I’ve got a quick, easy, and delicious crock pot meal for you!
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I found this on Pinterest, and decided to give it a go since it’s kind of a variation on one of my favorite quick crock pot staples – salsa chicken.
Have you heard of that one? Take fresh or frozen chicken breasts, a jar of salsa or a can of Rotel tomatoes (not drained), mix in a packet of taco seasoning, and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. Shred the chicken with a fork, and you’ve got a super-versatile dish: great for chicken tacos, quesadillas, or Mexican Chicken Soup. (Bonus – it freezes really well, so I often make double what we need and freeze the rest in ziploc freezer bags.)
Anyway, this recipe is basically just that – changing up the seasoning and adding cream cheese. Quite honestly, it’s not really “chili” in the traditional sense, but I’m not sure what else you’d call it. It’s too thick to be a soup, but not quite a casserole. Whatever it is, though, it’s easy, and SO yummy!
The link I found for Cream Cheese Chicken Chili via Pinterest was from Rita’s Recipes, but upon a quick Google search I found there were several other extremely similar versions out there, like this one from Plain Chicken.
Bottom line – it is DELICIOUS! I served it up over rice with some cornbread, and it was a yummy and filling meal. (Side note – my hubby hates cream cheese but he still loved this dish!)
- 2 chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
- 1 can Rotel tomatoes (undrained)
- 1 can corn (undrained)
- 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 t. cumin
- 1 t. onion powder
- 1 T. chili powder
- 1 packet ranch dressing mix
- 1 pkg cream cheese
- Put chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.
- Add Rotel, corn, black beans, spices, and ranch dressing mix. Stir.
- Add cream cheese on top (do not stir).
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- About 30 mins before serving, stir cream cheese into chili.
- Serve alone or over rice.
NOTES:
- If you’re questioning the can sizes, I used a 15 oz can of corn, a 10 oz can of Rotel (I often buy store brand diced tomatoes + green chilis), and a 15 oz can of black beans.
- The chicken should basically shred itself when you mix in the cream cheese, but you can use two forks to pull it apart into smaller pieces.
- You can make your own ranch mix using 2 tbsp dried parsley, 1 tsp dried dill, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp dried basil, and 1/2 tsp black pepper.
- I used “Fiesta Blend” canned corn with green and red peppers, which gave it a little something extra than plain canned corn.
- You could add a small can of chopped green chilis and/or some cayenne powder if you want a little extra kick
- If you don’t have any canned corn, frozen corn would certainly work, but add a little bit of water in with it to substitute the liquid that the canned corn would have
- You could probably substitute Great Northern or Cannellini beans instead of the black beans if you want
- If you don’t have a can of Rotel on hand, you could substitute plain canned diced tomatoes for less kick, or even a jar of salsa.
- If you don’t have or want rice, serve it up with some tortilla chips to scoop up the chili!
Looking for a good crock pot? Here’s the one I have – and I LOVE it!! It has gotten quite a work out in my kitchen over the years and it’s still going strong. I love the programmable features.
If you like super easy and delicious crock pot meals (who doesn’t??), you’ll also want to try these Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops:
And here’s my absolute FAVORITE meal prep secret…the rotisserie chicken. Delicious, inexpensive, and SO versatile for easy weeknight meals! Read more of my rotisserie chicken meal prep secrets here.
Enjoy!!
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Hi Meredith!
This chili looks amazing! I love crock pot recipes. I made a creamy chicken soup in mine the other day and I actually added cream cheese to it! It makes a great addition. Pinned and shared on my Facebook page. Thank you for sharing on Marvelous Mondays. :)
Julie @ This Gal Cooks
Thanks, Julie! It’s one of those dishes that actually tastes a whole lot better than it looks and sounds, and it is the best ratio of yum to easy that I’ve found yet in crock pot recipes, haha. And thanks for hosting the party!
I have made the the cream cheese chicken chili and the last two weeks one co-worker told me she would pay me to make it for her my son loved it everyone I shared it with loved it I liked it as well.I changed up the tomatoes.
Looks delicious! I love using my crock pot and I love chili so I will definitely be trying this.
Fantastic, hope you like it!
Slow-cooker Sundays are a winter tradition in my house. I’m always on the lookout for new recipes and this one looks great. I can’t wait to try it! Thanks!
Great! This was delicious on a cold winter day. Hope you enjoy!
I think I just changed what I am making for dinner this evening! ;) I was wanting to do something Mexican. I had already planned to do ground hamburger with the Rotel & taco seasoning in the Crock Pot- I always make my taco beef & chicken that way! So good & easy! :)
Thank you for sharing at Marvelous Mondays! :)
I had never thought about doing taco beef in there, that’s a good idea too!
Meredith!
This is a go to at our house as well!!! I love your cute blog! I nominated you for a Liebster Award! Go check out the details on my blog!
http://www.maybeiwill.com/2013/03/i-am-honored-and-humbled-to-announce.html
Thanks Andie!!!
Your crock pot chicken chili looks so delicious! We can’t wait to try it. We would love to have you share it at our Strut Your Stuff Saturday link party and at our new sister blog site Myrecipemagic.com. You can share your recipe and make some extra “dough” (cash). Drop by and check it out! We are so excited! -The Six Sisters
Hi Meredith! This looks great! I am visiting from Family Fun Friday! Thank you for posting! I blog at My Life as Robin’s Wife. Blessings!
