You guys, these tacos… so dang good. My whole family LOVED them! And they truly are not that hard to make! I’ve said it and I’ll say it again Tieghan never disappoints!
Click here for the Half Baked Harvest blog post for this recipe. Let’s get to it!
Slow Cookin’?
The recipe gives you three options on how to cook the chicken: a slow cooker, an insta pot, or on the stove top. Normally, I would be all for a slow cooker because I love how tender they get the meat. But in typical Annie fashion I really only looked at the actual instructions right before starting to make dinner at about 5pm. So, my only option was on the stove top! The chicken cooks in the slow cooker for several hours, while just 45 minutes on the stove top. I also don’t have an insta pot so that was not in the cards for me but I am sure that also works great!
If you’re last minute like me and decide to cook the chicken on the stove top I suggest using a cast iron pot if you have one! (Thanks Mom for this tip!) It also gives the chicken that extra tenderness you want in taco meat.
Pineapple Chunks
The recipe calls for a total of 2 cups of pineapple chunks. The first cup is used to cook the chicken in and the other is for the slaw. HBH does not say anything about the size of the chunks but I would personally recommend not worrying about the size of the pineapple chunks you are cooking the chicken in in either your pot, slow cooker, or insta-pot because they are mainly there for flavor. However, I would suggest cutting the other cup of pineapple used for your slaw into smaller chunks.
Interesting Ingredients
The recipe calls for some ingredients I have never had, or even heard of before. Specifically sambal oelek and gochujang. They’re actually both pretty much chili pastes (Indonesian and Korean respectively). I found both in Whole Foods. The samba oelek is used to cook the chicken in and the gochujang is used the “yum yum” sauce. Warning: they are both S P I C Y!! The gochujang really makes the sauce spicy, even when mixed with yogurt.
#SLAWGOALS
The slaw is what goes on top of the chicken and really dresses up the taco! Instead of cabbage, I just used shredded iceberg lettuce because I am not a huge cabbage girl. Either work though!
Don’t but too much “yum yum” sauce on the slaw… I would let everyone put as much sauce as they want on their own taco after warning them its a ~bit~ spicy.
SHRED IT
Once the 45 minutes were over you could just tell immediately the chicken was so tender and soaked in delicious marinade. Once you take the chicken out it very easily shreds (just use two forks!). The caramelizing of the chicken in the broiler really makes a difference in the texture of the chicken, and is definitely worth the extra few minutes. It gives it a bit of a crunchier outside while maintaining the tenderness I’ve been raving about.
The Final Consensus
Didn’t they turn out beautiful? Trust me they taste even better than they look!
SOMETHING I AM PROUD OF: handling and washing raw meat because that is something I am typically a bit grossed out by!
SOMETHING I LEARNED: Warming up tortillas is a game. changer. Don’t skip out on this step.
A BUMP IN THE ROAD: Everything really, like really, stuck to the bottom of the cast iron pot. We had to let it soak and scrub it for 24 hours after I made this. So next time I would definitely grease the bottom or something like that! Or maybe just plan ahead more and use the slow cooker!
Hey, I feel like I am getting better at this cooking thing! Thanks again Tieghan for your amazing recipes!
Click here if you want to read my review on HBH Three Cheese Nectarine Pizza from last week!
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