Barbecue Chicken Taco’s Photo Credit Larry Miller
Tacos are one of my very favorite foods EVER! Terrific Tacos are even more amazing! Barbecue Chicken Tacos combine my love for barbecue, smoking, and tacos all in one.
What has taken my obsession to this level? Well, it hasn’t always been there, just percolating under the surface. What did it take to awaken this deep love of the taco? It was the food truck scene exploding in The United States.
Food trucks exposed places like Salt Lake City, Utah to more ethnic foods than we could have imagined. Mom & Dad’s could with a few thousand dollars get up and running, and start to deliver us tasty food treats.
Copyright Pedro Sanchez
It is the perfect street food. In fact, Tacos predate the Europeans in Mexico and were discovered to be the food of choice by the native folk in the Valley of Mexico. It was the Spanish that took credit for it, and then gave them the term “tacos”. Here are a few other fun facts:
- Taco Bell actually started as Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in San Bernardino, CA. In 1950 Glen Bell Jr. began Bell’s Hamburgers and Hot Dogs as a stand selling fast food that included their namesake and fries and shakes. Then, they started to take advantage that his stand was in a prominently Hispanic neighborhood, and he started to sell crispy hard shell tacos for 19 cents.
- The birthplace of the fish taco is Ensenada, Mexico.
- Today, Taco Bell uses over 600,000 cows worth of beef per year. That’s about 295 million pounds of ground beef every single year.
- The word “Taqueria” is Spanish and it literally means taco shop. However, the term “taqueria” was used to refer to just street vendors, although the term has evolved to be used more generally to refers to any establishment that serves authentic Mexican food.
- October 3rd is National Taco Day.
Recipe:
- 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- olive oil
- 2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- kosher salt
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 teaspoon honey
- 6 cups finely shredded purple cabbage
- 12 6-inch corn tortillas
- 1/2 cup shredded queso fresco
- Over high heat in a medium cast-iron dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add the chicken until all sides have turned a nice brown, this will be about 2 minutes per side. Add chile powder, cumin, liquid smoke and 1 cup water; season with salt and allow to come to a simmer. Cover with the lid allow to heat on low until the chicken is tender and pulls apart easily with a fork. The cook time is about 1 hour. In a bowl, transfer the chicken and begin to shred and then return it to the cooking liquid and stir in the barbecue sauce.
- In a medium bowl whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar and honey. Toss the cabbage and season with salt.
- Microwave the tortillas on a microwave-safe plate for 30 seconds, until they become soft and pliable. Serve the chicken with the tortillas, slaw, diced onion (optional), cilantro (optional), lime wedges (optional), radish slices (optional) and queso fresco.
