This 5-Ingredient Slow-Cooker Recipe Is the Most Versatile Dinner Hiding In Your Pantry
When my mother-in-law decided to give my husband and me her old slow cooker, we were thrilled.
"We can make such simple recipes!"
"And healthy ones, too!"
"We'll use this all the time!"
And…we didn't. That is, until we got a little worn out with our repeat sheet pan suppers and our cast-iron skillet setting off the smoke alarm, and we remembered: We have the easiest way to get dinner on our table gathering dust in a cabinet.
As soon as we pulled out the slow cooker, I perused Southern Living for no-fuss, good-for-us recipes to try. That's when I met Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken.
As newlyweds, we are certainly not rolling in money, so this budget-friendly, five-ingredient recipe immediately caught my eye. All you need to buy for this recipe (since we're assuming you have salt and pepper) are boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which we prefer to chicken breasts or tenders anyway, two containers of refrigerated salsa, and fresh oregano. The recipe also calls for hot cooked yellow rice and chopped fresh cilantro and limes for serving, but you can really choose your own adventure with this Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken. If you start with the base of chicken, salsa, S&P, and oregano, the serving options are endless. Pop this Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken over rice, as the recipe suggests, or put it in tacos, quesadillas, or burritos. Place it on a fresh green salad or even get wild and make Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken nachos.
There are so many ways you can customize this recipe. We like a little heat, so we used one container of spicy salsa and one container of medium, rather than the two containers of medium the recipe suggests. If you have time to use homemade salsa instead, you go chef! But as the queen Ina Garten would say, "In this case, store-bought is fine."
Get The Recipe: Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken
After warming up our slow-cooker abilities with this simple, staple recipe, we'll be leaving that appliance on the countertop more often.
