Slow Cooker Jalapeño Popper Chicken Taquitos
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Cream cheese, jalapeños, and chicken all come together in these irresistible crispy taquitos! This is an amazing go-to crockpot recipe you’ll make again and again! Serve these up as a main dish or they’re perfect for game day appetizers – either way you can’t go wrong!
Still hungry? Look no further than my Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos, Instant Pot Chicken Taquitos, and Slow Cooker Creamy Chipotle Chicken Taquitos.
I know I’ve told you about my affinity for spicy foods. I probably even told you about the origin of that spicy food love with really goes back to my childhood days when I’d do anything and everything my big brothers told me to. That includes going down a laundry chute head first, and eating a fresh, raw jalapeño – straight up.
Oh yes, 9-year old me was as fearless as little 9-year old tomboys come. My brothers told me to eat it, so I did. And It was crazy-hot, the kind of heat that just cannot be quenched, not with milk (even though everybody swears by it), and not by baking soda (oh my gosh that was a taste I’ll never forget – in a bad way!). It was just one of those things you have to wait out and hope for the best. In the end, my tastebuds were still intact (much to my astonishment) and a bewildering new flavor craving had begun.
A craving for the heat that only comes from seed-bearing peppers.
Yep, that’s how it all started, my love affair with all things spi-say. You wouldn’t believe the flavor combinations I’ve tried (and loved) over the years. To this day I adore jalapeños on my cream cheese bagels and every now that then you’ll find me dipping Lays potato chips in Taco Bell hot sauce. I know, strange things. But after that kind of history, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine why I keep a GIANT jar of jalapeños in my fridge and create things like jalapeño popper taquitos.
Hold your horse though, you heat-fearing people, because I have good news for you. These are completely customizable to meet your own personal heat standards. If you’re like me and can’t get enough of that spicy goodness, you can load these babies up with as many jalapeños as your little heart desires. For the rest of you who love a good jalapeño popper but don’t want to burn your mouth to high heaven, just put a few less in there. I promise you that the cream cheesiness cuts through a lot of that heat so you just get the best of all those nummy flavors without injuring your tastebuds. And if you really wanna cool em down, dip them in ranch or green goddess dressing! If you’re looking for a little more kick – go for the salsa or Tomatillo Ranch Dressing!
Sing it with me – Let’s get it started hot, let’s get it started in here…
I don’t remember the rest of the lyrics. So we’ll just leave it at that.
More Recipes to Try
- Cheddar Jalapeno Pretzel Bites – the snack you didn’t know you needed.
- Jalapeño Poppers with Bacon – a little heat, a lot of flavor, and totally addictive.
- Skinny Jalapeño Popper Dip {6 ingredients} – six ingredients. Endless snacking happiness.
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Slow Cooker Jalapeño Popper Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 3-4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ⅓ cup jarred whole or sliced jalapeños, roughly chopped (or more, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 16 taco-sized tortillas , (I prefer flour but corn tortillas also work well)
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheese , (colby jack, monterey jack, Mexican blend, mozzarella – use your favorite!)
Instructions
- Add chicken, 1/2 cup water, cream cheese, jalapeños, garlic powder, salt, and cumin to crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. (lesser times are for thawed chicken, greater times for frozen chicken)
- Minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 425 and grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Use two forks to shred chicken and stir it in with the other contents of the crockpot.
- Heat tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them up, this will make them easier to work with. Sprinkle cheese in the middle of each tortilla (just divide the cheese evenly between all of the tortillas).
- Top cheese with 2-3 tablespoons of shredded chicken mixture. Roll tortillas tightly into a log-shape taquito.
- Place taquitos on baking sheet and spray heavily with cooking spray. Bake 10-15 minutes until cheese is melty and tortillas begin to brown. (For crispier taquitos, switch the oven to broil for 2-3 minutes – watch carefully so they don’t burn!)
- Serve warm with dipping sauces and toppings if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What is this recipe delicious , makes you want to bite the screen of my computer
Fantastic! I made these last night for dinner, and my husband gorged himself past the point of comfort! I did the recipe exactly as written, except I used 1/2 cup of chicken broth instead of water and added 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper and 1 cup of red onion. I will say that it was a little salty for my taste, so I will probably cut back the salt to 1/2 tsp. in the future.
I served it with the tomatillo ranch, which was a good accompaniment, but it needs some work. For one, I added no water to the ranch because it was already pretty runny and didn’t need to be watered down anymore. I thought the ranch flavor overwhelmed the other flavors in the sauce, so next time I would only add 2 tbsp. of ranch dressing mix (versus the 3 tbsp. in the packet), and probably throw in an additional jalapeno and tomatillo. Beyond that, this dish was AMAZING! Thank you for a simple, yet delicious weeknight meal!
Awesome tasting! I didn’t need the water – I had enough moisture from the tad bit of fat on the chicken. I’m also not a fan of cumin but I did sprinkle a little bit in the mixture.
Glad you enjoyed these Barbara, they’re a favorite at our house and one of my most popular recipes! 🙂
Have you tried using chopped green chiles instead of the jalapenos? Would it be the same amount?
Hi Tracy! I haven’t tried green chiles in this recipe but I bet that would be delicious. I’d try 8 ounces (2 4-ounce cans) of diced green chiles in this recipe. 🙂
I did! Well actually I used both. The flavor is awesome, just trying to figure out why mine was so watery 🙁
Hi, did you use bone in breasts or boneless, skinless chicken breasts? These sound delicious and I can’t wait to start this in the morning!
Boneless skinless 🙂
Thank you, Tiffany! Throwing everything into the pot now. Can’t wait! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Yummy…This looks delicious. I know what’s happening to the shredded chicken in my freezer.
What a great idea to use up frozen shredded chicken! I think I should probably start freezing shredded chicken… 🙂
I’m reporting back on using shredded chicken. I ended up needing to add some chicken stock to replace the moisture I lost from using pre-cooked chicken. I also used corn tortillas, which were delicious, but difficult to work with. The tortilla had to be almost soggy before my taquitos would stay rolled without breaking. It was still delicious but not nearly as pretty as yours. Also, I had some chicken mixture left over and my husband stirred it into some leftover mac-n-cheese for lunch the next day and said it was awesome. Thanks for this new addition to our dinner lineup.
How do you make the green goddess dressing?
Hi Jessica! You can buy green goddess dressing, I believe Kraft makes it and it’s sold as most grocery stores – OR you can click HERE to see my favorite homemade dressing! 🙂
Would using a crockpot be the only way it will absorb the flavor. Can I cook it on the stove on low on a good sized pot?
I feel stupid for asking this but how exactly do I cook the chicken with everything else?
This recipe looks fantastic! Am I supposed to use boneless/skinless chicken breasts? or bone-in chicken breasts? With or without the skin? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this!
How would you adapt this if I don’t have a crockpot …like on the stove i guess, how would I cook it and would it taste the same??