Weeknight Chicken Tacos

Food Trend: California Tacos. Simple. Delicious. All you need to make your perfect tacos are small soft tortilla shells, a protein of your choice, a salsa, and Lime.

Inspiration: I like to call this a “what-do-we-have-in-the-fridge-that-is-going-to-go-to-bad” dish. It’s 4pm on a Thursday and we have 2 chicken breasts defrosting and all we have in the fridge is pineapple and pickled onions.  Obviously we were eating chicken with some sort of pineapple/onion salsa. A light goes off – TACOS!!

Adaptation: When I think of Mexican I think of Limes, Cilantro & Corona. Using the ingredients I had at home, plus a quick trip to the market for Cilantro, Tortillas & Lime (shocker there was none in the fridge) I sorta just went to work in the kitchen. The dish ended up being a combination of sweet (pineapple salsa) Sour (lime) and the right amount of spice (from my chicken sauce). So I guess I ended up making sweet & sour chicken tacos, and they were delicious.

Food Note: This is one of my make-up-as-I-go-dishes, so my recipe is up for interpretation and alteration. But that is what makes cooking fun! 

PHOTO TIPS

I always like to have Pickled Red Onions in the fridge. You never know when you need to add an extra ingredient to a salad, eggs, or use for tacos! They are easy to make and can last up to 6 months (that is, if you don’t eat them first.) Bon Appetit has a great recipe, but you can also Google Quick Pickled Onions for recipes. I like mine a mix between sour & sweet. They are so pretty and pink – plus this also the original purpose of a Mason Jar.

For the Pineapple Salsa: Cube your pineapple, largely dice your pickled onions, add chopped cilantro, then finish with Olive Oil, Lime Juice & Salt. Done.

With any saute, start with oil, garlic and onion in a pan. But when you forget to buy garlic or onion, garlic paste (another pantry staple) and onion powder will do the trick. Add chicken, taco/chili seasoning, lime, tomato paste (another pantry staple), cilantro and salt.

Serve your Tacos with Fresh Lime and a Corona! ENJOY!!

Chicken Tacos

2013-09-13 12:46:22

Serves 2

Easy Weeknight Chicken Tacos with a Pineapple & Pickled Red Onion Salsa

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

For The Salsa

1 - 1.5 cup diced Pineapple

1/2 Cup Largely Diced Pickled Red Onions

1-2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro

Salt: To taste

3-5 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

Juice of Half a Lime

Hot Sauce: 2-3 Dashes

For the Chicken

2 Large Chicken Breasts - Small/Medium Cubed

3 Garlic Cloves Chopped (or about a Tablespoon of Garlic Paste)

A few good shakes of onion powder

2-3 Tablespoons of Taco or Chili Seasonings

Juice of 1 Whole Lime

Other

1 Package of Small Round Soft Tortillas

Limes quartered to serve with tacos

Make the Salsa First

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and put in the fridge so the flavors marinate. The longer in the fridge, the better it will taste!

For the Chicken

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add fresh garlic and saute 1-2 minutes, careful not to burn or brown the garlic. (If you are using garlic paste, skip this step. Add pre-seasoned (salt & pepper) chicken to the pan. After about a minute, add the Tomato Paste, (Garlic Paste if you didn't use fresh garlic), Juice of 1 Lime and Chili/Taco Seasoning. Saute for about 7-10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.

While you chicken is cooking, heat up your tortilla rounds in a toaster oven or microwave.

To plate, spoon chicken in the middle of the shell and top with salsa. Serve with quartered lime and hot sauce.

Notes

If you have Jalapeno around chop up some fresh Jalapeno to use in your salsa instead of hot sauce

By Julz

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