Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken. Yum!

A super easy, flavorful, & totally healthy go-to-recipe — part of our back to basics, nuts & bolts blog series

Tuesday night dinner with my girlfriends included one of my favorite, go-to recipes — Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken. It’s a winner for those who want easy, low-fat, low carb recipes and who are on the go and don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. It’s so easy even I can do it!

You just “fire” the ingredients in the crock pot in the morning before work (takes about 5 minutes) and you have a delicious dinner at night. Now that’s my kind of cooking! I love it so much, I rotate it through my dinner repertoire every other week.

And whoever invented the idea of the slow cooker or crock pot has my undying gratitude. What a brilliant idea for those of us who don’t like to cook and are short on time.

If you get sick of the same old boring chicken, add this recipe to your healthy eating repertoire. There’s nothing boring about it.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken is my kind of go-to recipe for many reasons:

1. You can’t get much “cleaner,” healthier or low-fat, low carb than this recipe.
2. It is packed with flavor, plus, you can change it up, spice it up and get creative — even add black beans for chilli.
3. It couldn’t be easier to make. Takes me 5 minutes to prepare it in the crock pot and it simmers all day.
4. And, it packs up nicely in containers for healthy dinners all week if you’re cooking for 1 or 2. Or, serves a big family at dinner with leftovers.

I serve Salsa Chicken with lettuce (drain excess juice first) or eat with grilled veggies or a side salad. If you want to add the calories, you can add fat-free or low-fat shredded cheese, guacamole or fat free sour cream on top (just a dab).

This recipe was rated number one on Spark People.Com and I love it! Let me know what you think.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (32 ounces) chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 cup salsa, homemade or purchased
• 1 cup petite diced canned tomatoes (low-sodium; I use the ones with green chilles)
• 2 tablespoons Taco Seasoning
• 1 cup onions, diced fine
• 1/2 cup celery diced fine
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
• Optional: 3 tablespoons sour cream, reduced fat ( I do not add this into my recipe but sometimes put a small dollop on top)
• Serve with lettuce, low-fat or whole grain wraps or just by itself with a veggie or salad side

Directions

Place the chicken in a slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over the meat then layer the vegetables and salsa on top. Pour a half cup water over the mixture (or a little less), set on low and cook for 6-8 hours. The meat is cooked when it shreds or reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. When ready to serve, break up the chicken with two forks then stir in the sour cream (optional).
Makes eight 1 cup servings.

Nutritional Info:

The best part, this recipe is that its’ well under 200 calories for one full cup. It’s low fat, high protein and low carb depending on how you serve it.

Click here for the recipe on SparkPeople.

Bonus: On my In the Equation Pinterest page we’ve compiled a bunch of great low-fat, healthy crock pot recipes and some tips for cooking in the crock pot. I plan to try some of the lower fat, healthier versions this winter. (Follow us on Pinterest by clicking here.)

Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe that would qualify as “healthy” or low fat, low carb? If so, please share it here.

Here are some of my favorite sites for “healthy” recipes. If you’re on a diet plan, be sure to read the nutritional facts to know what your numbers are:

• In the Equation – Happy, Health Food on Pinterest
• SparkRecipes on SparkPeople.Com
• Low-fat, low-carb on SparkRecipes
• Skinnytaste.com (low-fat)
• Allrecipes.com (search correctly)

Enjoy!