Spicy Chicken Tacos

Now I think I know how all the restaurants out there get that great authentic Mexican taste with their chicken tacos. They use fresh ingredients. That means no store bought jars of salsa. I had some fresh tomatoes sitting in my garden so I thought I’d give this a whirl. I didn’t have any bell peppers or jalepeno peppers on hand but those peppers probably would have helped. Used a dried chipotle pepper instead. Chop the fresh tomatoes up and cook them in a pan with some onion. Puree the tomatoes and onion together in the blender. I used my emersion hand blender. Wear an apron too. This splatters. Add in spices such as cumin, fajita seasoning mix, whatever your favorite taco seasonings are. Voila, spicy chicken tacos.

I cooked the chicken in the crock pot all day long with just some water and shredded the chicken up with a fork. This was so yummy. The recipe almost reminded me of the spicy chicken tacos I had at the new taco truck in town here. Fargo finally has it’s first food truck and I wish they’d get more. The truck is called Taco Bros Food Truck. It was awesome, I’d go back there and order one of everything on their menu. Now you can re-create this same spicy taste.

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Ingredients

2lb boneless skinless chicken breast (shredded)
5 cloves garlic
5 medium tomatoes
1/2 large onion
1/2 medium bell pepper
1 small jalapeno
handful cilantro
1/2 lime
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons taco seasoning (chile powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, etc. )
5 to 10 cups water
2 tablespoons salt

Directions

Step 1
Place chicken with garlic, water and salt in a large stock pan. Bring to a boil and cook for approximately 35-40 minutes, until. cooked thoroughly. You will not over cook it in the water as the water helps the chicken retain moisture as it cooks.
Step 2
While the chicken is cooking, combine tomatoes with onion, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp sea salt in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and allow to cook until the tomatoes break down, about 20 minutes.
Step 3
Remove tomato mixture from heat and allow to cool slight, about 10 minutes. Once cooled add tomato mixture to a blender or food processor with the bell pepper, jalapeno, 2 garlic cloves, lime juice and cilantro. Puree until smooth.
Step 4
Shredded your chicken (it should just fall off the bone) and set aside.
Step 5
Add your butter to your medium sauce pan and allow to melt over medium low heat. Return your tomato mixture to the pan, add taco season and sea salt/black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
Step 6
Place your chicken in a medium sauce pan over low heat and spoon desired amount of sauce over chicken. I used about 1/2 the sauce to get it really moist and juicy.
Step 7
Once heated through, remove from heat and enjoy as is, on tacos, burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas, salads, etc. Enjoy!