To be honest, I have never actually eaten at Bajio’s (a Fresh-Mex restaurant) but I saw this Slow Cooker Bajio Chicken Salad Copycat Recipe recipe over at Your Home Based Mom and knew I had to try it.
It reminded me of our Cafe Rio Sweet Pork recipe that my family absolutely LOVES . . . and this recipe was definitely a winner!!! It was more a sweet Mexican dish instead of of a hot one, which was perfect for my kids (my husband prefers hot foods, so he poured on the hot sauce!).
The thing that I love most about this chicken is that it is so versatile! I had mine on top of a salad with black beans, avocados and tomatoes; the kids had their chicken in a quesadilla, and my husband ate his on crunchy tortilla shells . . . whatever fits your fancy!
Ingredients needed to make this Copycat Bajio Chicken Salad:
- 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup salsa
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- ½ cup brown sugar (or more for taste)
- 1 can diced green chilies
- 6 oz lemon lime soda
How to make our Slow Cooker Bajio Chicken Salad Copycat Recipe:
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crock pot and cook 1 more hour. Thicken the juices with a little cornstarch mixed in water.
Serve with flour tortillas, lettuce, cheese, black beans and any other taco fixings.
If you want it spicier rather than sweeter add a hotter salsa and more green chilies.
This would be easy to use as a freezer meal! Once it is all cooked and shredded, pour into a freezer gallon-sized ziploc bag. Freeze flat. When you are ready to use it, quickly reheat it (either in a crock pot or even a microwave!). (It works best if you let it thaw in your fridge for about 24 hours before reheating it)
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Other Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes you’ll love:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Pasta Recipe
- Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas Recipe
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortellini Tomato Soup Recipe
- Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Recipe
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff Recipe
- Cafe Rio Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe
Slow Cooker Bajio Chicken Salad Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup salsa
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- ½ cup brown sugar, (or more for taste)
- 1 can diced green chilies
- 6 oz lemon lime soda
Equipment
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crock pot and cook 1 more hour. Thicken the juices with a little cornstarch mixed in water.
- Serve with flour tortillas, lettuce, cheese, black beans and any other taco fixings.
- If you want it spicier rather than sweeter add a hotter salsa and more green chilies.
- This would be easy to use as a freezer meal! Once it is all cooked and shredded, pour into a freezer gallon-sized ziploc bag. Freeze flat. When you are ready to use it, quickly reheat it (either in a crock pot or even a microwave!). (It works best if you let it thaw in your fridge for about 24 hours before reheating it)
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Oh yum! This looks delicious! You have the best recipes on here, I love them! Thank you for helping the rest of us out. 🙂
So excited to try this for dinner tomorrow…looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing!
Briana
Looks fantastic & easy! Will try when school starts on a busy day- thanks so much for your fantastic recipes. 😉
This looks soooo good. I can’t wait to try it!
~Jessa
http://www.jessajill.blogspot.com
Here’s my 3rd time trying to leave this comment:(
For some reason, I have to uncheck the remember me/automatic sign in part in order to leave comments on any blog…dumb.
Anyways,this looks super yummy. I love that it has avacado! My family and I are big fans of tex-mex foods. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Camille- this looks SO good. And so easy! Bryan and I are definitely going to have to try this.
Ole! Your slow-cooker chicken looks absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe on “A Little Birdie Told Me…”Tuesday at Rook No. 17!
Jenn
I can NOT wait to try this. My family is gonna go nuts over it 🙂
Thanks for sharing on the Crock Pot Recipe Swap.
Oh my goodness! I made this today and it ROCKS! It is such a good recipe!! Holy cow I am in love!
I will be sharing this recipe and linking to your blog, and talking about how amazing this chicken is on Tuesday. I hope that is ok.
Ashley
http://www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com
Looks great! Can you do the shrimp taco recipe? Dying for that since I moved away from Bajios!
how many does this serve?
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I’m not sure about the Sprite…Why should I use that!? What kind of taste does the Sprite bring to this recipe?! I’m not a fan of sparkle drinks
I tried this recipe tonight with the Splenda Brown Sugar and Diet Sprite…It was WONDERFUL!! Thanks so much for this great recipe! It will definitely go in rotation 🙂
Excuse my ignorance, but I’m new to Pinterest. I’m following you, but would like to pin individual recipes, like this one, to my board. How do I do that? Also, when you say any slow cooker recipe can also be done in a beanpot, will you give instructions for this one (order, cooking time, microwave or oven, etc.) so I can transfer the recipe? Just got a bean pot and have not used it yet. Thanks.
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Ok so I made this very apprehensively, as I am not a fan of sweet tasting meats–It was a definite win! Though I did leave out the brown sugar. I set the fixings out for tacos and my husband wanted to just eat the chicken plain because it tasted so good! Thanks for sharing!
Loved it! Worked well with freezing the leftovers too. I made a bigger pot the second time just for freezer meals 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
in the crock pot! Can’t wait for dinner!
Can you use frozen chicken breast or do they need to be thawed?
I usually use frozen, but either way will work! 🙂
Oh, thank you for posting! I was wondering if sugar-free options would taste just as yummy. Glad to hear that it worked out for you because now I can’t wait to try it!
anyone know how many pounds of chicken this recipe uses? At my store, 5 chicken breast would be like 5 pounds. surely this isnt calling for 5 pounds… haha
5 chicken breasts would be about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.
Does the cumin make it hot? I love cumin but a tablespoon sounded like a lot so I just did a teaspoon. Also, have you ever tried cooking on high? I didn’t get it in on time for low so I’m trying that and hoping it won’t dry it out.
The cumin doesn’t really make it hot, just gives it more flavor. You should be fine cooking it on high. Watch it closely to that it doesn’t overcook.
Made this chicken tonight and it was easy and great! I added a little less than half a can of chipotle peppers in adobo and it made a great addition. Will make again 🙂
I have made this before and asked last time if I could use spirit and that was approved by you but new question! I have cherry 7-up on hand what do you think?
Hi Rose, we can honestly say we have not tried cherry 7up. I think it would work fine, it’s the taste that may be altered a little. I don’t know how much the cherry flavor would shine through. Be sure to let us know if you try cherry 7Up!! 🙂 You are adding all kinds of new twists to the recipe! That’s awesome!!
UPDATE: the cherry 7-up worked just fine. I had forgotten from the last time how much I love this chicken. I will make it again! Thank you!!!
I was wondering how much cornstarch to thicken? It’s in the crockpot right now and smells fabulous!
Start with 1 tablespoon and see if that does the trick. If you want it thicker then add a little more.
Rookie question, I live in Canada we don’t have green chillies here what can I substitute it for.
Is 5 chicken breasts 1 pound or two? 1.5? What do you think you used?
3 to 4 chicken breasts is about 1 pound. It really depends on the size of your chicken breasts.
I made this recipe along with 3 other Six Sisters recipes for my sister who is expecting a baby very soon. It is absolutely delicious. I also tried poaching the chicken breasts and then making the sauce on the stove and stirred it into the chicken after shredding the meat and it was just as good and quicker. It is great on a salad, in taco shells, or even inside lettuce wraps. Yum! A keeper for sure.
Can I double this recipe in one crockpot? Would it cook the same amount of time? Thanks!
That is 10 chicken breasts and would be pretty crowded. Unless you have a huge crock pot, I would maybe use 2 crock pots or make 2 batches. Once the chicken is shredded you could combine the 2 batches all together in one slow cooker.