Green Chile Chicken Tacos
These Green Chile Chicken Tacos will be the perfect addition to your quick and easy weeknight meal rotation. Bonus: they’re gluten- and dairy-free.
Chicken thighs are one of the items that I keep regularly stocked in my freezer. I buy them in large packages from Costco, split them into smaller portions that are the right size for one meal my family, vacuum pack them, and freeze them.
I can then take out just one portion, thaw it, and be ready to cook in a few hours. To avoid mealtime boredom, I’m always looking for new recipes to use the chicken thighs, and recently came across one for Green Chile Chicken Tacos. This happened to work out perfectly, as I also happened to have a large package of corn tortillas on hand.
I made a few adjustments to the recipe, tested it, then adjusted and tested again. The result is a quick-and-easy meal that is weeknight approved, even during evening sports season. The tacos are good on their own, but really shine when you add toppings like shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, minced onion, and cilantro.
How to Make Green Chile Chicken Tacos
To make these weeknight-friendly tacos, start by blooming some oregano, cumin, and pepper in oil in a large skillet to enhance their flavors. Add the diced chicken and salt, and cook until the chicken is browned. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
Add a bit more oil to the skillet, then the onion and green bell pepper. Cook until the vegetables are soft, then add the garlic and cook until it’s fragrant. Stir in the green chiles, chicken broth, and browned chicken and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer the chicken mixture until most of the liquid has reduced, about 10 minutes.
While the chicken simmers, you can prepare the tortillas and any toppings that you might want to use.
Heat the tortillas in a large, dry skillet, or in the toaster oven, or on the grill. You can also heat them directly over the flame of a gas stove, if you have one. Once heated, stack the tortillas and wrap them in a clean dish towel to keep them warm.
Slice any toppings that you might want to add to your tacos. This might include cabbage, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, radishes, limes, etc. Gather these items on a large plate.
When the chicken is ready, scoop a bit of it onto each tortilla, then top each one with any of the desired toppings.
Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge, and any leftover tortillas in a plastic bag. Reheat the chicken in the microwave or a small skillet as needed.
Green Chile Chicken Tacos Ingredients
- Canola oil – or use any other neutral-flavored cooking oil.
- Oregano
- Cumin
- Chicken thighs – while chicken thighs will be juicier and more flavorful, you can also use an equal portion of chicken breasts.
- Kosher salt – Or use MSG-salt to enhance the savory flavors in the taco filling.
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Small onion – I recommend using yellow onion, simply because they are often the cheapest and easily accessible.
- Green bell pepper – Or yellow bell pepper. When I was testing this recipe the second time (for the photos), I found at the last minute that I was out of green pepper. I substituted yellow pepper, and it came out just fine.
- Garlic
- Chopped green chiles – Green chiles (they might be labelled diced green chiles) come in small cans. You can find them in most grocery stores in the aisle with other Mexican ingredients.
- Chicken broth – feel free to substitute reduced-sodium chicken broth.
- Corn tortillas – You’ll want small, taco-sized ones (6-inch or smaller). Tortillas made from either white or yellow corn will work.
Optional Taco Toppings
While a simple corn tortilla topped with green chile chicken is a fine meal, adding additional toppings will take your tacos over the top. Here are some options that will work well. Choose as many or as few as you like.
- Thinly shredded cabbage – this will add a nice crunch.
- Sliced avocado
- Chopped fresh tomato
- Thinly sliced radishes
- Chopped cilantro
- Minced onion – pro tip: instead of cutting up the small onion that you need for the recipe, cut up a medium or large one, and save some of the minced onion for garnishing the tacos.
- Lime wedges – a squeeze of lime juice on each taco will be the perfect sour touch.
Want more Mexican-inspired recipes?
Green Chile Chicken Tacos Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below includes two tacos (corn tortilla plus green chile chicken filling) per person, with 6 portions per recipe.
The nutrition information includes tortillas and filling only; it does not include optional toppings. Most toppings will not significantly change the macronutrient composition of the meal, with the exception of avocado.
This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free as written.
Green Chile Chicken Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon canola oil, ½ teaspoon oregano, ½ teaspoon cumin, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cook until the spices start to sizzle and smell fragrant, about 30-60 seconds. Add the cubed chicken thighs and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Cook, stirring often, until the chicken is browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate or bowl using a slotted spoon.
- Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon canola oil to the skillet, then the minced onion and minced green bell pepper. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the 2 4-ounce cans chopped green chiles, 1 cup chicken broth, and the browned chicken, plus any juices on the plate. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer until most of the liquid has cooked down, about 8-10 minutes.
- While the chicken is simmering, heat the tortillas. You can do this on the grill, a dry skillet over medium-high heat, a toaster oven, or the microwave. Once heated, stack the hot tortillas together and wrap them in a clean dish towel to keep them warm and soft.
- Place a scoop of chicken on each tortilla and serve as desired with shredded cabbage, sliced avocado, chopped tomato, cilantro, minced onion, and/or lime wedges.
- Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat the chicken in the microwave or in a skillet and serve with freshly heated tortillas.
Nutrition
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Please Consider Leaving a Review!* Recipe adapted from Kay Chun’s recipe for The New York Times
