Dustin has been asking me to make chicken tacos for months now.
Thinking about it, I'm not sure why it took so long. I mean...I've made fish tacos, homemade taco seasoning, and shredded beef tacos and those were all fabulous. Oh, and I haven't been able to share my green chile pork tacos with you yet, but stay tuned for those, too!
But, for some crazy reason, I'd never made chicken tacos.
Then, on a whim one day, I went to the fridge and decided to make chicken tacos. Because it was time. And Dustin had asked for them for too long.
And, frankly, because I wanted some chicken tacos.
Because, after all, we're talking about chicken tacos, here.
My favorite way to enjoy tacos is with lots of deliciously-flavored meat, topped with fresh and vibrant sauces, and then wrapped in the perfect tortilla.
So, I looked in the fridge and miraculously found everything I needed to make a fresh pico de gallo. Because I heart pico de gallo. Perfect.
The stars were really lining up because I also had everything I needed to make a creamy chipotle lime sauce to drizzle over the tacos. I think just a touch of this yogurt-based sauce adds a little spice and creaminess to the tacos that is amazeballs.
Speaking of amazeballs, as you can imagine, these tacos are very easy to gobble down. And, while they're pretty darn healthy to begin with, if you're following a clean eating lifestyle, you could replace the chicken thighs with boneless, skinless chicken breast. Or, you could just enjoy the chicken thighs 😉
Also, for those clean-eaters out there, you could use lettuce wraps or look for super high quality corn tortillas that use as little ingredients as possible. They exist and they are worth it for these babies.
Since we're on the topic of corn tortillas, let me get on my soap box for a quick sec. Why are corn tortillas at grocery stores so awful? Like inedibly awful. What's up with that?
Chicken Tacos
If you can get your hands on some good quality corn tortillas, do it -- they make all the difference and can really make a taco great.
Okay, I'll step down from my soap box now. And go make more chicken tacos for Dustin. Yum!
Chicken Tacos
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 6-8 chicken thighs boneless and skinless*
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt divided
- 2 teaspoon ground black pepper divided
- 2 vine-ripened tomatoes diced
- ¼ red onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon jalapeño seeds removed, minced
- 2 lime s, to yield 1 tbsp. lime juice, divided
- 3 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin divided
- ½ cup greek yogurt plain
- 1 ½ teaspoon chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, use the adobo sauce from the can
- 1 tablespoon almond milk plain
- 1 ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder granulated onion
- 6-10 corn tortillas good quality*
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet and let that get hot. Season the chicken with 1 ½ tsp. salt and 1 ½ tsp. pepper and place into the hot oil. Cook about 4-6 minutes per side, or until well-browned and cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the two tasty sauces: a quick pico de gallo salsa and a creamy chipotle lime sauce.
- For the pico de gallo, combine the diced tomatoes, diced red onion, finely chopped jalapeno, 2 tsp. lime juice, chopped cilantro, ½ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper, and ¼ tsp. cumin in a small mixing bowl and stir well. To let the flavors meld, pop the salsa in the fridge.
- To make the chipotle lime sauce, in another small bowl, combine the greek yogurt, adobo sauce (from the chipotle in adobo sauce can), 1 tsp. lime juice, ¼ tsp. salt, and almond milk and stir together until smooth.
- Once the chicken’s cooked, remove from the pan, set on a cutting board, and dice into small, bite-size pieces. Then, return to the same pan.
- Make the taco seasoning blend by combining 2 ½ tsp. ground cumin, paprika, chili powder, powdered garlic, and granulated onion.
- Heat the chicken back on medium-high heat, add 1 tbsp. of the seasoning blend, and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring to coat well.
- To assemble these delicious chicken tacos, grab a corn tortilla, fill it with the seasoned, diced chicken, then top it with the pico de gallo, followed by a light drizzle of the creamy chipotle lime sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
Steve
Love the recipe. Sounds great. You really can prep this in 10 minutes? There are 16 ingredients to be diced, measured, juiced, chopped in addition to the chicken and tortillas.... I always feel so inept at reading recipes that have these short prep times and then it takes me 2x as long.
Dustin
Love these!
Karin
This has got me craving pico de gallo but our season for tomatoes here is so short. 🙁 Looks yummy though!
I do have a question - why wouldn't chicken thighs be considered clean eating? One 4 oz portion only has 3 grams more of fat than a chicken breast but the other nutrients seem comparable. Is the fat the difference?
Lacey Baier
Hi Karin - first off that's so sad about the tomatoes 🙁 In regards to clean eating and chicken thighs, this is actually one of those points that always gets me. The thing is that chicken thighs have quite a bit more saturated fat than chicken breasts so that's why I recommend boneless, skinless chicken breasts over chicken thighs if trying to eat fully clean. THAT BEING SAID, I cook with chicken thighs all the time - I love them and think they add so much more flavor and, if what you're pairing with it is also whole, real food that isn't high in saturated fat, then it should all around be okay as part of a clean diet. Does that makes sense? 🙂