Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Published October 14, 2019. Updated May 17, 2023

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Easy Chicken Fajitas made in the slow cooker! Still all the delicious flavors of traditional fajitas without all the extra hassle! Just dump everything into the crockpot and let it simmer to tender well seasoned perfection.

Great for busy days where you can come home to dinner ready to eat!

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

For almost 5 years these Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas have been one of the most popular recipes on my blog. Because we all love an easy delicious recipe don’t we? This is real life and we are busy people.

With this simplified recipe you get to skip marinating, and you also get to skip sauteing veggies and chicken in batches (and therefor tending to it). Instead here, the crockpot does most of the work.

And not only that, cooking it in the slow cooker allows plenty of time to for the flavors to meld together and really soak into the chicken and veggies, plus it will leave you with perfectly tender chicken every time.

It’s a delicious family friendly recipe and it makes plenty so you may be lucky enough to have left overs for lunch the next day!

Then for the days you didn’t plan ahead for a slow cooker dinner try my Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas, everything cooks together on one sheet pan. So easy and so good!

Watch the Video!

Crockpot Chicken Fajita Ingredients

Crockpot Chicken Fajita Ingredients:

  • Boneless skinless chicken breasts – I like to stick with chicken breasts here because thighs will just shred apart.
  • Canned diced tomatoes with green chilies – if you can’t find them with green chilies you can use plain diced tomatoes and add a 4 oz. can of green chilies or just skip the green chilies.
  • Bell peppers – I like to use a trio of red, yellow and green but really any color will work.
  • Yellow onion and garlic – you can also use a red onion if that’s what you have on hand.
  • Chili powder, cumin, paprika, coriander, salt and pepper – these spices give the fajitas that classic Tex Mex flavor, if you don’t have coriander you can substitute Oregano (a much different flavor but also common in fajitas).
  • Lime – use fresh lime juice for best flavor.
  • Honey – this just balances the acidity of the lime and tomatoes but you can omit it if preferred.
  • Tortillas and toppings – toppings are optional but don’t forget the tortillas!

Steps to making chicken fajitas in the slow cooker

How To Make Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

  • Add half of the tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic to a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker.
  • Top with chicken breasts.
  • Mix together seasonings and sprinkle over both sides of chicken.
  • Top with remaining tomatoes.
  • And remaining bell peppers, onions and garlic.
  • Set the slow cooker and let cook through, then cut or shred the chicken.
  • Toss in honey and lime mixture. Serve warm over tortillas with toppings.

Two chicken fajitas on a wooden plate.

Tips And Variations:

  • If you like the bell peppers tender crisp and not soft, wait until about the last 30 minutes to add them.
  • Cook near lesser times if you’d like to slice chicken vs. shredding.
  • For an extra boost of flavor serve topped with sour cream, salsa, sliced avocados or guacamole, or Mexican hot sauce.
  • Use corn or flour tortillas for serving. Warm them first.
  • Or try serving fajita mixture over rice or quinoa and make a burrito bowl instead.
  • Add more or less chili powder according to preference. Be sure to use mild chili powder.
  • Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.

More Delicious Tex Mex Recipes to Try:

16 Quick & Easy 30 Minute Recipes! (plus weekly recipe updates)

4.89 from 78 votes

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

All the delicious flavors of traditional fajitas without all the extra hassle! Just dump everything in the slow cooker and let it simmer to tender well seasoned perfection.
Servings: 6 servings
Prep15 minutes
Cook6 hours 10 minutes
Ready in: 6 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

For serving:

  • 12 6-inch flour tortillas
  • Cilantro, sour cream, salsa, guacamole or sliced avocados, shredded Mexican cheese (optional)

Instructions

  • Pour half of the canned tomatoes into the bottom of a slow cooker and spread into an even layer. Top with half of the peppers** and half of the onions. Sprinkle garlic in. Top with chicken breasts.
  • In a bowl whisk together chili powder, cumin, paprika, coriander, salt and pepper. Evenly sprinkle half of the seasoning over chicken breasts then flip chicken and sprinkle in remainder. Top with remaining half of the tomatoes, then layer in remaining peppers and onions.
  • Cover and cook on HIGH heat about 2 - 3 hours or low heat 4 - 6 hours, until chicken has cooked through and veggies are tender.
  • Remove chicken, and cut into strips, or shred. Ladle out 1 cup of the broth in slow cooker (mostly tomato liquid) and discard. 
  • In a small bowl whisk together lime juice and honey and add to slow cooker along with chicken and season with additional salt to taste if desired (I sometimes like to add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro too here but this is optional). Gently toss. Serve warm in warmed tortillas optional toppings.

