Chicken Tacos

Mom's Chicken Tacos

This is my mom's chicken taco recipe. She is the best cook I know. She has been making these chicken tacos for us since we were kids and still makes them for her grandchildren. Old school moms, like mine don't use recipes. They just cook, using no measuring cups but only how seasoning feels running through their fingers or by eyeing liquid so many times, they know just by looking at the liquid that it is 2 1/4 cups. Really, like a chef would measure ingredients.

I wanted to learn how to make these tacos so badly that about 2-3 years ago I sat down with my mom while she was cooking and we walked through all the steps while I wrote down an ACTUAL recipe.  I am so excited to share it with you! It is easy and so tasty.

You will also need 1 garlic clove ( not shown here).

Rinse your chicken, removing any giblet parts but leaving the skin on. This will only add more flavor to your chicken/broth. Pat dry and add to your stock pot filled about 1/2 way with water. Just covering your chicken enough with water so that is doesn't dry out or you don't over flow a boiling pot. Add to the pot 1/2 - 1 whole onion cut in half, 1 clove of garlic peeled, crushed and add salt. This is so that your chicken has plenty of flavor. You will also need to reserve about 2 cups of broth when it is done.

Cover your pot, leaving it tilted  so that your chicken does not boil over. Boil on medium heat for 1 1/2 hours.

Chop 1 onion, 3 celery stalks, 1/2 a bell pepper and 2 tomatoes

Let your chicken cool enough to handle. Debone the chicken and discard the skin and the bones. 

This is what your chicken should look close to after you have deboned it.



Chop your chicken until there are no big chunks.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth from your pot to a skillet.

On medium to medium high heat saute your chopped bell pepper, celery and onion in the broth. 

When your vegetables are soft add in the tomatoes.

  

Add in another 1/2 cup to a cup of broth and saute just a minute longer.

These tacos are very light and healthy, depending on what you add to them.

Now add in your chopped chicken and stir. the reason you use so much broth is because you have a whole chicken and veg. chopped up in the pan and you don't want to have dry chicken.



Stir together blending all those wonderful flavors together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes.

In your cast iron skillet or a regular skillet heat your corn tortillas. You can also use flour tortillas, whatever you prefer.



Serve meat mixture onto the tortillas with a slotted spoon. I add everything from the window to the wall to my chicken tacos. You can add whatever fixings you like. In these tacos I added sliced avocados, sour cream, lettuce, cheese and even salsa. My family loves this recipe and I hope yours does too!

This recipe makes 12-15 tacos.

Ingredients:

1/2 bell pepper (any color)

1 1/2 onions

3 celery stalks

2 tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

1 whole chicken

1 package of corn or flour tortillas

lettuce (optional)

cheese (optional)

sour cream (optional)

salsa (optional)

avocados (optional)

Directions:

Boil chicken for 1 1/2 hours in a stock pot with 1/2 an onion and 1 crushed garlic clove.

While chicken is boiling chop your bell pepper, onion, celery and tomatoes.

When chicken is done boiling and cool to touch, debone and chop chicken.

In a separate skillet saute bell pepper, onions and celery in chicken broth. Add tomatoes, a little extra broth and chopped chicken. Stir, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Heat tortillas and serve.