This Cafe Rio Chicken recipe is our favorite crockpot shredded chicken for tacos, or any Mexican-inspired meal! It's delicious and SO easy to make!
There is a restaurant called Cafe Rio that we love. It is wildly popular - everything they make is amazing! We could eat it every day - which is why I have worked so hard to perfect their copycat recipes. It saves us a lot of money to be able to make our favorite restaurant dishes at home!
Cafe Rio Chicken is super easy to make. You just dump all of the ingredients in the crockpot and then shred it when it's done!
If you make this, consider making our Chuy's Jalapeño Ranch, Copycat Cafe Rio Pork, Easy Taco Soup, and Cilantro Lime Rice to go along with it. Or make our delicious and easy Tres Leches Cake for dessert. Check all of our Mexican food recipes here.
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These Crockpot Shredded Chicken tacos are so good, it's one of the dishes I make when I have company over! It's great for feeding a crowd and people always ask for the recipe. The shredded chicken is delicious in tacos, salads, enchiladas, nachos, burritos or even just over rice. You honestly can't go wrong.
What you need to make this:
- Slow Cooker
- Slow Cooker Liners (optional)
- Chicken Breasts
- Zesty Italian Dressing Packet
- Ranch Dressing Packet
- Cumin
- Chili Powder
- Garlic
- Water
How to Make Cafe Rio Chicken
- Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker. They can be frozen or thawed.
- Pour contents of Italian dressing and Ranch dressing packets over the chicken breasts.
- Add minced garlic, cumin, chili powder and water to slow cooker.
- Turn on slow cooker on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. (I prefer to cook it on high for 3 hours.)
Remove chicken from slow cooker and put it into a medium bowl. Shred with forks.
Pro Tips:
Pour some of the liquid from the pot into the bowl to keep the chicken moist.
If you make this recipe, please leave us a comment and positive review. They mean a lot to us!
Cafe Rio Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts frozen or thawed
- 1 oz Italian dressing mix
- 1 oz ranch dressing mix
- ½ tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Pour all other ingredients over the top of chicken and cook in the slow cooker on high for 3 hours or low 6 hours.
- Shred chicken with forks. Pour some of the liquid from the crockpot into the bowl to keep the chicken moist.
Nutrition
I hope you love it as much as we do!
xo,
Teresa
If I cook 5 lbs of chicken, does it need more time to cook?
Tina
It was pretty close to cafe rio style chicken. I added a bit of lime juice after shredding - I think next time I will add it into the cooking mixture.
Thank you
Jessica
Good idea Tina, thanks for sharing!
Sha
I am in loved with this Mexican-inspired meal! It's bursting with flavors and incredibly delicious. My friends also loved it!
Erin
I love a good dump-and-go recipe, and this one didn't disappoint! Family gobbled it up!
Kristyn
This is the best chicken!! We make it often, especially when feeding a crowd!
Bri
Does the cooking time need adjusted if frozen chicken is being used instead of thawed?
Sarah
No, the cook times are for either frozen or thawed! You could probably check the chicken sooner if your chicken is not frozen to start, it will cook through more quickly, but it's also okay to stay in for the full time. That's the beauty of the slow cooker.
L J Floyd
Sounds good and I'm going to try it
Erin Merrill
Unreal delicious! Unreal easy! SO flavorful and perfect alone or in tacos. Thank you for sharing this go-to recipe ... I will be using this weekly!
Jessica
We are so so glad you liked it! It is basically in the weekly rotation for us as well. Thanks so much for coming back to review, we appreciate it!
Judy
This looks great and I'm planning to make it for Labor Day Weekend....what kind of sauce is that on top of the lettuce? Something homemade?
Sarah
It is this Jalapeño Ranch! https://prettyprovidence.com/jalapeno-ranch-dip/
Kim
8oz Italian seasoning packet? Thinking maybe this is a typo? Is it supposed to say 8 oz of Italian dressing? Or is it supposed to say one Italian dressing packet?
Jessica
So sorry! One italian seasoning packet!
Jess
So the only liquid is 1/2 a cup of water? The Italian packet is not made you just add the packet of seasoning?
Sarah
Yes, you just put the dry seasoning packet over the top of the chicken and then add 1/2 cup water to the slow cooker!
Jamielyn
this chicken is so delicious! Perfect in tacos!
Jessica
Yes! Good in so many ways! Thank you!
Sabrina
I need to try this so i’m No longer missing out! Sounds amazing!
Jessica
Haha yes you DO! It is so good!
Kara
We love this stuff! It's so easy and so flavorful. It makes great tacos, but my kids like to sneak and eat it plain. :)
Jessica
Haha my kids do that too! You are so sweet- thanks for the review!
Pam
We've made this recipe for years! it's a family favorite! Thanks for sharing!
Jessica
Yay! That is so fun to hear! Thank you so much for letting us know!
Becky Hardin
Looks so easy! And delicioUs!
Jessica
It literally takes two minutes! It's the best!
Linda skaggs
So yummy and easy!
Jessica
Yay! I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks Linda!