Chicken plus 3 ingredients gets you Crockpot Chicken Ranch Tacos in 5 to 6 hours of slow cooking time. Flavorful for salads and burritos as well. It’s dinner made easy!
I love a good crockpot dinner, especially as the weather is heating up outside and summer is on it’s way. This Crockpot Chicken Ranch Tacos recipe is one of those dinners that everyone loves and it couldn’t be simpler to make. There is a dry ranch dressing mix packet cooked in with the chicken so you get that ranch flavor, in addition to using ranch dressing on top, if desired. But the chicken is pretty flavorful by itself. If your kids love ranch, they will love this dinner!
This chicken also uses my favorite homemade taco seasoning, which if you haven’t gone homemade yet, you need to ASAP! All the flavor, but cheaper and no MSG!
The 3rd ingredient in this recipe, is chicken broth. I prefer to use Shirley J Chicken Bouillon because you only use 1/2 tsp of bouillon to 1 cup of water compared to 1 tsp of other brands. It’s still flavorful and then you don’t have to worry about too much sodium. (It has less sodium in it to begin with as well.)
This chicken would be great for taco salads and chicken burritos as well. It is seriously flavorful and delicious, with little fuss. Turn it on in the morning and come home to dinner tonight!
Crockpot Chicken Ranch Tacos
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning or 1 packet store bought taco seasoning
- 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (I buy it in bulk at Sam's Club; use 3 Tbsp if you buy it in bulk too.)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Crunchy Taco Shells
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Hidden Valley Lite Original Ranch
- Green Leaf Lettuce, cut into strips
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts, taco seasoning, ranch mix and chicken broth into a small crockpot.
- Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. Remove chicken breasts, shred with two forks, then return meat to the crockpot with the juices.
- Scoop up chicken with tongs, letting excess juices drip off and place the chicken into a crunchy taco shell with cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing, if desired.
Recipe Notes
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Recipe lightly altered from Family Fresh Meals
Oh yum. I’ve made slow cooker tacos a couple of times but would love to change it up and make this!
You should totally try these!
Looks fantastic!! Thanks for sharing, Amber! Pinned 😉
Thank you! And thanks for pinning!
We could eat tacos every night of the week at our house! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
My kids like chicken more than beef, so this was a great variation for us to use for tacos.
Mmm… I use my crockpot a couple times a week and have been looking for some new recipes. These sound yummy! Thanx so much!
That’s awesome! I love crockpot dinners!
Thanks for planning tonight’s dinner for me! These look yummy!
Haha! I had two readers already make these yesterday and shared their experience on facebook. They loved them, and I hope you do too!
Mmm these look so delicious! I can’t wait to give them a try!
Simplicity and flavor can’t be beat! We loved this meal!
What kids (and adults) don’t like ranch!? I’m trying to use my slow cooker more, especially on Sundays. It’s so nice to have a meal ready when you get home from work or church.
And agreed—Shirley J Chicken Bouillon is awesome!
Had to stop by to pin these tacos!! LOVE this idea!
Just put it in the crockpot. Word around the neighborhood is that this one is a keeper.
Haha! I hoped you liked it!
We made this last week, it was delicious! My husband is always looking for ways to make food spicy, so we added some buffalo wing sauce to the tacos, and it was amazing! Sounds crazy but it was delicious!
That’s doesn’t sound crazy, my husband would love if I added buffalo wing sauce! Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds delicious though do I cook the chicken or defrost it first before putting it in the crock pot?
You can don’t have to cook it beforehand. If I use frozen chicken I usually cook it in the crockpot on high (4 to 5 hours). For thawed chicken you can cook it on low or high (low for 5 to 6 and high for probably 3 hours). My times may be off, it just depends on the size of the chicken breasts. You want the internal temperature to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
i accidentally bought the ranch dip packet that you mix with sour cream instead of dressing mix. Does it matter? It should be all the same spices right?
You should be totally fine! The mix I buy in bulk says it’s for both the dip and the dressing, so I’m sure they’re not that different.
Just tried this to make nachos and it was totally delicious. I used Mrs. Dash taco seasoning and ranch mix along with low sodium broth to make it low sodium for my son with high blood pressure. We both loved it! Can’t wait to make it again. I made it into nachos because I had found some low sodium tortilla chips. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Ooh nachos sounds like a great idea with this chicken! So glad you liked it with the adjustments you made to fit your families needs!
I made this tonight and it was good! My chicken did get a little dry but it was fine. It was probably because I only had 3 breasts to use. Next time I will probably add a tbsp more ranch (I have bulk also) and some more taco seasoning. But the recipe was very good how it is. We used avacodo as a topping with lettuce, tomato, sour cream and cheese and it was very good. So super easy!
Nice, definitely add more of the seasonings to your taste, if you like. I LOVE avocados! Great toppings!
Don’t have dry ranch mix in the house. Can I use bottled ranch dressing (3T) instead of the powder?
It’s probably not going to be enough ranch flavor. 3 Tbsp of dry mix makes 2 cups of dressing and you definitely don’t want to waste 2 cups of ranch in the crockpot. I would make the recipe without the ranch mix, then shred it and drain most, but not all of the juices, and then add like 1/4 cup (4 TBSP) of ranch dressing, toss it up with the shredded chicken, wait until it’s heated through (15-30 min in the crockpot), and then serve it.
Thank you, Amber……will try what you suggest!