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Cool Ranch Chicken Tacos (Slow Cooker)

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Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • 2 T. red wine vinegar
  • 1 T. chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. dried minced onion flakes
  • 3/4 tsp. dried dill weed
  • 1 T. fresh parsley chopped

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl, mix together all of the dried spices and set aside.
  • Place the chicken in your slow cooker.
  • Add olive oil and red wine vinegar.
  • Sprinkle with dried herb mix and add the fresh parsley.
  • Cook on low for four hours or on high for two hours, until cooked through.
  • Shred the chicken. (I like to do this directly in the slow cooker using my hand mixer. It's such a time saver!)
  • Serve in flour tortillas topped with your favorite taco toppings (salsa, shredded cheese, guacamole, etc)

Notes

Make ahead options: The nature of the slow cooker itself is a bit make ahead, as you can do it earlier in the day.  And I love the flexibility of doing it on low or high depending on what time of the day I actually get to assembling the meal.  They both come out equally as good!  I also sometimes measure out all the spices into a small bowl earlier in the day so that job is complete for whenever I am putting it all in my slow cooker.  
Helping Hands: There is not a ton for kids to do for this recipe, but when I've needed an activity for the day, I've had the kids help me mix and stir the spices up. Sometimes even just a small activity like that is helpful!  We also almost always eat our tacos with guacamole, and they LOVE helping to make that!
What to serve with it:  Since the tacos and all the toppings are pretty satisfying themselves, we usually just serve this with a simple steamed or roasted vegetable: asparagus, green beans, broccoli, etc.  You can also always have some chips and salsa or guacamole on the side as well.  We sometimes do, depending on how hungry everyone is.
*Shredding my chicken with a hand mixer has been revolutionary for me with recipes like this!  The shredding is so much finer, which we really like for tacos, and it is so much faster to do it that way!  I'm sure you could also do it in a stand mixer, I prefer the hand mixer because then I don't have another bowl to wash, I can do it right in the slow cooker.
*Dried parsley would also be fine in this recipe. I personally find that it doesn't have a lot of flavor and much prefer fresh. When we have a ton of parsley in our garden in the summer, I harvest a bunch of it, wash it, chop it up finely in the food processor and then freeze it.  Then I just break off a piece and throw it right into a recipe frozen.  It's delicious and so easy and you always have it on hand!