Crock Pot Chicken Santa Fe … So Easy, So Good!

Crock Pot Chicken Santa Fe … so easy, so good!

So I’m trying to be good. Good as in, “I will use up every bit of whatever I buy, open, and stick in the fridge.” It’s been a thing with me — but just with weird stuff. For instance, I’ll buy some new curry sauce at Trader Joe’s, use half of it for dinner that night, and stick the second half in the fridge, where it does the slow dance to the back along with all the other archaeological relics.

But no more. Today, I turn over a new leaf. And it begins with that can of chipotle in adobo that I bought and opened when I got home from the east coast. I’ll tell you about that in the next post. Suffice it to say, I only used three of the chipotles in the-recipe-I-will-share-later. That left a whole lot of chipotles in that can. And I am determined to use them up.

So when I got a hankering for Chicken Santa Fe, I decided I would mix it up a bit. Just about every recipe you will find online for this calls for cumin and a little chili powder and/or cayenne. But I thought, chipotle in adobo. And I’m glad I did. I like it even better than the usual recipe. The other recipes also always call for chicken breasts, but I like thighs better and think they hold up better in the crock pot. So here’s my version of this yumminess:

Crock Pot Chicken Santa Fe

• 6-8 skinless chicken thighs
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cans corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2-3 chipotles in adobo, diced *
• 3 cups salsa (I used homemade, which is more like Pico de Gallo)
• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, cut into little pieces
• 2 tsp dried cilantro or 2 TBSP fresh
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• garnish: cheese, sour cream, avocado, green onion, fried tortilla strips

*Note: We really, really like heat in our food. I used two chipotles this time, and we still added tabasco and tapatio at the end. Next time I’ll add three. But you might want to start with two.

There’s really nothing to this. Place the chicken thighs in the bottom of the crock pot. Add everything up to the garnish (wait for that). Cook on high four hours or low six-seven hours.

This is great over rice, but it also makes a nice filling in tortillas. We were in a big, fat hurry to eat this after I made it, and I absentmindedly mixed the leftover rice in before I put it all away, so this is the picture you get. Try to imagine nice, white, pristine rice circling the blob of chicken santa fe …