Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken
Chicken slow cooked with roasted poblanos, jalapeno, cumin, and lime, then shredded back into its own green juices.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Most green chile chicken recipes start with a jar of salsa verde, which means starting with somebody else's salt and sugar. This one starts with four poblanos and a couple of jalapenos, and it tastes green in a way that no jar does. The peppers are the recipe, not a flavoring added to it. Poblanos are the mild end of the chile shelf, so the heat here comes almost entirely from the jalapenos, and taking their seeds and ribs out is the dial if you are cooking for a table with children at it.
Charring the poblanos before they go in is the twenty minutes of work this dish asks for, and it is the whole difference. Raw poblano in a slow cooker tastes flat and slightly grassy. Blistered under a broiler until the skin lifts, it turns smoky and sweet, and four hours under a lid spreads that smoke through everything in the pot. Steam them in a covered bowl for ten minutes after they come out, since the skins slip off in sheets that way and fight you if you try while they are dry.
Chicken breast is used here on purpose. It stays mild, it shreds into fine threads that carry the juices, and at four hours on low it has not had time to dry out. Push it much past that and it will, since breast meat has almost nothing in it to protect itself with. What comes out is a pale green pot of shredded chicken that goes on almost anything, which is why I make it when I want one cook to cover several dinners.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 poblano peppers, charred, peeled and sliced
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
- 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Instructions
- Char the poblanos: Broil the whole poblanos on a sheet pan, turning them, until the skins are blistered and black in patches, about 10 minutes. Move them to a bowl, cover it, and let them steam for 10 minutes before slipping off the skins and slicing the flesh.
- Build the base: Scatter the sliced onion, minced garlic and jalapeno across the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker and drizzle the olive oil over them.
- Season the chicken: Pat the chicken breasts dry and rub them with the cumin, coriander, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Lay them on top of the onions in a single layer.
- Add the peppers and liquid: Lay the charred poblano strips over the chicken and pour the chicken broth around the edges of the pot. Hold back the lime juice for now, since acid added early makes breast meat firm up.
- Cook it low: Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. The chicken is done when it shreds under light pressure from two forks. Breast meat has a narrow window, so start checking at 3 1/2 hours.
- Shred and finish: Shred the chicken directly in the pot so it goes straight back into the juices, then stir in the lime juice. Taste, add more lime if it needs lifting, and serve with cilantro and lime wedges.
Variations
- Instant Pot: Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes with a natural release of 10, then shred and stir in the lime.
- With tomatillos: If you can find them, quarter six tomatillos and add them with the poblanos. They bring a sharp green tartness that lime alone does not quite reach.
- With sweet potato: Add 3 cups of cubed sweet potato at the start. It cooks through in the same 4 hours and turns this into a one-pot meal.
- Green chile soup: Add another 3 cups of broth and a handful of chopped kale at the end. The same pot becomes a light green chile soup with no other changes.
- With avocado: Serve each bowl with half a sliced avocado. The fat rounds out a brothy pot and makes it eat much more substantially.
Storage & Leftovers
Cooled leftovers keep in the refrigerator for 4 days. Store the chicken in its juices in a covered container, because shredded chicken dries out fast on a plate and the juices are what keep it tender.
Reheat gently in a covered pan over medium-low with a splash of broth, or eat it cold folded into a salad. A second squeeze of lime after reheating brings back the brightness that fades in the refrigerator.
It freezes for up to 3 months and thaws well. Freeze it flat in portioned bags with plenty of juice, thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and add fresh lime and cilantro after reheating rather than before freezing.
Notes & Tips
- Let the peppers steam: The ten minutes under a cover after broiling is what loosens the skins. Skip it and you will spend twice as long scraping them and lose half the flesh.
- Do not add the lime early: Acid tightens breast meat over a long cook. Added at the end it stays sharp and the chicken stays soft.
- Shred in the pot: Shredding on a board and returning the chicken loses juice to the cutting board. Two forks straight into the crock keeps everything where it belongs.
- Check at three and a half hours: Every cooker runs differently and breast meat goes from perfect to stringy quickly. Start looking before you think you need to.
- Seed the jalapenos: The seeds and white ribs carry nearly all the heat. Seeded, they add a green pepper flavor without making the pot spicy.
- Save the pepper juice: The liquid that collects in the bowl while the poblanos steam is full of flavor. Pour it into the pot rather than down the drain.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Poblanos, lime and cumin are doing all the work here, and none of them come out of a jar. Charred peppers bring smoke, lime brings sharpness at the very end, and cumin sits underneath both, which is why a pot this simple tastes finished.
- Poblano peppers carry a surprising amount of vitamin C for something you cook, and charring them concentrates their sugars into the smoky sweetness the whole dish is built around.
- Chicken breast takes on whatever it cooks in, which is why this pot tastes so much like the chiles, and shredding it back into the juices is what keeps it from turning dry.
- Onion and garlic cooked slowly for four hours turn sweet and lose their bite entirely, and they carry prebiotic fiber that the bacteria in your gut put to use.
- Cilantro and lime added off the heat are what make the last bite taste like the first. Fresh acid and fresh herbs both fade with cooking, so adding them late is not a garnish decision, it is a flavor one.
- As you eat, notice the smoke arriving before the heat does, and let the lime finish each bite before you take the next one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I skip charring the poblanos?
You can, and it will still be good, but it will taste noticeably flatter and greener rather than smoky. If you want to skip a step, skip peeling them rather than skipping the char.
How hot is this?
Mild. Poblanos are barely warm and the jalapenos are seeded. If you want real heat, leave the jalapeno seeds in or add a pinch of cayenne with the cumin.
Can I use thighs?
Yes, and they are more forgiving. Give them 5 hours on low instead of 4. The pot will be richer and the nutrition on this page will read a little differently.
What do I serve it with?
It goes over cauliflower rice, into lettuce cups, or over roasted sweet potato. It also makes an excellent filling for anything you would otherwise put shredded chicken in.