It’s hot outside, y’all. Too hot to turn on the oven and make my AC work overtime. So, today I let my slow cooker do all the work and it made me this wonderfully delicious Chicken Ropa Vieja.
I had Chicken Ropa Vieja for the first time at a restaurant recently and loved how it was both extremely flavorful and very uncomplicated. This delicious dish is basically just chicken stewed down with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices until everything is tender and flavorful. Almost like chicken fajita stew. How can that NOT be good? Once I realized it would be an excellent candidate for the slow cooker, I knew I had to make some of my own.
What is Ropa Vieja?
Wait, let me start with what it isn’t. Ropa Vieja is not traditionally made with chicken. It’s a Cuban braised beef dish that translates to “old clothes” because everything is just kind of thrown together like a pile of old clothes and braised until tender and flavorful. But since I loved the flavors and cooking method so much, I wanted to see if I could apply it to chicken, and that’s how we got to this Chicken Ropa Vieja, or chicken “in the style of” ropa vieja.
If you want to try a traditional ropa vieja recipe and learn more about the roots of this awesome dish, check out these authentic recipes:
- Ropa Vieja from Chef Zee Cooks (Youtube)
- Ropa Vieja from Hispanic Kitchen
- Instant Pot Cuban Ropa Vieja from Latin Mom Meals
How to Serve Chicken Ropa Vieja
I served my Chicken Ropa Vieja over rice, but you could also use it to fill a taco or burrito. OR, if you’re doing the low-carb thang, just eat it in a bowl on its own! A little dollop of sour cream would be awesome on top, too. (I added a little cilantro to liven up the photos, but the dish has plenty of flavor on its own.)
What Kind of Chicken Should I Use?
I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs because that was the best price at the store yesterday. You can easily sub boneless skinless chicken breasts with no further modifications to the recipe. If you have bone-in chicken, that will also work. Just be sure to remove the skin first (if any) and remove the bones after cooking.
Slow Cooker Chicken Ropa Vieja
Servings 6 (3/4 cup each)Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 lb.s chicken pieces (boneless skinless) ($3.41)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1/2 Tbsp oregano ($0.15)
- 1 tsp cumin ($0.10)
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.37)
- 1 medium green bell pepper ($0.69)
- 1 medium red bell pepper ($1.79)
- 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes ($0.75)
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.22)
- Salt to taste (1/2 to 1 tsp) ($0.02)
Instructions
- Trim the chicken pieces of excess fat, if desired. Place the chicken pieces in the bottom of the slow cooker (4qt. or larger). Mince the garlic and add it to the slow cooker. Sprinkle the oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes, and some freshly cracked pepper over the chicken.
- Slice the onion, green bell pepper, and red bell pepper into strips. Place the onion and bell peppers on top of the chicken in the slow cooker. Add the can of diced tomatoes (with juices) and tomato paste to the slow cooker. The tomato paste can be added in dollops and will be stirred in after cooking.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours. After four hours, remove the lid and use tongs to stir the contents. Break the chicken into shreds as you stir the slow cooker. If the juices in the slow cooker are too thin, allow the pot to continue simmering on high without the lid for about 15 minutes to reduce the liquid. Taste and season with salt as needed (I added 1/2 tsp).
- Serve the ropa in a bowl, over rice, or in a warm tortilla.
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Equipment
Nutrition
How to Make Chicken Ropa Vieja – Step by Step Photos
I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe simply because that was the best price at the time. I used one pack, which was 1.75 lbs, but you could use anywhere from 1.5 to 2 lbs without any further modification. Or, if you want to cut the meat in half and replace it with some black beans, that would work as well. Boneless, skinless chicken breast can also be used.
Trim the fat from the chicken if you want (honestly, I don’t bother), then place the chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker (it should probably be 4 quarts or larger). Add four cloves of garlic (minced), 1/2 Tbsp oregano, 1 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, and some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a mill).
You’ll also need a yellow onion, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper. Cut each one into strips.
Place the peppers and onion on top of the chicken in the slow cooker.
Add one 15oz. can of diced tomatoes (with the juices) and 3 Tbsp tomato paste. You can just plop the tomato paste on top because it will get stirred in later. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours.
