Saucy shredded chicken, yellow rice, pickled onions, greens, and cilantro pesto on top. It’s a flavor and color delight!
Crockpot Chicken Bowls with Yellow Rice and Cilantro Pesto
Watch How To Make These Chicken Bowls
I’m Going On Six Weeks Straight Of Making These.
Huge props to these crockpot chicken bowls for helping me eat more protein during the week, and for actually tasting so darn good, and for reheating well (you know how reheated chicken can be sometimes).
They’re a combination of yellow rice, saucy shredded chicken, pickled onions, greens, and that cilantro pesto on top, and it’s a flavor and color delight.
I keep trying to NOT write up a recipe for it, because bowl “recipes” are just annoying, ya know? Lots of little parts, lots of components… but you guys keep asking about them, and I keep coming back to them, so let’s make this happen.
The game plan: make these 4 things.
- Crockpot chicken.
- Yellow rice.
- Pickled onions.
- That cilantro pesto I keep talking about.
(Everything you need is in the recipe below.)
I usually throw a little salad on there, either some pre-made bagged salad, or lately a handful of micro greens from Costco!
But the beautiful thing is that prepped chicken, rice, pickled onions, and green sauce are building blocks for all kinds of other deliciousness. So, double whammy. Two for one. You’re your own professional chef right now.
In our family of four, I typically make the amounts as listed for one family dinner + 1-2 lunches of the leftovers for me. And I really do look forward to those leftovers a lot.
Wishing you a week of great eating!
With two adults and two young kids, this amount will get us through one family dinner + 2 lunch leftover servings for me! Double these amounts if you want to feed a big family for dinner and/or have lots of leftovers!
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Crockpot Chicken Bowls with Yellow Rice and Cilantro Pesto
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 servings 1x
Description
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Crockpot Chicken:
- 1 lb. chicken breasts
- 8 ounces of a simmer sauce or enchilada sauce that you like (see notes for my recs)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch whisked into 1–2 tablespoons water
- extra seasoning to taste – I often add a few shakes of chipotle powder, salt, and pepper
Yellow Rice:
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
Cilantro Pesto
- 1 1/2 cups cilantro leaves
- 1/2 jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed
- 1 clove garlic
- juice and zest of 1 lime
- 1/4 cup olive oil or avocado oil
- 1/2 cup roasted salted pistachios
Other stuff for the bowl:
- Pickled onions (a must for me, every time)
- Sour cream and/or your favorite salsa (see notes)
- A salad mix
Instructions
- For the Crockpot Chicken: Put the chicken in a slow cooker and cover with sauce; cook for 2 1/2 – 3 hours on high. Shred chicken directly in the slow cooker. Add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. Season to taste.
- For the Rice: Rinse the rice in a fine mesh colander. Add the rice, water, butter, salt, chili powder, and turmeric to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the cover, fluff it up, and season to taste.
- For the Cilantro Pesto: Blend everything up in a small chopper or food processor until smooth-ish (I leave some texture in mine)! It’ll be a very thick sauce, which I love – you can add water as desired to thin it out.
- Build Your Bowls: I love the combination of the yellow rice with a scoop of chicken, some salad greens, pickled onions, and a dollop of that cilantro pesto on top!
Notes
Favorite simmer sauces: I love Frontera’s Red Chile Sauce, Somos Al Pastor Sauce, and Siete Enchilada Sauce.
Favorite salsas: Thank you for asking – my favorite salsa, which I am passionate about right now, is the Siete Casera Mild Salsa Roja. It’s smoky and delicious and mild enough for my kids to love it, too. I also love the Mateo’s Salsa.
For meal prep: Store components separately so you can reheat the chicken and rice, while keeping the sauce, pickled onions, and salad greens cold, crispy, and fresh.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Crockpot
- Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired
Keywords: chicken bowls, crockpot chicken, slow cooker chicken, rice bowl
Three More Delicious Chicken Recipes
Filed Under: All Recipes Bowls Dairy-Free Dinner Gluten-Free Healthy Meat and Chicken Recipes Rice Slow Cooker
January 24, 2025
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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