I made this the other night and it was super yummy!! I just had some of the leftovers today for lunch and I can’t wait to make it again. SO doesn’t like cream cheese either but he did like this.
Thank you for posting it!
So glad, Jennifer! This is now one of my favorite crock pot meals, it just doesn’t get any easier…and it’s great leftover, too!
[…] Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili from unOriginal […]
Soooo easy and super tasty, I make this every week now and there is enough to freeze and have for another night or lunches (it is just me and my husband). I added green and orange peppers to add some more veggies and it worked out great!
If I use more chicken breasts, do I need to double the other ingredients as well?
You should be able to add 1 or 2 more chicken breasts without adding more sauce…especially once it’s shredded, it will just make it meatier and thicker!
Do you know how to adjust the time if you’re not using frozen chicken breasts?
Hi Leila, it’s really difficult to overcook this! I’d say you could do 6 hours on low with fresh chicken breasts, but it wouldn’t hurt if it went for 8. With frozen, you’d probably need to do closer to 7 or 8.
This was delicious! Made it with Bob Mills GF Cornbread and everyone loved it! My son even asked me for the recipe. I sent him to your site. :)
fantastic! pot luck and everyone loved it!
Yay! I’m so glad. It’s one of our favorites for sure.
[…] 58. Cream Cheese Chicken Chili […]
It freezes quite well. I actually love this recipe so much that I triple the recipe so that I can portion it out and freeze individual containers to take for lunch!
Is this an ok dish to freeze leftovers??
when do you shred the chicken?
At the very end, after it’s cooked all day – it will be very tender and super easy to shred! I actually usually shred it about a half hour before we eat and then turn my crock pot down to warm…that gives me time to make cornbread and rice to go with it and then it’s ready to go when we sit down at the table.
I found this recipe a few years back and it’s one of my favorites! Rather than rice, I crunch up a bed of Doritos to place the finished concoction on, then top it like a taco with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and cheese, a dollop of sour cream …then serve with Doritos! SO good! I’ll try it with the rice and cornbread next time. 🤗
Oh that sounds like a delicious idea! I’ll try it that way next time!
Hi! I love this recipe. Do you by any chance know the serving size and calories? I like to record my meals :) . Thanks!
This was great! I made it last night for my sister and her family. Even my 10-year-old nephew ate it (after originally declaring he wouldn’t try it). I substituted half a packet of taco seasoning for the cumin, onion powder, and chili powder, though I think I could have used the entire packet. I will definitely be making this again!
So glad you liked it! I’ve never tried taco seasoning but that’s a terrific idea. I have the gigantic jar of it from Sam’s club. That would make this even easier to throw together in the morning!
Nice recipe. Couple of questions. The seasonings…these are teaspoons, right? And the cream cheese…this is one of those wrapped in foil, like 8 Oz?
Hi Bill, lowercase t = teaspoon, uppercase T = Tablespoon. And yes, it’s an 8oz foil package of cream cheese :-)
How long would you cook this in a pressure cooker?
I have no idea, sorry.
This is delicious! and so easy! I am making it to serve at a baby shower for my granddaughter this weekend, by request! 2 crock pots full, recipe doubled twice and my guess is there will be no leftovers. Thanks for the recipe!
It’s one of our favorites – we just had it last night! Hope it turned out well and your guests loved it!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m 38, newly married for the first time, and can’t cook AT ALL! I tried this recipe and it was a big hit. My husband and I loved it. Poor guy, he’s been very sweet to me…eating and complimenting all my previous attempts at cooking. But this time it was very obvious he enjoyed this dinner. He asked me to make it again very soon. And I love that I don’t have to defrost the chicken, which I usually forget to do. Thanks again.
I have made this twice so far. I doubled the recipe Sunday and froze the rest of it. I love this recipe. Got my recipe from Plain Chicken.
Literally just made this dish, like it just got finished cooking and I will say it is delicious! It really simple, easy and not an expensive dish to make. I will say that I seasoned my chicken w/ more seasonings that salt and pepper but nonetheless it was very good! Thanks so much for this recipe!
So glad you like it! It’s one of our favorites.
If you freeze leftovers… what is the best way to thaw/reheat?!
I make this often but want to take it to a friend’s house as a “deliver a meal” kind of thing and I don’t know what to serve it with. Other than tortillas? Any ideas?
I always serve it with white rice and cornbread, though rice doesn’t always transport well…we’ve also eaten this as a dip and used Fritos Scoops or Tortilla Chips to eat it, so that’s a fun option too! Add a bag of salad and I think it would make a great meal to deliver.
The most delicious chicken chili!
I’ve made this several times now & prefer it over a few more chicken chili recipes I’ve made in the past.
** The only things I do differently are to add a bit of chopped onion and some chicken broth to make it a little more soupy.
It’s so yummy!!
Leftovers are great too
Thanks for sharing this recipe 😊
Does this recipe work with the crockpot on high? If so, how long?
I love this recipe! I tweak it every now and then with garbanzo beans and cayenne pepper. I take the meat out, put it in a large bowl and shred it with a rotary beater. Much easier than forking it to shreds.
Insta pot?
[…] have out-of-town guests for a few days when the bluebonnets are blooming, fill the crock pot with a good soup recipe, color-coordinate your clothes, open the sun roof and head west on 1431 to Flat Creek Estate for […]