Notes

  • *Oregano can be substituted for coriander. Much different flavor but another delicious option for fajitas.
  • **If you like the bell peppers tender crisp and not soft, wait until about the last 30 minutes to add them.
  • Extra toppings not included in nutritional estimate.
Nutrition Facts
Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas
Amount Per Serving
Calories 432 Calories from Fat 72
% Daily Value*
Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 96mg32%
Sodium 1007mg44%
Potassium 1082mg31%
Carbohydrates 48g16%
Fiber 5g21%
Sugar 13g14%
Protein 34g68%
Vitamin A 3380IU68%
Vitamin C 125.2mg152%
Calcium 123mg12%
Iron 4.5mg25%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.
Recipe originally published January 2015, photos have been updated.

 

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491 Comments

  • Carrie

    This has become a staple in our house! I really haven’t changed anything about the recipe which is highly unusual. Thanks for sharing it!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed this recipe Carrie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!

  • Tara

    I love this recipe. It’s my go to for fajitas! But I’m really wanting to change it up a bit.. can anyone tell me how I could add steak to this??

  • agatton

    Mmm! I was just talking about how I wanted to make fajitas! This looks like an easy & tasty way to get ’em on the table!

  • review cart

    I love cooking chicken in my slow cooker, especially for tacos and fajitas. It’s just so easy to set it and forget it! This recipe looks and sounds delicious! Perfect supper for busy weeknights!

  • KG

    Made this for my roommate and I and we loved it! We followed it to the letter and it was delicious. We’re definitely going to make it again!

  • Ginger

    Simply the best and easiest recipe (w/o honey and just more of the spices) served at dinner party to many compliments and rave reviews! -yay because I am not a cook!!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      Served at a dinner party to many compliments and rave reviews! Looks like you’re a cook now! :)

  • Elizabeth

    I am a BIG FAN of this dish!

    I am a sophomore in college, and finding meals that are not only healthy, but also flavorful is very difficult, especially when my dorm does not have a kitchen. By the grace of God, my dorm allows slow cookers, so I immediately turned to Pinterest and found this recipe.

    The only change I made was that I used 2Tbs of taco seasoning (because, like I just said, I am in college and am living up to the “broke college student” stereotype, so I can’t buy spices). Other than that, I followed every instruction using my 7 qt crock pot.

    Let me tell you: I could smell this dish from halfway down my hall, it smelled DIVINE, and it tasted even better. I even had five of my good friends come over to celebrate my first crock pot meal, and they enjoyed it just as much as I did.

    Only the highest praises for this dish. Will be making this a lot more in the future!

  • Robyn

    I don’t understand the positive comments on here at *all*. I cooked it for 6 hours on low, expecting to find chicken ready to be sliced, but it shredded immediately. And when I say “shredded”, I really mean “dissolved”. Not only that but the vegetables were like mush.

    Furthermore, when mixing up the spices I could see that there wasn’t nearly enough for the amount of chicken, so I more or less doubled the suggested amounts, and yet everything still tasted bland. The irony here is that I’m British, and we’re accused of having boring food, yet this was one of the least flavourful dishes I’ve ever made!

    When I put it all into the fajitas it was just soggy mess dumped on top of tortillas which collapsed underneath. I had to eat it with a knife and fork and even then I just ended up slopping it down myself… it needed a spoon! I felt like I was eating a meal prepared for a picky toddler, not an adult. How it can *possibly* be considered classy is genuinely beyond me.

    I do wonder whether the author ever actually made this recipe, or just took photos for her blog and then threw everything away. Certainly the whole layering thing and scattering the vegetables seems intended solely to look good on Pinterest. No thank you. I will not be cooking this again.