Make creamy Tex-Mex in your slow cooker with this easy Festa Chicken recipe with chicken, black beans, salsa, and sour cream. Use in tacos, nachos, burritos, on a salad, or in a bowl with rice.
Only a few minutes of active work will get you a easy weeknight dinner to remember from your slow cooker.
Ingredients
Chicken—raw chicken breasts or thighs
Salsa
Vegetables—black beans, corn
Sour cream or cream cheese
Pantry ingredients—chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper
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Feast chicken combines Mexican flavors with chicken, black beans, and corn in a creamy spicy sauce.
This is an excellent recipe for when you want something different from the ordinary and don't want to work for it. Feast chicken and black beans pair well with rice; just serve it over rice or with rice in a tortilla or bowl.
👨🍳How to Make Festa Chicken in the Crock Pot—Step by Step
1. Trim chicken of any trimmable fat.
2. Drain and rinse black beans. One cup of beans is enough, but I like a lot of beans and use the entire can.
3. To a 3 quart or larger crock pot, add 1 cup of black beans, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of salsa, 1 tablespoon of chili powder, ½ teaspoon of cumin, ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of onion powder, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix well.
4. Add the chicken into the mixture and spoon some on top. Cook on low for 3-4 hours until the chicken is tender and 165°.
5. Remove the chicken breasts and shred them. Place back in the pot and add ½ cup sour cream or cream cheese. And finish cooking another 30 minutes.
6. Serve as you wish, as nachos, in tacos, on tortillas, over rice, or in a burrito bowl with rice.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Variations
- Make it lower fat by using low-fat sour cream and choosing low-fat serving methods like a salad. Do not use low-fat cream cheese—it will not melt well.
- Make it spicier with spicy salsa or RoTel®️. You can also add a bit of cayenne pepper.
- Skinless boneless chicken thighs may be used instead of breasts but must cook closer to 180° to shred well.
- Optional ingredients like bell pepper or sliced olives may be added, but be aware they may need the entire cooking time if you use rotisserie chicken. I like a lot of black beans, so I usually double the beans.
- Add the juice of one to two limes with the sour cream for a Feast lime chicken.
Can I use Rotisserie Chicken?
Pre-cooked chicken, like rotisserie chicken, will be fine. It will take about 3 cups of shredded chicken to replace each pound of raw chicken. You can also use this freezer-burnt chicken breast recipe to use in this recipe.
Cook the initial ingredients with the cooked chicken for about 1 hour on low, then add the sour cream for another 30 minutes.
Other Tex-Mex Recipes
If you like this recipe, check out these other Tex-Mex recipes like Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, Homemade Enchilada Sauce, and Crock Pot Chicken Tacos / Nachos.
Or make your Mexican healthy with Healthy Chicken Enchilada Casserole—Easy and Quick, Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Chicken Carnitas (Carnitas de Pollo), or Pork Tenderloin Carnitas.
↕️How to make this a "for two" friendly recipe or larger for a crowd
This is an easy recipe to cut in half or double. The full recipe makes about 8 cups of 4 large servings.
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- The half recipe will fit in a 2-quart mini crock pot. A double recipe will need a 6-quart or large crock pot.
- Cook for the same amount of time.
Serving
Serve with typical Mexican toppings or side dishes, like corn chips and salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, Guacamole, or Mexican Rice.
Storage of leftovers
Good store leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4 days or freeze for 3 months.
Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
FAQs
Chicken becomes very dry is overcooked. While you should cook to 165° for safety, for best results, stop cooking breasts at that point. For thighs, you should cook to 180° for tenderness.
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Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Fiesta Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Skinless boneless chicken breast - or thighs
- 1 to 2 cups black beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn - frozen
- 1 cup salsa - thick and medium spicy preferred
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sour cream or cream cheese
Instructions
- Trim chicken of any trimmable fat.
- Drain and rinse black beans. One cup of beans is enough, but I like a lot of beans and use the entire can.
- To a 3 quart or larger crock pot, add 1 cup of black beans, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of salsa, 1 tablespoon of chili powder, ½ teaspoon of cumin, ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of onion powder, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix well.
- Add the chicken into the mixture and spoon some on top. Cook on low for 3-4 hours until the chicken is tender and 165°.
- Remove the chicken breasts and shred them. Place back in the pot and add ½ cup sour cream or cream cheese. And finish cooking another 30 minutes.
- Serve as you wish, as nachos, in tacos, on tortillas, over rice, or in a burrito bowl with rice.
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Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This fits nicely in a 3-quart crock pot. You can use a bigger crock pot if you want. A double recipe needs 6 quarts or bigger and a half recipe will fit in a 2-quart mini crock pot.
- I like black beans and suggest a whole can rinsed and drained. But half a can is fine.
- Cook until the chicken is 165° or a bit more. It will shred well at that point. The exact time will vary by the thickness and size of the chicken alone with your crock pot.
- You can use skinless boneless chicken thighs, but cook to 175° - 180°.
- You can also use pre-cooked shredded rotisserie chicken—see instructions in the recipe post above.
- The seasoning is still relatively mild. You can adjust it to your taste.
- I have never been a fan of cream cheese in recipes like this, but it is common. Use either sour cream or cream cheese.
- Good refrigerated for 4 days and frozen for 3 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published August 21, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Diana says
Seems this item could be used for tacos or quesadillas. Using Carb Balance tortillas which have just 6 grams of fat each is helpful for diabetics. They are tasty! And no, I don’t work for them. LOL
Lara says
Have all the ingredients on hand and will make this tomorrow. Yummy!
Also ... recipe shows adding 1 cup of corn twice? Assume this is just a typo?
DrDan says
Thanks for the proof-read. I actually added the second one in after not seeing the first one just before publishing... The vision is going.