This week I wanted to make a special dinner for my husband. Right now I work mostly afternoon/evenings and get home around 7:30, so if I can prep dinner before I leave for work, dinner is almost always done when I get home and we can eat a little bit earlier. The crockpot was the perfect tool for having dinner ready and also perfectly cooking the chicken for tacos. I pre-chopped all of the toppings so they were ready for dinner when I got home too.
I wanted to make mexican food, because my husband adores mexican food, but I also wanted to mix it up from our usual beef and bean based mexican food. This time I was thinking pulled chicken tacos. I decided to use lettuce leaves for the taco shells so it almost tastes like a taco salad/ taco wrap. Does that even make sense? I guess I could have made a big yummy taco salad, but I really wanted to make tacos, even though we don’t eat traditional flour or corn taco shells. You just have to be a little creative and don’t worry about getting a little messy. The lettuce leaves are not that big, so some of the toppings will fall out and some of the sauce the chicken makes will most likely drip into your hands. But it’s a fun meal, and it’s finger food. Just be prepared for it to be a little messy.
You can use any toppings for your tacos, so feel free to branch out from what I used.
Ingredients
4 organic free-range chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder (more or less depending on how hot you like it)
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 Jar of Salsa, choose your favorite kind
1 pablano pepper, finely diced
Juice of 1 lime
Taco Toppings
1 avocado, sliced
1 tomato, diced
1/3 cup onion, diced
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (feel free to use goat cheese for a cow’s dairy-free version)
sour cream, optional, can omit if avoiding dairy
fresh cilantro, to top the tacos
Lettuce leaves, for the taco shells. You can use any kind of lettuce, just stay away from iceberg, it’s not the best choice
Directions
- Place the chicken breasts flat in the crockpot. Top with all of the spices, evenly distributed over each chicken breast. If you want, you can measure all of the spices into a bowl and mix them together. You can also sprinkle them individually over the chicken breasts.
- After the spices are on the chicken, dump a jar of salsa evenly over the chicken breasts and top with the diced poblano pepper and lime juice
- Set your crockpot for 4 or 8 hours (high or low) depending on when you want to eat the chicken. Once the chicken is done, you will take two forks and pull the chicken apart so it is shredded and mix all of the salsa and sauce together so everything is mixed together.
- Put all of your toppings on a serving plate or little bowls so you can easily grab them while assembling your tacos
- Serve and eat as many lettuce wrap tacos as you desire (you can also make into taco salad too if you desire)
- Serves 4
- 4 organic free-range chicken breasts
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder (more or less depending on how hot you like it)
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- 1 Jar of Salsa, choose your favorite kind
- 1 pablano pepper, finely diced
- Juice of 1 lime
- Taco Toppings
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- ⅓ cup onion, diced
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (feel free to use goat cheese for a cow's dairy-free version)
- sour cream, optional, can omit if avoiding dairy
- fresh cilantro, to top the tacos
- Lettuce leaves, for the taco shells. You can use any kind of lettuce, just stay away from iceberg, it's not the best choice
- Place the chicken breasts flat in the crockpot. Top with all of the spices, evenly distributed over each chicken breast. If you want, you can measure all of the spices into a bowl and mix them together. You can also sprinkle them individually over the chicken breasts.
- After the spices are on the chicken, dump a jar of salsa evenly over the chicken breasts and top with the diced poblano pepper and lime juice
- Set your crockpot for 4 or 8 hours (high or low) depending on when you want to eat the chicken. Once the chicken is done, you will take two forks and pull the chicken apart so it is shredded and mix all of the salsa and sauce together so everything is mixed together.
- Put all of your toppings on a serving plate or little bowls so you can easily grab them while assembling your tacos
- Serve and eat as many lettuce wrap tacos as you desire (you can also make into taco salad too if you desire)
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Can the Chicken Taco be pre (preppared) with everything including the salsa and pepper, tossed in a freezer bag and frozen. Then remove from bag and toss the raw frozen chicken, salsa, and pepper into the crockpot when I need it? I wondered if I could do that with any of your other recipes as well.
Thank you for your time in putting your site together.
Rochelle
Hi Rochelle-
I have to be honest, I’ve never put this recipe in a freezer bag and made it this way. But, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out. I would probably omit the salsa from the freezer bag and add that into the crockpot with the frozen chicken.
I know that many of my recipes can be pre-cooked and frozen to be reheated later (chili works great for that). But I can’t give you a definitive answer on yes or no to other recipes just because I haven’t done it myself. But if you find one that works great, tell me, and I can add it to the blog post and let others know too!
Thanks for visiting!
Meghan
Hello Dr. Meghan,
Thank you for following your purpose and being obedient to God. This site is such a blessing. Made this recipe and loved it! I had quite a bit of chicken leftover cause my husband loves beef and fried chicken. Wanted to know if I should freeze it and try it with your curry chicken soup recipe? Also, what’s the best way to get organic chicken breast on the bone at a reasonable price? Find a farmer? Was told that it will give even more flavor that way. Can I use my Silk Coconut Milk for the canned coconut milk?
Hi Mary-
You are SO sweet and I really appreciate your super kind words!! You can totally freeze cooked chicken and use it in the soup!
I buy my chickens whole when they are on sale at my local co-op. But it’s really about price shoppings, sometimes you can get it cheaper from the farmer. And honestly, the more you know where your food comes the better!
And to answer your question about coconut milk. For this recipe, you want to use the canned coconut milk because it’s thicker, more full of fat and more filling. The Silk brand is essentially mixed with water so it acts just like milk so you can use it on a grain-free granola or something like that. Does that make sense??
Blessings :) Dr. Meghan
cheese of any kind isnt paleo
You can always omit the cheese for paleo. That’s why I include the option of cheese in my recipes because so many people are able to do dairy!
Is there a substitute for the pablano peppers?
You could substitute any pepper: green or colored to make it milder!
I used red peppers and it turned it great!
Thank you for this amazing recipe! My family enjoyed it too! One of the best meals I’ve made in a long time and it was also the easiest! !! Perfect combination!
Monica, thanks so much for your comment. I am glad you made these and loved them. They are a favorite in our house too!! And the red peppers sound awesome :). I’ll have to try that!!
Can I subscribe to this?
Hi Georgia- My “subscribe” button should be up later today. I will add you to my newsletter though :)
Is there a substitution for the salsa? I am allergic to onions but would like to try this recipe.
I bet you could add a jar of diced tomatoes! I would probably drain most of the liquid so it doesn’t get too soupy!
So I just started Paleo Sunday and my husband hates it already. I’m in the Navy so I work all day and sometimes don’t want to cook at night so I love crockpot recipes because they’re so easy! Unfortunately my husband does not like crockpot recipes because they all “taste the same”. I decided to make this meal today to try to get a different flavor from the red curry chicken I made in the crockpot yesterday. Oh my goodness! I absolutely fell in love with this recipe as soon as I walked in the door this afternoon and could smell it! I put one tsp of cayenne in because my husband likes spice and the meat had a beautiful kick! Despite eating it on lettuce I didn’t feel like it was a diet food at all! It was so flavorful and delicious it taste like meat I would get at a build your own burrito place. Once I was done eating I message my mom, grandma, and best friend all sending them this link recommending them all to try it even though my family is paleo. Most importantly my husband even liked it! I will definitely make this again in the future. Thank you so much for the recipe.
ah Jennifer. Thanks so much for your kind words. I’m so glad you found a recipe that you and your husband loves and that you don’t feel deprived, but nourished! One of my missions is for healthy food to taste good and to be enjoyed! Keep going on Paleo! It’s worth it :)