What is Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken?
Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken is the meal you are going to be making on repeat, or at least we do!
It is a dump and go meal that you can quickly put together and hit start on the crock pot when you have a busy evening ahead of you.
Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken will save you on so many levels. One you can have your dinner done for tonight. Two you can toss in a couple extra chicken breasts so you can have lunch protein for the week or you can have another dinner’s protein done all in one crock pot!
Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken is a slow cooker recipe that combines taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, vinegar, and olive oil with chicken breasts. After a few hours in the crock pot, you get perfectly tender, flavorful chicken that’s ready for tacos, bowls, wraps, or salads.
Because it is so versatile and tastes good no matter how you serve it, this recipe is really a meal prepper’s dream – or if you are just starting your meal prep journey this is a great one to try!
Another reason you are going to love Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken is that it is really budget friendly. Chicken breasts are a great protein option to buy in bulk and freeze. This recipe stretches easily to feed a family with simple pantry ingredients, making it super affordable, especially when served in tortillas, lettuce cups, or rice bowls.
Why You’ll Love This Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken Recipe
Slow cookers are amazing because they are hands off cooking. Toss your chicken breasts in with the seasonings hit start and off you go for the day! You just have to let the crock pot do the work.
Ranch and taco flavors are combined to make this have like a Cool Ranch Doritos flavor profile, except healthier because its on chicken. This yummy flavor goes with so many bases you are going only going to have to prep your protein once for multiple meals without sacrificing variety.
The kids will eat this up. Once again due to the ranch and taco flavors blending together it really is appetizing to everyone. The cool from the ranch balances out the spicy/hot from the taco seasoning you use.
Not only is everyone going to love eating this you are going to love prepping it. You can do this one of two ways.
- You can meal prep this and toss it in the freezer by putting the chicken breasts, vinegar, oil, and seasonings in a baggie and freezing it all together.
- Make and cook it all and then put it in a baggie after cooling and toss it in the freezer. Then you just have to reheat it when you need it.
Crock pot meals, especially this Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken, are the meals to make when you have a busy family. Everyone can eat when they have time and you only had to prep the food once. You can even eat before practice and leave the crock pot on so you can eat after practice too!
Tips for the Best Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken
Chicken is amazing because you can cook it fresh or frozen. If you forgot to thaw the meat out no worries when you are using a crock pot! Just throw it in the crock and add the other ingredients. The chicken will cook perfectly either way.
You can easily use a homemade taco and ranch seasoning mix if you want. This will help you stay in line with diets like Whole 30 or help you make sure you are staying away from sugar and lower sodium.
For the best and juiciest chicken, shred it in the crock pot as shown in the picture. This way it can sit in the juices and really soak up all the flavor.
If your family isn’t into crock pot meats I have a trick. Cook it all in the crock as normal and before serving turn the oven on to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the meat in a single layer on a sheet pan. Then bake the meat for a few minutes until the meat has crunched up a bit. This really helps with the soft texture of the meat if that bothers anyone in your family. Or it just adds some variety if you are using this for multiple meals.
Make sure to add the acid, which in this recipe is the vinegar. It really brightens up the flavor of the dish and you will be amazed at how much it changes the flavor. There is a show on Netflix called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and it teaches you all about how to balance these together!
Meal Prep and Storage Tips for Cool Ranch Crock Pot Chicken
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It is best to keep leftovers in an airtight container. These are my favorite containers and this chicken recipe is a perfect meal prep one. These containers are glass so they go from the fridge to the freezer to the oven to the dishwasher and you didn’t have to switch things around! They are air tight and they are super cute. Click here to add them to your Amazon cart now!
These containers will keep all of the fridge flavors from transferring to your meal prepped meal. You can even put these in individual portions and freeze them! Just take it out, thaw, and use as desired.
Reheating this meal is easy. Just put it in the microwave for a few seconds and then stir. Add more time as needed. If you have a skillet nearby you can also use this. It will add a little more texture to your dish as you reheat it.
To meal prep this, top a salad with it, put it in one of these two compartment containers (these are also life changing because you can put more than one thing in them), so add them to the cart too :), or you can put it in a tortilla with some vegetables, rice, beans, and cheese. You could also make a burrito bowl really easily by putting rice on the bottom, check out my cilantro lime rice recipe here, then top with chicken and fresh veggies.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Healthy Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
Method
- Put all ingredients in a crock pot.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Shred when it has reached an internal temperature of 165 or higher, do this in the crock pot so that the chicken can soak up the juices.
- This goes well in tacos, wraps, salads, etc.