Crispy Chicken Tacos

Tacos are one of my favorite foods.  As a teenager my dad took me to a local taco place where they made the best soft tacos.  They wrapped them tight and steamed them…oh they were so amazing.  So when I got the chance to select any recipe from Cook at Home and I saw a recipe for tacos, I jumped on it!

I used to have a standing meeting on Tuesday evenings and started having Taco Tuesdays because it was something I could prep ahead and get on the table quickly so we could all still eat together before I left.  Needless to say everyone got tired of the traditional taco quickly.  So when I told my son we were having tacos for dinner he wrinkled his nose.  He ended up eating more of these than anyone else and barely left enough for his sister to have one after she got home from work.  These were amazing.  And honestly I don’t know that I would have ever thought to use crispy chicken in a taco.  The combination of the crispy chicken with the fresh lightness of the coleslaw was a welcome change to the traditional taco.

  

I changed only a few things from the original recipe, either due to time or a missing ingredient- oops!  You can see her original recipe on her site here Cook At Home.  There wasn’t a recipe for coleslaw so the recipe below is one that I whipped up that evening to go with the tacos.

Crispy Chicken Tacos

2lbs of chicken (I used boneless skinless breasts and sliced into thin strips, you could buy the chicken tenders as well for this recipe)

Soft tortilla shells

The original recipe suggests setting up a traditional breading station with the following ingredients to bread the chicken:

All Purpose flour (or gluten free), Breadcrumbs (can be gluten free), parmesan cheese, eggs (there aren’t measurements given but I would say a cup of each of flour and breadcrumbs, 1/4 of the cheese and mix it in with the breadcrumbs – 3 eggs should be fine)  Because of time, I just gave a light dusting of flour over the chicken instead of the full breading, it was quick and a little lighter, either way is great!

Drizzling Sauce

3 TBSP Soy Sauce (I used Braggs Liquid Aminos, because I didn’t realize we were out of soy sauce!)

2 TBSP Honey

1 TBSP Oil (I used olive oil)

2 TBSP Lime juice

2 crushed & chopped garlic cloves

1 TBSP Chili powder *(I used one because I used chipotle chili powder, again didn’t realize I was out of regular chili powder – but I recommend this if you like a little spice! It was the perfect amount of spice)

1 tsp ground cilantro (in hind site I think I would use fresh next time, but this was very good, I just try to get fresh herbs in any time I can!)

Mix all that together and set to the side.

 

Cole Slaw

4 Cups of shredded cabbage (I used a combination of red and savory cabbage (the crinkly one)

1/2 a red pepper, very finely sliced

3 TBSP Mayo (I use safflower oil mayo)

juice from half a lime

1/2 tsp salt

Mix it all together and set aside.

*The cole slaw and drizzling sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for a day or two.

Bread the chicken, and fry in a shallow frying pan.  I used olive oil with a good size spoonful of coconut oil.  Fry the chicken in small batches, only takes a few minutes for each batch to get golden brown.  Drain on a paper towel.

Soften the tortillas in the microwave as per the package directions.  Layer some cole slaw in the bottom of each tortilla, top with chicken then drizzle some of the sauce over the chicken, roll up and serve!

Enjoy!