Are you craving gourmet tacos? These awesome tacos are not afraid to become contenders for the best tacos around. Want to move past the basic or commercial taco flavorings? These amazing chicken tacos are succulent and really easy to prepare.
So my absolute favorite tacos of all time are the tacos from Tacos on the Street in Nayarit, Mexico. This place is an institution. The funniest part, though, is that you would never even know the restaurant exists during the day. It just looks like another residential area. But in the early evening, they start rolling down the windows and putting the tables and lights out into the street and …. instant transformation!
Their steak tacos are the best, and the rib tacos are yummy too. But the amazing chicken tacos are a revelation!! Flavorful, succulent; not at all dry. Trying to replicate them, I’ve tried a lot of methods and flavor combinations.
What I found is that there are a few simple tricks to getting super flavorful chicken tacos. But it’s not because the recipe is top secret, it’s just that there are so many different methods out there for making tacos. It can be confusing.
The Secrets
There are a few tricks that you can use to infuse flavor in your taco chicken. First, I love using the slow cooker for making chicken tacos. This one thing makes the process SO easy and virtually guarantees that the meat wont be overly dry. The next trick, for flavor, is to brown the outside of the chickens with spices to a rich golden brown before putting them into the slow cooker. This not only creates the flavor skin, but it also seals it in.
Next up – pay particular attention to the spices. Jarred salsa in your chicken meat? I don’t think so. Flavor package with glutamate (aka ‘natural flavoring’)? Hard pass. Once you try your own spice blend using things like cumin, garlic and a few other spices, you’ll never go back to packaged seasoning or jarred salsa in your chicken taco recipe!
The best part is that you don’t have to follow the recipe or the steps exactly. Just get all the ingredients out on the counter and start making. Use the right amount of spice for you and your family.
Although corn tortillas are traditional and the most common for street tacos, you can use flour if that suits your palate more. Prefer chicken thighs to chicken breasts? Awesome. Go for it.
Also mix up your toppings – try lettuce instead of cabbage, queso fresco, radish slivers, corn, guacamole, jalapeno peppers. You can load them up how you like.
Chicken Taco Marinade
Could you marinade the chicken first? Of course. This is a fantastic step to take if you have the time. The chicken really only needs to stay in the marinade for about 90 minutes, but as with most marinades, longer is better. A marinade is great in a sealable plastic bag with just a few ingredients you probably already have on hand. I like to use olive oil, an acid like lime or even yogurt, and common dried spices (cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, chipotle powder, etc.)
Need some more ideas on how to construct a balanced marinade for chicken? Check out my article on Making your own marinades.
About the Slow Cooker
For this recipe and other recipes which aren’t soupy and therefore don’t require a lot of liquid, I use a much smaller slow cooker. The giant one I have is more suitable for roasts and stews. The smaller vessel, on the other hand, keeps the meat close together so you can use less liquid, and still keep a consistent temperature and humidity. Less liquid means you will get more of the delicious flavors from the spices. The more broth you add the more you dilute the flavor.
Also, The smaller space maintains the heat and steam temperature more efficiently for the amount of food. This keeps the chicken from drying out – without needing to add too much liquid and in turn having to drain the liquid (and flavor) out at the end.
Not only is there less liquid, but with tacos, you need less chicken to feed more people. Two lean chicken breasts in this taco recipe will serve four people comfortably. Unless one of those people is a marathon runner, then you may want to add some 🙂 It is totally OK to stuff the breasts in there right on top of each other. The closeness of the space is actually better and keeps the steam and the liquid contained.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- 2 -3 Chicken breasts
- 1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth ( I start with only a half cup, then add more if I need it).
- 1 cup diced onions
- 2 tsp Ground cumin
- 2 cloves minced garlic (fresh is best, but powder works too)
- Pinch Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons of Chili powder
- 1 + teaspoon ground Chipotle powder
- 1 tsp Cayenne pepper, to your own taste.
- Dash paprika
Ingredients for Taco Toppings
- Corn or flour tortillas
- Sliced avocados
- Shredded cabbage (green is traditional, but purple cabbage adds a nice color variation!)
- Optional: diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, diced onions, shredded radish
- Good quality hot sauce
- Cilantro sprigs
- Lime wedge
Instructions for Amazing Chicken Tacos
Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Brown the chicken breasts in some olive oil in a sauté pan prior to adding them to the slow cooker. Browning the chicken not only adds pan saute-ed goodness and visual appeal, but it also serves to lock in moistness. It’s an easy way to get some extra insurance that your chicken won’t be dry.
Once browned on both sides, put the chicken into the slow cooker with a small drizzle of olive oil. (Yes, in a pinch you can follow this recipe without the browning, but it really doesn’t take that long and it adds so much flavor!)
In the same warm pan, put about a cup of chopped onions and sauté them for a minute. Once they are softened, add about a half cup of the chicken broth. Once the broth is boiling, add it along with the onions to the slow cooker, making sure the broth is warm before adding it. This ensures maximum cook efficiency and seals the flavors in the chicken.
Add all of the remaining ingredients – the spices – except the leftover half cup of chicken broth to the chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours. Make sure the lid is on and well sealed so that the broth doesn’t evaporate. If needed you can add between a few tablespoonsful to another quarter cup of broth toward the end of cooking. Don’t add so much that you dilute the flavor.
When the chicken is ready, do not drain the liquid. Shred the chicken with two forks right inside the slow cooker. The remaining broth will get reabsorbed into the chicken pieces. There should be almost no liquid at the bottom of the pot when you are done shredding. Add another tablespoon of the broth if needed, which will also be quickly absorbed back into the meat.
Serve your AMAZING, tender, chicken tacos on warmed corn or flour tortillas. Garnish with sliced avocado, shredded cabbage, and a good quality hot sauce.
