Chicken Tacos

Name: Chicken Tacos
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 lb chicken (thighs, boneless, cut in 2 cm pieces); 12 unit tortillas (corn, warmed); 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 ½ tsp cumin (ground); 1 ½ tsp chili powder; 1 tsp paprika (smoked); 1 tsp oregano (Mexican, dried); 3 clove garlic (minced); 1 ½ tsp salt; 2 tbsp lime (juice, at the end); 1 unit onion (white, finely diced, to serve); ½ cup cilantro (chopped, to serve)

Sandwiches & Handhelds · Latin American & Caribbean · American

12 ingredients · 40 minutes · 4 servings

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600kcal46.7g protein26.8g fat44.5g carbs~$1.99/ serving*

sometimes contains gluten — check the label · only in an optional ingredient: dairy

Restrictions

Sometimes contains — check the labelgluten (chili (powder), tortillas)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Only if you add itdairy (cheese cotija, cream, sour)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.

Diets

No porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

2 lb	chicken (thighs, boneless, cut in 2 cm pieces)
12 unit	tortillas (corn, warmed)
2 tbsp	vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp	cumin (ground)
1 ½ tsp	chili powder
1 tsp	paprika (smoked)
1 tsp	oregano (Mexican, dried)
3 clove	garlic (minced)
1 ½ tsp	salt
2 tbsp	lime (juice, at the end)
1 unit	onion (white, finely diced, to serve)
½ cup	cilantro (chopped, to serve)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

¾ cup	salsa (to serve)
1 unit	avocado (sliced)
½ cup	cheese (cotija, crumbled)
½ cup	cream (sour)
1 unit	chili (chipotle in adobo, minced)

Steps

Season15 min
dry rub on the chicken, 15 minutes to overnight, refrigerated
chicken + cumin + chili powder + smoked paprika + oregano + garlic + salt (+ chipotle), tossed and left. A dry rub rather than a wet marinade, because a wet surface cannot sear and would have to be wiped off — losing the seasoning you just applied. The salt also has time to work inward, which a rub at the pan door does not
Sear10 min
cast iron, oil, high heat, single layer, undisturbed 2-3 minutes, in two batches
chicken seared hard until browned in patches and just cooked through. Two batches always: crowded, the pieces release moisture faster than it evaporates, the pan drops to 100°C and the chicken turns grey and steamed. Leave it still for the first two minutes — contact time is what builds colour
Chop5 min
onion and cilantro cut fine, kept separate until serving
onion + cilantro chopped (+ avocado sliced, + cotija crumbled). Cut these while the chicken cooks, and keep them separate — a filling premixed with raw onion and herbs weeps and goes soft within twenty minutes
Toast6 min
tortillas over a dry pan or open flame, 20-30 seconds a side, stacked in a cloth
- tortillas
tortillas warmed until pliable and lightly spotted, then stacked inside a folded cloth so they steam each other soft. A cold corn tortilla cracks the moment it is folded; a wrapped stack stays flexible for twenty minutes. Double them up if the filling is wet
Season4 min
lime squeezed over the chicken off the heat, assembled to order
+ lime juice over the chicken, then assembled with onion and cilantro (+ salsa, + avocado, + sour cream, + cotija). Fresh acid at the end does a different job from the rub — it lifts and brightens, and its aroma survives only because nothing cooks it off. Fill sparingly: an overfilled taco fails structurally and is the most common mistake at the table