Slow Cooker Chicken Birria
Slow Cooker Chicken Birria is a super flavorful recipe, has a gorgeous deep color, and is perfect by itself in a bowl or as tacos, nachos, or quesadillas.
Traditional birria is made with lamb, goat, or beef.
It’s a stew that originated in Mexico and typically has chiles, spices, and cooked low and slow.
It starts with dried ancho and guajillo chiles, which my store does not carry.
Buuuut, there’s always Amazon or specialty stores where you can find these.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken Birria
Since the chiles are dried, we first need to bring them back to life by rehydrating them.
Remove the stems and shake out most of the seeds.
Then, bring 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan, remove from heat, and add the chiles.
Let them soak for about 20 minutes.
Add the chiles and broth to a food processor or blender, or into the slow cooker and blend with an immersion blender.
Then add apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, honey, oregano, cumin, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, and cinnamon.
Place 4 pounds chicken breasts in a slow cooker with a diced onion and two cans of Rotel tomatoes.
Then add the flavor packed chile paste.
Give it a little stir and turn the slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours.
And use two forks to shred the chicken right in the slow cooker.
And now you have a huge pot of birria to enjoy!
You can serve this as is in a bowl with toppings of choice such as cheese, cilantro, lime, hot sauce, and Sweet Pickled Red Onions.
Or use it as tacos filling, nachos, or in quesadillas.
This makes a TON, so if you have leftovers just place in a container and freeze for up to 3 months.
We enjoyed our Slow Cooker Chicken Birria as chili one day and as tacos the next day 🙂
.
.
I highly recommend making these Sweet Pickled Red Onions, so good on tacos, burgers, and nachos too!
If you like Slow Cooker Chicken Birria, you might also like these recipes…
Slow Cooker Chicken Poblano Soup
Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken
And Slow Cooker Chicken Chorizo Pasta
Mexican Birria Tacos
.
Follow me on:
TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
And join my Grilling and Smoking Facebook Group!
Slow Cooker Chicken Birria
Slow Cooker Chicken Birria is perfect in a bowl or as tacos, this is a mixed up version using chicken rather than beef but just as flavorful
Ingredients
- 5 dried ancho chiles
- 5 dried guajillo chiles
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3/4 tablespoon pepper
- 3/4 tablespoon cumin
- 3/4 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 onion diced
- 2 10-ounce cans Rotel tomatoes
- Optional toppings: cilantro, avocado, sweet pickled red onions, lime, diced onions, soft tortillas
Instructions
-
Remove the chile stems and shake out most of the seeds.
-
Put the chicken broth in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Add the chiles to the hot broth. Let soak for 20 minutes.
-
Add the chicken broth and chiles to a blender or food processor and add the apple cider vinegar, salt, honey, pepper, cumin, oregano, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, and bay leaves. Blend on low for at least 1 minute.
Note: You could also transfer to the slow cooker and use an immersion blender to blend.
-
Put the chicken into a slow cooker. Add the diced onion and cans of Rotel tomatoes. Pour the chile mixture from the blender over top and stir it a little. Turn the slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours.
-
Shred the chicken with two forks right in the slow cooker. Serve in bowls with desired toppings or use as a filling for tacos, quesadillas, burritos, or on top of nachos.
My new cookbook is now available, check it out HERE!
