low Cook Salsa Chicken Recipe (3 ways!) | Meal Prep Ideas

Meal prep means different things to different people. For me it means prepping a handful of head start ingredients on the weekend that I can use to jump start other meals during the week when my time is a little tighter. So today I'm sharing with you guys one of our family favorites. It's a crock pot salsa chicken and I'm showing you a few different ways we like to use it. Now this recipe could not be any easier to make. Into my crock pot goes one and a half pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast topped with one sliced up pepper, a sliced up onion, and then a 16 ounce jar of salsa. You can use any type of salsa that you like. Because this is for my family I'm going with a mild salsa but if you like something a little smoky and spicy try using chipotle salsa. Then you can either cook this on low for six to eight hours or set it to high for three to four hours. About a half an hour before the chicken is done cooking you want to remove the chicken breasts from the crock pot and then just use two forks to gently shred the chicken up. You'll see this happens very easily. Once it's all shredded transfer it back into the crock pot. Give it a good mix. Make sure all of that chicken is absorbing all of that salsa and the flavor. Pop the lid back on and in another 30 minutes this is ready to go. FYI you could do this same exact recipe with barbecue sauce. Once the chicken is done I let it cool down then I transfer it into an airtight container and this will last stored in the fridge up to a week. Then when we need a quick clean and delicious meal during the week I've got this protein and veggie packed head start ingredient ready to go. So let me show you a few of the different meals that my family and I like to use this chicken for. Number one a weeknight chicken quesadilla. Heat your favorite whole grain tortilla in a dry nonstick skillet. Once it starts to heat up flip it over. Sprinkle half of the tortilla with a little bit of shredded cheese. Then layer in your chicken and top that with a little more cheese. Fold the tortilla onto itself and then grab your teapot or something to put a little weight on top. Let that cheese start to melt. After a couple minutes I flip it over. I give it another minute on the second side and dinner is ready to go. If this is all we have time for I will slice up a quick cucumber on the side so the kids can get some veggies into their world and we call it a night. Quick weeknight option number two. A simple taco salad. Now you can really do this with ever veggies or lettuce that you have on hand but one of my go-to favorites is this. I do a little bit of chopped up crunchy romaine lettuce topped with red cabbage, some frozen corn, black olives then I add the chicken to the top with a little bit of fresh diced avocado. Mix this all together and it's ready to go. If you wanted to kick it up another notch you could add a little extra salsa or one of your favorite creamy dressings. And my last idea and this is for those times when you really need like a two-minute dinner. I always keep some frozen brown rice on hand in the freezer which I buy at Trader Joe's that heats up in the microwave in about two minutes. I heat up the chicken and then I serve the rice and the chicken with some fresh diced avocado. All three of these are very simple but I promise they're all really delicious and it makes eating clean and delicious super doable even on your busiest night. So now I want to know which of these three meal options do you think you would try first or what do you think you would like to make with your salsa chicken? Don't forget to like this video if you like it. Give it a big thumbs up and thank you so much for being here. I'm Dannie Spees. I'll see you back here next time with some more clean and deliciousness. And some avocado... Rice... The chicken... Okay. Quick...