This Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken is packed with bold flavours and can be added to salads, rice bowls or tacos. It’s a fuss free recipe that takes just 15 minutes of hands on prep, so easy! This chicken is Whole30, Paleo, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Keto, Dairy Free and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal. 

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

This Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken is packed with bold fresh flavour. The chicken is cooked in the slow cooker until fall apart tender and then smothered in a cilantro, lime and jalapeno sauce. This is a great fuss free recipe to meal prep for the week ahead, make a batch on Sunday and then add it into salads, tacos etc… for quick meals throughout the week.

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

Why you are going to love this shredded chicken

  • Just 15 minutes of hands on prep: I love how low maintenance slow cookers are, you just throw everything into the pot and leave it to cook, so easy! 
  • So much flavour: the sauce has the perfect mix of zest lime, spicy jalapeno and Mexican spices. It’s a really bold combination of flavours that work so well together. 
  • Perfect for meal prepping for the week ahead: this chicken is a great protein to have ready made in your fridge that you can add to meals throughout the week. 
  • It’s so versatile: There are so many different ways that you can serve this cilantro lime chicken, I have included a list of ways below. 
  • It freezes well: Freeze leftovers in small portions that you can enjoy for quick meals. This chicken will last for 3 months in the freezer and you can thaw it by leaving it in the fridge overnight, in the microwave, or in a pot on the stove with a splash of water. 

Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken

 

Tips for making this Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken:

  • Crisp it up: I like to lay the shredded chicken out on a baking tray and quickly broil it in the oven to brown the edges of the chicken and give it a slight crunchy texture. 
  • Make it spicier: Feel free to kick up the spice by adding more jalapenos to the sauce
  • Thighs or Breasts: I personally prefer to use boneless skinless chicken thighs because I find that they have the best flavour. Chicken breasts also work well for this recipe, or alternatively you could use a combination of the two.  

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

Don’t have a slow cooker?

  • Instant Pot: Cook the chicken on high pressure for 20 minutes followed by a quick release before removing the chicken and shredding it
  • Stove top: place the chicken and all of the sauce ingredients in a pot on the stove. Cover with a lid and leave to cook on medium heat for 25 minutes. Once the chicken is tender and cooked through, remove it from the pot, turn the heat up and leave the sauce to reduce on high heat for 15 minutes. Shred the chicken and return it back to the thickened sauce. 
  • Have a rotisserie chicken? If you have leftover roast chicken you can use it instead. Place all of the sauce ingredients in the pot on medium high heat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half. Once the sauce has thickened, shred the roast chicken and place it in the pot with the sauce to heat through for a few minutes before serving. 

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

What to serve this Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken with:

  • Tacos: serve the shredded chicken in tortillas (or celery root tortillas if you are doing Whole30) with some shredded cabbage, salsa and guacamole
  • A Salad: My personal favourite way to eat this shredded chicken. I add it to a bowl filled high with lettuce, sliced avocado, chopped tomatoes and cilantro and use some of the excess sauce from the chicken as a dressing. 
  • Enchiladas: You could use it in this chicken enchilada recipe. Simply roll the chicken in strips of zucchini and spoon some of the excess sauce leftover from the chicken over the rolls before baking. 
  • Mexican bowl: Serve it with Mexican cauliflower rice, avocado and salsa for a filling meal. 

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Here are a few more Mexican inspired recipes that you might enjoy…


If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!

Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken

Every Last Bite
This Cilantro Lime Shredded Chicken is packed with bold flavours and can be added to salads, rice bowls or tacos. It's a fuss free recipe that takes just 15 minutes of hands on prep, so easy!
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Diets Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Keto, Paleo, Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal, Whole30
Servings 4
Calories 220 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup diced jalapeno
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 2 tsp lime zest
  • 1 finely diced onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 2 tsp coriander
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts

Instructions
 

  • Place all of the ingredients in a slow cooker. Arrange the chicken so that it is all well coated in the liquid.
  • Cover with a lid and cook for 3 hours on high heat or 6 hours on low heat.
  • Once done cooking, remove the chicken from the pot and use two forks to shred it. Pour all of the liquid from the slow cooker into a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively you can place an immersion hand blender directly in the slow cooker to blend the sauce into a smooth consistency.
  • Pour some of the sauce over the shredded chicken and toss, add more sauce until all of the chicken is well coated (you may end up with leftover sauce).
  • As an optional step, I like to spread the chicken out on a sheet pan and broil it in the oven for a few minutes so the shredded chicken has some golden/crispy bits. This step isn't required and the chicken will be delicious either way.

Instant Pot

  • Cook the chicken along with all of the other ingredients on high pressure for 20 minutes. Once done do a quick release and then continue following the recipe above from step 3.
Nutrition
Calories: 220kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 38gFat: 5gSodium: 510mgPotassium: 761mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1g
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below and let us know how it was!