancy ingredients here. Just chicken, canned tomatoes, salsa, garlic, onion, cheese and seasoning.

Easy Mexican Pulled Chicken Recipe

If you like things on the spicy side, feel free to add more chili powder or use medium or hot salsa instead of mild.  

• Chicken. We use boneless chicken breasts for this recipe, but you can use thighs if you prefer.
• Olive oil. We cook the chicken breasts in olive oil for just a couple of minutes on each side before adding the rest of the ingredients.
• Salsa. Use Homemade Salsa or a good store-brought brand (Hatch brand has a good one). Salsa adds a lot of flavor to this shredded chicken!
• Canned tomatoes. Use drained diced tomatoes for this recipe. It creates a delicious stew-like consistency for the chicken to simmer in. 
• Aromatics. We use both chopped yellow onion and a couple cloves of minced garlic for this recipe.
• Seasoning. We use a delicious combo of chili powder, ground cumin, onion powder, chipotle chili pepper and ground oregano to season this chicken with.
• Chicken Broth. This also creates a stew-like consistency for the chicken to simmer in and prevents the chicken from drying out.
• Cheddar Cheese. We swirl in about 1/4 cup of grated cheddar at the end, which gives this chicken an amazing flavor!

Find printable recipe with measurements below.

How to Make It

All of the ingredients for this shredded chicken get added to a Dutch oven, then it’s all simmered for about 2 hours.  As this chicken slowly simmers into an incredible stew-like concoction, it gives off an absolutely incredible aroma and has an amazing flavor.   If you prefer, add the ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low for 2-3 hours.

1. Heat Oil. Heat the olive oil to a Dutch oven.
2. Sear Chicken. Add the chicken and cook on both sides for 2-3 minutes each.
3. Add Remaining Ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 3 – 4 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for about 60 minutes. If your chicken is thick and it doesn’t shred easily, then cook it for 15-20 minutes longer. The chicken should come apart easily and shred easily.
4. Shred Chicken. Remove chicken to a cutting board. Using two forks shred the chicken.
5. Add Cheese. Return shredded chicken to the pot, stir in the grated cheese and let cook on low for an additional-5-10 minutes.

Tips For Making The Best Shredded Mexican Chicken

1. If the meat starts to dry out, add 2-3 tablespoons water and another tablespoon oil. Ground beef has more fat than ground turkey, so we use olive oil to add fat and flavor to our ground turkey. 
2. Cook over low heat so the meat doesn’t dry out.
3. Chop the onion small (almost minced) and cook it until its tender so it blends in with the meat, adding flavor. We don’t want large or uncooked pieces of onion in our taco meat.
4. This chicken is mild, so if you want a little more spice, then add more chili powder (1/2 tablespoon more).

Serving Suggestions

This easy Mexican Shredded Chicken can replace any of the cooked chicken meat in these recipes.

• Healthy Chicken Tostadas. Mexican shredded chicken takes tostadas up to the next level.
• Baked Chicken Fajita Quesadillas. This shredded chicken makes amazing quesadillas, and they’re even better with fajita veggies.
• Taco Salad Bowl – Layer in this shredded chicken with rice or quinoa, black beans and vegetables.
• Chicken Fajita Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Add this shredded chicken with fajita veggies to baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes for a quick and easy meal.
• Homemade Tortilla Chips. Layer the Mexican shredded chicken over homemade tortilla chips and sprinkle with grated cheese to make delicious nachos.

What To Serve With Shredded Mexican Chicken

Here are some of our favorite sides to serve with this chicken.

• Mexican Green Rice
• Homemade Spanish Rice
• Spanish Brown Rice
• Spanish Quinoa
• Cilantro Lime Quinoa
• Black Beans
• Borracho Beans
• Pinto Beans
• Homemade Tortilla Chips

Looking for More Easy Chicken Recipes to Make

• Enchilada Style Baked Chicken
• Chicken Fajita Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Mexican Avocado Chicken Burgers
• One Pot Spanish Chicken

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Print

Yield: 6 servings

Mexican Style Shredded Chicken

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

This easy Mexican Shredded Chicken recipe is made with chicken breasts, salsa, tomatoes, onion, garlic and authentic Mexican seasonings.  You can add this tender and juicy Mexican Style Shredded Chicken to tacos, burritos, taquitos, taco bowls, baked sweet potatoes and more.  

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup mild salsa (homemade is best, but Hatch brand has a good salsa)
• 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup onion, minced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• freshly ground salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a Dutch oven.
2. Add the chicken to the Dutch oven and cook on both sides for 2-3 minutes each.
3. Add the remaining ingredients up to the cheddar cheese.
4. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 3 - 4 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 60 minutes. If you chicken is thick and doesn't shred easily, return to the pot and cook it a little longer until it pulls apart easily.
6. Remove chicken to a cutting board. Using two forks shred the chicken.
7. Return shredded chicken to the pot and stir in the grated cheddar cheese. Let cook on low for an additional 15-20 minutes to absorb some of the liquid.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 427Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 9gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 155mgSodium: 383mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 39g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations. See full disclaimer on About page.