Mexican Grilled Chicken Tacos Recipe

An actual Mexican marinade for chicken that’s easy to make however packs in BIG flavours! This chicken is a home-style model of Mexican road meals. Nice for grilling, cooking on the range and even baking!

The marinade for this recipe is customized from a Bobby Flay recipe. I’m an enormous fan of Bobby Flay. I nonetheless stand by a remark I made beforehand that he ought to severely take into account carrying sunnies when he cooks outdoor as a result of I swear, he’s completely squinting in his Barbecue Habit TV sequence!

Bobby Flay’s meals is completely up my alley. He’s into sturdy flavours, herbs and spices, cooking meals from all around the world, and whereas he does do Western takes on ethnic recipes, he at all times stays on the proper facet of “the road”. I’m a little bit of a snob in the case of staying on the proper facet of “the road”. There, I’ve mentioned it. I’ve by no means overtly admitted that earlier than. I’m completely not a meals snob. I’m not a gourmand foodie, I’m not into foraging, I don’t refuse to eat something aside from artisan bread.

However I really get a bit grumpy after I see, for instance, a recipe named “Chinese language” something-or-rather simply because it has soy sauce in it, and no different Asian ingredient!

So one cause I like Bobby Flay’s recipes is as a result of even when they don’t seem to be a 100000% conventional recipe, they nonetheless style genuine. Am I making sense???

And this Mexican grilled chicken is one such instance. 🙂

I discovered this recipe in Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Habit cookbook. I’ve used a LOT of recipes from that cookbook, it’s certainly one of my go-tos for…properly, barbecue recipes! Really, to inform you the reality, I exploit a variety of a part of the recipes. Most of his recipes are inclined to comprise of a marinated or spice rubbed protein, plus a sauce or salsa on the facet and very often I find yourself utilizing both the marinade or the facet.

So the marinade I exploit for this chicken is customized from Bobby Flay’s Mexican Pink Chicken with Grilled Black Corn and Quinoa Relish. I skipped the Relish as a result of this chicken is totally excellent for utilizing for tacos, as I’ve performed for this recipe.

The marinade for this chicken relies on a Mexican road meals known as Sinaloa Chicken. Deep darkish mahogany crimson, mildly spicy and fragrant from cinnamon and All Spice. The true road meals model is made utilizing entire chickens and it’s cooked over charcoal.

So this can be a homestyle model, made utilizing a marinade tailored from Bobby Flay’s recipe, utilizing chicken thigh fillets so it’s excellent for chopping into slices and stuffing into tacos.

Should you love Mexican meals, I promise, completely PROMISE you’ll love this. The flavour is actually sensational!

Mexican Grilled Chicken Tacos Recipe

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 10 minutes 10 minutes

Nutrition facts: 282 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 1 - 1.5 lb / 500 - 750g chicken thigh fillets (Note 2)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
• 1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp chipotle or ancho chile powder (Note 3)
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp smoked paprika powder (Note 4)
• 1/8 tsp All Spice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional - for spiciness)
• 1 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• Tortillas or taco shells
• Pico de Gallo (tomato salsa)
• Sour cream
• Avocado
• Fresh coriander / cilantro
• Lime wedges

Instructions

1. Place Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag. Add chicken, massage to coat then refrigerate to marinate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
2. Remove chicken from Marinade, discard Marinade.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat (or even better, do this on the BBQ on medium high). Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side, until dark golden brown.
4. Remove chicken onto plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 3 minutes.
5. Cut into strips and use for tacos. (See Note 5 for more serving options)

Notes

1. This recipe is based on Bobby Flay's recipe from his cookbook "Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction". His recipe is made using a whole chicken cut into pieces that is then cooked over charcoal using indirect heat. My version is easier, cooked using thigh fillets that is cooked on the BBQ or stove. So the marinade has been slightly amended to adjust for the cooking and chicken cut differences. For example, his marinade uses 1/4 cup of oil which is not needed in my recipe.
2. This is best made using thigh fillets because the fat in the chicken caramelises beautifully with the marinade. But it can be made with chicken breast if desired, but you won't get as much caramelisation (unless you use more oil for cooking). Slice in half horizontally to make thin steaks, marinate, then cook per recipe.
3. Ancho chilli powder is not as spicy as chipotle, so if you using ancho chilli, consider adding more cayenne pepper if you like spicy!
Chipotle and ancho chilli powder can be annoyingly difficult to find in Australia. 🙂 It is not sold in the major supermarkets (yet) but you can find it in fruit & veg stores, delis and gourmet/speciality stores. It does not cost much more than ordinary spices. It can also be purchased online from Firework Foods: Chipotle here and Ancho Powder here.
If you can't track either down, I think the best substitute is 1/2 tbsp each SMOKED paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper.
4. Smoked paprika adds a smokiness to the flavour which is akin to cooking over charcoal. If you don't have it, normal or sweet paprika is fine.
5. This chicken is so good, it can be served as is rather than using it for tacos. I suggest serving it with Mexican Green Rice (cilantro/coriander flavour), steamed or grilled corn (or go all out and make Mexican Street Corn), a colourful Cabbage Salad (this recipe is not strictly Mexican but the flavours match Mexican food really well), and/or Pico de Gallo.
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings with 500g/1lb chicken thigh fillets. Left - chicken only. Right - chicken + 2 tortillas (excludes other taco toppings).