Easy Shredded Salsa Chicken: A Simple High-Protein Meal Prep Recipe
- Dr. Stephanie Bartolotti
- May 30, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Some recipes are less about showing off your culinary skills and more about getting a healthy dinner on the table without creating a small disaster in your kitchen.
This is one of those recipes.
Shredded salsa chicken is incredibly simple, full of flavor, and one of my favorite recipes to make ahead because you can use it in so many different meals throughout the week.
Make a batch once and suddenly you have chicken for tacos, rice bowls, salads, stuffed sweet potatoes, wraps, or whatever else you can assemble when you're hungry and don't particularly feel like cooking.
That is my kind of meal prep.
Why I Love Shredded Salsa Chicken
Chicken breast is an easy source of lean protein, but let's be honest: plain chicken breast can get boring very quickly.
Adding salsa while the chicken cooks keeps things flavorful and gives you a versatile protein that doesn't require a long list of ingredients.
This recipe is especially useful if you're trying to eat more protein consistently.
Rather than figuring out a protein source every time you make a meal, you can cook a larger batch and keep it ready in the refrigerator.
Healthy eating becomes considerably easier when the healthy food is already made.
Protein Is an Important Part of a Balanced Meal
Protein isn't just for athletes or people trying to build muscle.
Your body uses amino acids from protein for muscle, tissue repair, enzymes, hormones, immune function, and many other processes.
I especially encourage women to pay attention to protein intake as they move through perimenopause and menopause, when maintaining muscle becomes increasingly important.
Instead of trying to squeeze most of your protein into dinner, aim to include a quality protein source throughout the day.
Having shredded chicken ready to go makes that much easier.
Shredded Chicken From a Chinese Food Therapy Perspective
Chinese food therapy looks at food a little differently than conventional nutrition.
We're interested not only in vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fat, but also in the energetic qualities of foods and how they're prepared.
Chicken is traditionally considered a nourishing food that supports Qi and Blood and can be particularly useful in meals for people who tend toward fatigue or deficiency.
Cooking food also matters.
Warm, cooked meals are generally easier on the Spleen and Stomach from a Chinese medicine perspective than relying heavily on cold and raw foods.
This doesn't mean you can never eat a salad.
It just means your digestive system might appreciate seeing a stove occasionally.
Easy Shredded Salsa Chicken
This recipe is intentionally simple.
You can keep it basic or use the finished chicken as a starting point for dozens of different meals.
Ingredients:
8 oz. organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts
16 oz. salsa
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Place the chicken breasts in your slow cooker or pressure cooker.
Season with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Pour the salsa over the chicken, making sure the chicken is well coated.
Set on your slow cooker or Instant pot on low for 8 hours and close the lid.
Remove the chicken and shred it using two forks, then return it to the salsa and cooking juices.
Stir everything together and allow the chicken to absorb some of that flavorful liquid before serving.
What Kind of Salsa Should I Use?
Use a salsa you genuinely like because its flavor becomes the flavor of the chicken.
Mild, medium, or spicy all work.
You can use a traditional tomato salsa, fire-roasted salsa, salsa verde, or even a homemade version.
Just check the ingredient list if you're buying prepared salsa. I generally look for simple ingredients without a lot of unnecessary added sugar.
And if you're cooking for a family with very different definitions of "spicy," start mild.
The hot-sauce enthusiasts can handle their own affairs afterward.
Easy Ways to Use Shredded Salsa Chicken
This is where the recipe becomes really useful.
Try it in:
Tacos
Burrito bowls
Rice bowls
Quesadillas
Lettuce wraps
Stuffed sweet potatoes
Baked potatoes
Taco salads
Nachos
Soups
Grain bowls
For an easy balanced meal, pair the chicken with vegetables, a carbohydrate such as rice, quinoa, beans, corn, or sweet potato, and a healthy fat such as avocado.
One batch of chicken can become several completely different meals.
That's how I prefer to meal prep.
I don't necessarily want to eat the exact same container of food five days in a row.
Make It a Meal Prep Staple
After cooking, divide the shredded chicken into portions and refrigerate it in airtight containers.
Then during the week, you already have the protein portion of your meal finished.
Monday might be a rice bowl with salsa chicken, avocado, vegetables, and black beans.
Tuesday might be chicken tacos.
Wednesday you could add it to a stuffed sweet potato.
Same chicken.
Completely different dinner.
This is one of the easiest ways to make meal prep feel less repetitive.
Can You Freeze Shredded Salsa Chicken?
Yes.
Shredded chicken freezes very well, especially when it's stored with some of the salsa and cooking liquid to help keep it moist.
Allow the chicken to cool and store it in freezer-safe portions.
Then you can thaw only what you need for an easy meal later.
Future you will be very pleased with present you.
Dr. Stephanie's Tip: If eating enough protein feels difficult, stop thinking you need to cook a completely new protein at every meal. Batch cook it.
Make shredded chicken, hard-boiled eggs, meatballs, salmon, ground turkey, or another protein you enjoy and keep it available for several meals.
Then build different meals around it.
The easier you make healthy food to grab, the more likely you are to actually eat it.
Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Complicated
One of the biggest misconceptions about healthy eating is that every meal needs to be an elaborate recipe.
It doesn't.
Some of the most useful recipes are the simplest ones because they're the recipes you actually make again.
This shredded salsa chicken gives you an easy source of protein that can become multiple meals throughout the week.
Cook once.
Use it several ways.
And spend considerably less time standing in front of the refrigerator at 6:00 p.m. wondering what on earth you're going to make for dinner.
Love Easy, Healthy Recipes Like This?
If you enjoy simple recipes made with real ingredients, you'll find plenty more in my cookbook, Allergy-Free Tastes Good to Me.
I created this cookbook to prove that eating gluten-free and dairy-free doesn't mean giving up the foods you love. Inside you'll find 93 delicious recipes for breakfasts, soups and stews, easy dinners, side dishes, snacks, and healthy treats—along with practical tips to make healthy eating easier in real life.
Because healthy food should still taste really good.
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