Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Garlic Chipotle Chicken
There's a Martha Stewart recipe for a slow cooker Mexican chicken that used to be a Taco Tuesday go-to. It uses canned chipotle in adobo sauce, which gives the chicken a spicy, smoky, and slightly sweet taste. As we've evolved in our own health journeys and started becoming so much more aware of ingredients, we noticed that we couldn't find a canned chipotle in adobo sauce that didn't include an inflammatory oil, sugar or corn syrup, preservatives, or other processed ingredients. (If you know of one, hit us up!) So we thought, "we can recreate this flavor without the junk."
Spices are such a wonderful way to get flavor in your food, and so many of them have anti-inflammatory properties - that's what we're going for here! We combined adobo spice, chipotle spice (warning: this makes things spicy like Mel C likes it!), and dates to add a little sweetness. Honestly, we prefer this flavor over the canned option. Combining these spices with chicken thighs, your fave clean salsa, some fresh lime juice, and you have a winner for a taco night!
This recipe is perfect to make for a large group of people (you can even double it) or something to make at the beginning of the week to have plenty of leftovers. It can be used as taco meat in tortillas or lettuce cups, as part of a burrito bowl (We also love it with cauliflower or regular rice, roasted veggies or plantains, and guacamole), or on top of a salad. We included an Instant Pot version, as well, because sometimes we just need dinner on the table faster. We hope you love this as much as we do!
SLOW COOKER/INSTANT POT GARLIC CHIPOTLE CHICKEN (GLUTEN FREE + PALEO)
Serves 4-6
This spicy, slightly sweet chicken is perfect for taco night, meal prepping, or feeding a crowd. Simple ingredients + quick prep time make this an easy, no fuss recipe. Modified slightly for each device. Use slow cooker if you don’t have IP and vice versa.
SLOW COOKER VERSION:
Ingredients
o 2 lbs organic skinless, boneless chicken thighs
o ½ cup jarred salsa (no sugar added)
o 1 tablespoon chili powder
o 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
o 2 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
o 1 teaspoon adobo spice
o 1 teaspoon chipotle spice (use less, if sensitive to spice)
o 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
o Few grinds black pepper
o Juice of ½ or 1 lime
Instructions
In slow cooker, combine chicken, garlic, salsa, dates, spices, salt, and pepper. Gently stir to mix together. Cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 4 hours).
Transfer chicken to a bowl and shred using two forks. Add back into the slow cooker with the juices, squeeze ½ of a lime over the chicken, stir, and serve.
INSTANT POT VERSION:
Ingredients
o 2 lbs organic skinless, boneless chicken thighs
o 1 cup jarred salsa (no sugar added)
o 1 tablespoon chili powder
o 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
o 2 dates, pitted and chopped
o 1 teaspoon adobo spice
o 1 teaspoon chipotle spice (use less, if sensitive to spice)
o 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
o Few grinds black pepper
o Juice of ½ or 1 lime
Instructions
In an Instant Pot, combine all ingredients in the order listed. Stir to incorporate, and set to Meat/Stew (or just regular High Pressure) for 15 minutes.
Do a quick release on the pressure. Once pressure has been released, transfer chicken to a bowl and shred using two forks. Add back into the slow cooker with the juices, squeeze some fresh lime juice on top, mix, and serve.
SERVING IDEAS:
o In a “burrito bowl” with cauliflower rice, roasted veggies, roasted plantains or roasted sweet potatoes, guacamole, extra salsa, and cilantro.
o As tacos in lettuce cups, jicama tortillas, or gluten-free tortillas
o On top of “taco salad” with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, olives, avocado, etc.
