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.
Thank you for this recipe! I usually tweak recipes a little, but this one I followed almost exactly (I used two large chicken breasts and added additional seasoning accordingly) and was delighted. It’s healthy, delicious, and economical, so I’ve recommended it to several friends. I’m usually a stove-top cook, but I decided to use my slow cooker this time, which I rarely use and am still experimenting with. So, I learned the hard way not to put frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker. It took 7 hours for the meal to cook and the chicken never fell apart as it was supposed to. I’m sure it would’ve been perfect had I not used frozen chicken. Oh well, live and learn. Some other slow cooker newbie will learn from my mistake.
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
No, I’m sorry, I do not.
I decided to try this recipe last night, and I’m SO glad I did. I used chicken thighs because that was what I had in the freezer. I cooked the chicken in my instant pot because it was still frozen. I cooked up the veggies and sauce on the stove, and then added the cooked chicken and sauce to my food processor. I hit the “pulse” button several times to kind of break up and mix everything together (but not completely liquify everything). Then I put a scoop of rice on a tortilla and some of the ropa vieja on the rice. Those tacos were just amazing!
Could this work using fresh tomatoes instead of canned?
It will likely change the flavor and consistency a bit.
Fantastic recipe. I thought I would have plenty left over but my family and I ate it all within a day. The pot was no doubt scraped bare. My mother is diabetic and this was a great dish for her to enjoy without having to eat bland food. I look forward to making this again. :)
So, I got about halfway through this recipe when I realized I had accidentally bought half of my ingredients from another recipe I had open in another tab (luckily, it was still a tomato-y chicken slow cooker recipe!). So, I ended up accidentally doubling my meat thinking I was doubling the one recipe.
Soooo I worked with what I had and I ended up using around 3-4lbs. of chicken breast, 3 bell peppers (red, yellow, orange), one can of diced tomatoes and green chilies, garlic powder, all of these spices in this recipe, and a can of chunky “garden” pasta sauce. Here’s hoping it turns out! lol
… Why would you even comment then? I don’t understand people sometimes.
Great recipe! I added a sweet potato which made it more stew-like, it didn’t need any rice that way.
I cooked it on low for 8 hours and it came out perfectly!
I used half the amount of chicken and added can of beans at the end of cooking, so they just warmed through without going mushy.
Next time would probably double the spices as it was a little bland for my personal taste. I like it spicy! 🌶
Overall, great recipe! 😋Thanks so much for sharing 😊
hey!
Would this work in a le cruset in the oven??
Probably! I don’t know the temperature conversions for slow cooker to oven off hand, though.
Would it be okay to cook this on low?
8 hours on low should work. :)
Hi Beth,
Do you think I could get this recipe to work in a pressure cooker?
Thanks!
Yes, this would probably work perfectly in a pressure cooker. :)
Made this last week for my meal prep!!! So easy and yummy, Thanks!!! Wish you had a full archive of healthy options!
I made this recipe and although I liked it, my family thought it was only o.k. I had a lot left over so I froze it. Yesterday I defrosted it, rolled it in tortillas, poured enchilada sauce on top and baked it at 350 for 40 min. I then top with cheese and green onions and baked until the cheese was melted. My family this time couldn’t get enough. It made wonderful enchiladas and I was able to get two family meals from one recipe. Thanks Beth.
Any suggestions or tips for making this in an instant pot? What setting should I use? How many minutes? I’m planning on using bone-in chicken. Thanks!
I think you could probably just use the “poultry” button and be fine. :) Chicken thighs, even with the bone, cook fairly quickly in the IP.
I want to make this dish, but I really dislike big chunks of tomatoes. In the end of the dish, do the tomato chunks cook down enough so that it is just the flavor left over, which I don’t mind, or are there still big chunks in it. If there are, is there something I could substitute the tomatoes for that would work just the same. Such as roasted red peppers or something like that or would it completely change the dish?
I would say that there are still some chunks. You could try using petite diced tomatoes, which are very small pieces to begin with, or “crushed” tomatoes, which is more like a sauce but with no other added ingredients.