These crockpot chicken fajitas bring together tender chicken, soft peppers and onions, warm spices, and a bright lime finish, all ready to tuck into warm tortillas. Add salsa, sour cream, avocado, cheese, or cilantro—or keep the toppings simple and focus on the seasoned filling.
This version lets you skip marinating and skip sautéing the vegetables and chicken in batches. Layer everything in the slow cooker, cook until tender, remove some of the tomato-rich liquid, and finish the filling with lime juice and honey.
Why Make Chicken Fajitas in the Slow Cooker?
The slow cooker handles most of the cooking, so there is no separate sautéing or browning step. The chicken, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spices cook together before the filling gets its lime-and-honey finish.
And if slow-cooker dinners are useful in your kitchen, you can find more ideas in these easy crockpot recipes.
Ingredient Notes
- Diced tomatoes with green chilies: If the combined canned product is unavailable, use plain diced tomatoes and add a separate 4 oz. can of green chilies. You can also skip the green chilies, keeping the tomato component while leaving out their flavor.
- Bell peppers: Red, yellow, and green peppers are suggested, but any color will work.
- Chili powder: Use mild chili powder. You can adjust the amount to suit your preference.
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How to Make Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
Cut the peppers and onions to a similar size so they cook evenly. Then layer the tomatoes, vegetables, garlic, and chicken, seasoning both sides of the chicken before adding the remaining vegetables.
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- Layer tomatoes and vegetables: Pour half of the 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies into the bottom of a slow cooker and spread into an even layer. Top with half of the slices from the 3 bell peppers and half of the slices from the large yellow onion, then sprinkle in the minced garlic from the 4 cloves. Lay the 2 lbs of chicken breasts on top.
- Season the chicken: In a small bowl whisk together 2 ½ teaspoon chili powder, 2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, ¾ teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¾ teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle half of the seasoning evenly over the chicken breasts, flip the chicken, and sprinkle the remainder over the other side. Top with the remaining half of the tomatoes, then layer in the remaining bell pepper slices and onion slices.
- Cook until done: Cover and cook on HIGH heat for about 2–3 hours or on LOW heat for 4–6 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
- Remove chicken and drain: Remove the chicken and cut it into strips or shred it. Ladle out 1 cup of the broth (mostly tomato liquid) from the slow cooker and discard it.
- Add lime mixture and serve: In a small bowl whisk together 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice and 1 tablespoon honey, then add to the slow cooker along with the chicken; season with additional salt to taste if desired (up to ¼ cup chopped cilantro may also be stirred in at this point — optional). Gently toss everything together and serve warm in warmed tortillas with any optional toppings.
Serving and Topping Options
Spoon the warm chicken and vegetables into warmed flour tortillas. Corn tortillas work too—warm them before serving.
For a bowl-style meal, serve the cooked fajita filling over rice or quinoa instead. Only the serving method changes; prepare the filling the same way in the slow cooker.
For toppings, use cilantro, sour cream, salsa, guacamole or sliced avocado, and shredded Mexican cheese as you like. Chopped cilantro can also go into the filling at the end, as noted in the directions.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Transfer the cooked filling promptly to a shallow, airtight container and refrigerate it for up to 3 days. Hot filling can go directly into the refrigerator. Keep it separate from the flour tortillas, then assemble the fajitas just before eating.
- Reheat: Warm the leftover filling in a hot skillet or in the microwave.
FAQ
Yes. Red onion can replace the yellow onion. Oregano can also be substituted for the ground coriander, though it gives the fajitas a much different flavor.
The honey balances the acidity of the lime and tomatoes. But you can omit it if preferred.
Hold back the bell peppers and add them only during the last 30 minutes of cooking. This keeps them tender-crisp rather than soft.
Either works. Cook near the shorter end of the recipe’s cooking range if you want to slice the chicken rather than shred it.
Removing the specified cooking liquid prevents watery fajitas. Too much liquid can make the flour tortillas soggy.
Crockpot Chicken Fajitas (Easy Set-and-Forget Recipe)
Equipment
- slow cooker (6 or 7 quart)
- Small bowl
- Ladle
Ingredients
Main
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes with green chilies 1 can
- 3 bell peppers preferably 1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 green; cored and sliced
- 1 large yellow onion halved and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
Seasoning
- 2 ½ teaspoon chili powder use mild chili powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¾ teaspoon ground coriander oregano can be substituted (different flavor but also works in fajitas)
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste at the end
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
Finish
- 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey can be omitted if preferred
Serving
- 12 6-inch flour tortillas warmed before serving
Optional Toppings
- cilantro optional topping; up to ¼ cup chopped may also be stirred into the slow cooker at the end
- sour cream optional topping
- salsa optional topping
- guacamole or sliced avocados optional topping
- shredded Mexican cheese optional topping
Instructions
- Layer tomatoes and vegetables: Pour half of the 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies into the bottom of a slow cooker and spread into an even layer. Top with half of the slices from the 3 bell peppers and half of the slices from the large yellow onion, then sprinkle in the minced garlic from the 4 cloves. Lay the 2 lbs of chicken breasts on top.
- Season the chicken: In a small bowl whisk together 2 ½ teaspoon chili powder, 2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, ¾ teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¾ teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle half of the seasoning evenly over the chicken breasts, flip the chicken, and sprinkle the remainder over the other side. Top with the remaining half of the tomatoes, then layer in the remaining bell pepper slices and onion slices.
- Cook until done: Cover and cook on HIGH heat for about 2–3 hours or on LOW heat for 4–6 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
- Remove chicken and drain: Remove the chicken and cut it into strips or shred it. Ladle out 1 cup of the broth (mostly tomato liquid) from the slow cooker and discard it.
- Add lime mixture and serve: In a small bowl whisk together 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice and 1 tablespoon honey, then add to the slow cooker along with the chicken; season with additional salt to taste if desired (up to ¼ cup chopped cilantro may also be stirred in at this point — optional). Gently toss everything together and serve warm in warmed tortillas with any optional toppings.
