This chicken barbacoa recipe is everything that you already love about barbacoa but now with chicken! I have been making beef barbacoa for years with this same recipe. However, the other day I was planning to make beef barbacoa until I got to the store… Chicken breasts were on sale and chuck roast was not. If you follow Struggle Shuttle then you already know that I am always looking for a deal and finding the most affordable ways to do things so I decided to try my recipe with chicken rather than beef! To my surprise not only did it turn out and taste AMAZING but the substitute also made the barbacoa super healthy!

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How healthy is chicken barbacoa?

The barbacoa slurry contains Poblano peppers, jalapeno peppers and apple cider vinegar. Peppers contain Capsaicin. Capsaicin may increase metabolism by up to 20% for around 2 hours after you eat it. It does so by causing heat production in the body. The heat production burns more calories. Apple Cider vinegar has been shown to help:

suppress appetite
prevent fat accumulation and reduce fat storage
rid your body of toxins
facilitate digestion
control blood sugars

Making the substitute from beef to chicken barbacoa gives you even more health benefits! Chicken is high in CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid). CLA is a healthy fat found in the digestive track of animals. Choosing certain meats and dairy that contain CLA can help to burn fat and build muscle. Chicken is also high in Selenium. Consuming around 55-70 micrograms/day of Selenium will insure that your thyroid gland (metabolism regulating gland) continues to produce Epinephrine, TSH, Cortisol, Aldosterone and Testosterone. These hormones keep your metabolism ad energy level up. One chicken breast contains around 35 micrograms of Selenium!

What’s in Chicken Barbacoa?

Chicken barbacoa is one of those crock pot favorites! All you need to do is make the slurry and add it to the chicken! The slurry is something that you can make ahead of time if you need to. Then you can simply throw the slurry and chicken into a slow cooker before you leave for work and come home to an amazing meal!

Shopping List for Chicken Barbacoa:

6 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 Poblano peppers
2 Jalapeno peppers
1 LG yellow onion
minced garlic
vegetable oil
chicken broth
apple cider vinegar
lime juice
cumin
Mexico oregano (regular oregano is fine too)
kosher salt
chopped bay leaves (regular is fine too)
black pepper
ground cloves

How to make barbacoa slurry:

Preheat oven to broil.
Place whole Poblano and Jalapeno peppers directly on top rack in oven.
Broil until blackened, flipping halfway through. (about 10 minutes total)
Remove peppers from the oven and remove stems from peppers. Place in a blender.
Peel and chop onion and place in the blender.
Add remaining slurry ingredients (everything but the chicken) to blender.
Blend until smooth.

After you make the slurry you can either put the lid on the blender and keep it in the refrigerator to use the next day or you can start cooking your chicken barbacoa! To start cooking, place your chicken in the slow cooker, set the crock pot on “low” and pour the slurry over the chicken. Place the lid on the crock pot and allow to cook for 8 hours. **You may also choose to cook on “high”. This will reduce cooking time to 4 hours.

After cooking, remove chicken from the slurry that is now a sauce. On a cutting board, shred the chicken using two forks. This should be fairly easy to do. If they aren’t pulling apart with ease, they may not have cooked for long enough. Return them to the crock pot until they are more tender.

What to serve with chicken barbacoa:

I like to make tacos with chicken barbacoa! I serve them on a warm corn tortilla with my Homemade Black Bean Corn Salsa, thinly sliced fresh jalapeno and s sprinkle of fresh cilantro! YUM! However, you can also make quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, hard shelled tacos, or simply serve over rice to make a burrito bowl or lettuce to make it a salad!

For side dishes, stick with the traditional Mexican sides- some variation of rice and beans. I personally like to serve mine with black beans and brown rice. They are both high in fiber which also helps to boost your metabolism due to the thermal effect. For it takes longer for your body to process foods that are high in fiber. I simply use canned black beans, heated and strained. Then I add salt, pepper and oregano to them! For the brown rice, I cook it according to the instructions adding the optional salt to the water as well as some cilantro stems. I remove the stems after cooking and mix in fresh cilantro leaves. Sometimes I even add a squeeze of lime!

Chicken Barbacoa Recipe

That same great barbacoa flavor but made with chicken! This super easy chicken barbacoa is something that you can just toss in the crock pot before work and come home to AMAZING!

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Shredding Time 5

Total Time 8 20

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 12 people

Calories 188 kcal

Equipment

slow cooker
Blender

Ingredients

6 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 Poblano peppers broiled and stem removed
2 Jalapeno peppers broiled and stem removed
1 LG yellow onion peeled and roughly chopped
4 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 c chicken broth
2/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c lime juice
2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp Mexico oregano (regular oregano is fine too)
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp chopped bay leaves (roughly 3 bay leaves)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Instructions

Preheat oven to broil.
Place whole Poblano and Jalapeno peppers directly on top rack in oven.
Broil until blackened, flipping halfway through. (about 10 minutes total)
While in the oven set up your blender and slow cooker.
Turn slow cooker on "low" and add chicken breasts.
Remove peppers from the oven and remove stems from peppers. Place in a blender.
Peel and chop onion and place in the blender.
Add remaining ingredients to blender.
Blend until smooth.
Pour on top of the chicken in the slow cooker.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and allow to cook for 8 hours. (4 hours if cooking on "high")
Remove the chicken breasts from the slow cooker.
Shred and return meat to the sauce in the slow cooker.
Serve with all your favorite accoutrements!

Notes

**You may also choose to cook on high in the slow cooker. Cooking time reduces to 4 hours if cooking on “high”.

**Make sure you check out my Homemade Black Bean Corn Salsa Recipe! It pairs PERFECTLY with chicken barbacoa!

Keyword barbacoa, chicken, chicken barbacoa

I hope that you enjoy this easy chicken barbacoa recipe as much as my friends and family do! Don’t forget to check out my Homemade Black Bean Corn Salsa Recipe that pairs PERFECTLY to create epic chicken barbacoa tacos! Cheers!