Cinco De Mayo is coming up and for those of you who want an awesome Mexican meal I really love my copycat Cafe Rio meal. I recently made it for Bunko and everyone asked for the recipe…but once I emailed them the recipe a lot of them said, “Whoa I had no idea this meal was so much work!” I agree it is a lot of chopping and blending but it’s a meal that I have made so many times it’s second nature to me now.
So here is another meal for my friends who don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and is still really good! I realize it’s not a looker but the taste makes up for it. I literally timed myself and I had the whole meal ready to go in three minutes…and I was taking my time. You can even throw in the chicken frozen. There are only five ingredients: chicken, corn, black beans, salsa, and cream cheese. I served this with leftover Cilantro Lime Rice but it’s great rolled up in a tortilla too.
Just this past Sunday my whole family was in the car waiting for me to go to church as I was throwing the last couple of ingredients in the crockpot for this meal. As I opened the jar of salsa it EXPLODED all over me. It was in my hair, on my neck…and necklace, and all over my white blouse. I hurried and changed clothes, wiped my neck and tried to carefully wash it out of my hair without completely ruining my curled locks. Satisfied with my quick clean up I jumped into the passenger side of the car and John took a whiff and said, “Umm…did you just eat chips and salsa?”
Great. I guess my clean up wasn’t good enough and we were already too far on our way to turn back. Nothing like having people wonder why they are craving Mexican food while sitting next to you in church. Awesome.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
- 1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
- 1 (15 ounce) jar of your favorite salsa
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
Instructions
- Take 4 frozen, yes, frozen (or thawed), boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot. Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained. Keep in crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Once it is cooked, take it out and shred it. Return shredded chicken to the crockpot.
- Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour. It may look at little strange at this point. Don't worry. Stir in the cream cheese.
- Serve over rice or in warm flour tortillas.
Notes
Source: RecipeZaar
This sounds so easy and delicious! Can’t wait to make it
this looks so yummy… and i love the story.
i can just picture JD saying something like that… of course making me feel really self conscious the entire 3 hours of church! nice husbands… nice!
Mexican restaurants may have been crowded after church that Sunday!
The recipe sounds yummy!!
I’m a big fan of crockpot meals lately….I think we’ll try this one for dinner tonight!!
Thank you, thank you for all of your yummy recipes. I LOVE your blog and come here often to find something yummy for dinner. Your food is always so pretty and your photography looks great. Keep you the good work!! Again, thanks for sharing your delicious meals, they are AMAZING!!
Thanks Christy for the dish. I made it tonight and actually didn’t ruin it. So easy someone who has actually screwed up frozen pizza (I put it in the oven upside down) could get this recipe right! My husband thanks you.
That totally made me laugh! Too funny! Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll be trying it soon!
We loved this over your Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice.
Tried this with the Cilantro Lime Rice. Cafe Rio’s was always too Lime-y so I was able to tame it down. The Fiesta Chicken was great warmed up over a salad the next day!
Thanks for this recipe! It was delicious!!!
I posted this on my blog:
http://ashleyscrafts.blogspot.com/2010/09/crockpot-fiesta-chicken.html
Hello Christi,
If I want to double up on this recipe, how much longer shall I cook the chicken?
Please advise. Thanks!
@Anonymous,
I actually think you could keep the cooking time the same if you double up. The crockpot usually takes care of making sure everything cooks evenly.
Thanks,
Christy
Would this be a good filling for enchiladas? Wrapped up with enchilada sauce over the top?
@Anonymous,
I’ve never tried enchiladas but I would imagine they would be good. We often wrap them up in a tortilla as a burrito!
Love this tasty dish but was wondering would it maybe work for pork as well?
I think this would work with pork but might take a little longer to cook!
Christy, made this for dinner tonight and LOVED it! Thanks for the yummy recipe. My meal plans are set for the rest of the month and they are all recipes I’ve wanted to try out from your site!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe! It is so easy and so delicious. Huge hit with my whole family of 7.
Hey ladies may I use chicken thighs instead of breasts?!
@amandachap,
I don’t see why you couldn’t use thighs. Sounds yummy!
Thanks for the easy recipe! By the way, I love reading all your posts… that IS a compliment! lol I love how you are so relatable, and don’t hide it!
Makes me feel like I’m hearing from my sister or an old friend, one of those few people that aren’t afraid to be honest and laugh at themselves! It brightens my day, so thanks! 
Hi! I am not much of a cook and made a decision in my mind that I will learn. I ran across your blog and realized how easy and simple your recipes were to follow. I am so excited because this was my first crockpot meal and it turned out awesome!!! I am so thankful for this recipe. It tasted really good too.
Can this be cooked on high in a few hours? Looks yummy!
@Anonymous,
You can cook this on high for 3-4 hours depending on how fast your slow cooker cooks.
We are making this dish tonight along with the rice. It smells wonderful! Thanks for your super fun recipes.. love them!
made this tonight using fat free cream cheese. it was awesome, hearty and incredibly easy! my bf loved it. thanks for the recipe. i’ll definitely be making it again.
I have this cooking in our crockpot now, and it smells delicious! We were working outside earlier, and every time I’d walk in the house, the smell was so yummy! Can’t wait to try it.
Love this. Great recipe!
I added the the cream cheese at the beginning on accident and it turned out wonderful. So if you are not home for the last 1/2 hour than you can do this way also.
i’ve made this a few times and it’s seriously my favorite meal. i love it! so easy too.
I made a double batch of this and took half to a friend for dinner. They said they liked it and I know my family loved it, too. I even snuck the cream cheese past my husband (who hates the stuff). Definitely a repeater!