Smoky chicken tacos with pickled pico

Smoky chicken tacos with pickled pico

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• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

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• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 ½ lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ cup beer/stock/water
• Corn or flour tortillas

Pickled pico de gallo

• ½ small red onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, diced

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Instructions

1. Start the pico: Combine red onion, jalapeno, lime juice and vinegar in a small bowl. Mix well, cover and let sit while you cook chicken.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Mix together all spices in a small bowl.
3. While oil is hot, sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces with half of the spice mixture. Sear chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side until brown.
4. Pour in beer/stock/water, reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through.
5. Add remaining spice mixture and shred chicken in pan. Turn off heat.
6. Add tomatoes and cilantro to pico and stir to combine.
7. Serve chicken in warm tortillas (I love a cast iron for this), topped with pickled pico de gallo.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes

I live in the land of very good tacos, so it's amazing to me that I still want to come up with new ways to taco (it's a verb, okay?). But I do! So here we are!

More than anything, this recipe is a lesson in the power of a quick spice rub. You all know I love keeping homemade mixes on hand for ever-y-thing. And while my house seasoning would work perfectly here (same spices!), the one in the recipe above is super simple to pull together last-minute and 100% the worth the extra 5 percent of effort.

And the pickled pico?! It's basically my answer to the fact that we're a society putting pickled red onions on everything. The 20-ish minutes the onions and jalapeno spend bathing in lime juice and vinegar is juuust enough to add a little vinegary bite to these tacos, officially raising them a notch above your normal weeknight chicken taco situation.

And you'll have more than enough left to shove into your face with your favorite crunch, salty chips. You're so very welcome.