After four hours the chicken and vegetables will let off quite a bit of liquid that the chicken then stews in. YUM. You can see that the tomato paste is still in clumps on top, but you may notice its darker color. The natural sugars in the tomato paste have caramelized a bit and given it a deeper flavor.
Use tongs or another utensil to stir the chicken ropa vieja. Shred the chicken as you stir. It should be so tender that it just falls apart when its touched. The mixture will be a tad soupy, but if you want a thicker sauce you can let it simmer without a lid for 15 minutes or so longer. Taste the dish and season with salt to your liking. I added about 1/2 tsp.
TIP: Adding salt at the end helps it be more pronounced, thereby allowing you to use less. If it was added before cooking, the saltiness would be much more subdued and you’d probably need to add more.
There are several ways to serve this chicken ropa vieja. It can be spooned over rice to soak up that extra yumminess, or it can be stuffed into a warm tortilla like a taco or burrito. It’s so good, though, that I wouldn’t mind eating it straight out of the bowl! A little sour cream would also be awesome.
This is an instant HIGH FIVE. I love this recipe so much, thank you thank you thank you. Delicious!
This looks AMAZING. Would it work if I cooked this for 8 hours on low? I often see recipes that can be cooked for either 4hrs on high or 8 on low — wondering if this is one of them! 8 hours always works so nicely when I’m at work all day. Thanks in advance!
I think that would work, yes.
This is so good. It is a surprise to me that this simple recipe could have this much flavor. I even mixed two cuisines and served this over your yellow jasmine rice.
Can you put the chicken breasts into the slow cooker frozen or will it ruin the texture of the dish?
It won’t ruin the texture, but I don’t recommend putting frozen meat into a slow cooker. It can slow down the time that it takes for the contents to come up to a safe cooking temperature and you risk food poisoning.
I made this and then mixed a good portion of it with corn, black beans and chopped zucchini (I had hallowed out the centers of 3 to stuff them.) I put the mix in the zucchini halves, topped with cheddar cheese, and baked them. We had for dinner with your golden rice as a side. So good and healthy!
Looks delicious! Do you think this would be as tender simmered slowly in a pot? I don’t have a slow cooker.
Yes, definitely. Just bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat to the point where it’s simmering gently. The heat will be higher than in a slow cooker, so it shouldn’t take as long.
Yum! I baked the leftovers with pasta and covered with cheese and sliced olives. Delish!
Great recipe! I served over rice and in a tortilla and it rocked both ways. The leftovers are even more delicious the second day.
Thanks!
Really good recipe I made this for the first time and my husband really liked it. He even made me print it out to give to his dad.
Made this earlier this week and it was great! Served it over brown rice and black beans. Yum! (I’ve had it 3 days in a row…)
That sounds good! I LOVE brown rice and black beans!! :-)
I made this the other day, but with pork instead of chicken. I also gave it about 3 hours on low after the initial cooking time given. It was great! I’m definitely making this again; I plan to try it with beef as well as chicken.
Hhmmm, I made this and was pretty disappointed. Very watery and not nearly as flavorful as I had hoped.
It’s possible I left it in the crockpot too long–I didn’t time it very exactly and I guess an extra 15-20 minutes makes a big difference cooking down the veggies on high? It seems like such a good simple base recipe though, so I think I’ll try it again with higher spice ratios and a little more tomato paste but drain out a fair bit of the juice from the diced tomatoes.
Even still, not bad; a perfectly acceptable lunch with plenty of salt and pepper! And this illustrates what I’ve been loving about your site, Beth–everything is pretty straightforward but easy to tweak and figure out the fundamentals behind how you put together a recipe. Thanks for all your great work!
Made this tonight for the second time. We’ve backed off on the tomato paste a little and added carrot. No salt. Excellent. Truly a keeper recipe.
We followed your recipe exactly, but for some reason came out with at *least* 10 hearty servings. Good thing we loved it!
Fun fact: this makes killer omlette filling, if you’re wondering about how to repurpose the leftovers. :)
Great taste, easy to make, plenty of food for some left overs made them into tacos with some rice and beans. my df loved it so did my 19m old :)
Thank you for this and all of your other recipes!!