shredded chicken and taco sauce recipe

There’s a lot of stuff here, but nothing too complicated.  Trust me -the finished chicken (and tacos) is well worth the effort.

Ingredients, chicken:

1 full chicken or random chicken pieces that haven’t been de-boned or skinned

1 gallon of water or enough to cover the chicken

1 yellow onion cut into quarters

A full head of garlic.  You don’t need to chop the cloves but do remove the paper.

1 whole cinnamon stick.  Use 1.5 TBS of ground if that’s all you have.

1 TBS whole cloves.  Use an equal amount of ground if that’s all you have.

3 TBS ground cumin

1 TBS dried oregano

3 TBS salt (use adobo in it’s place, if you have)

Adobo

5 bay leafs

2 TBS smoked paprika

2 TBS chili powder

Ingredients, sauce:

1 large yellow or white onion, diced

1 TBS olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBS chili powder

2 TBS cumin powder

1 TBS dried oregano

1 TBS smoked paprika

At least 1 jalapeno, minced.  Use a habanero if you wish to melt your tastebuds.

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 roma or similar tomatoes, skinned and diced

1.5 TBS Worchester sauce

1.5 cups stock from the cooked chicken

1 handful of cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions, chicken:

Add all the ingredients to a large pot, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat for 1.5 hours.

Everybody in the pool

Once cooled remove the fat, skin, and bones and pull the chicken into small pieces.  NOTE:  Save 1.5 cups of the liquid in the pot for the sauce.

Shredded chicken

Directions, sauce:

Add the onion, chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, jalapeno, olive oil, and 1 tsp salt to a pot over medium heat.  Cook for 10 minutes

If you could only smell...

Add the garlic, red bell pepper, tomato, and Worchester sauce and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to a boil.

Carefully add everything to a blender and blend until a smooth sauce.  Re-season if needed.

Once cooled add the cilantro and mix.

Finished sauce

Finally, mix about half of the sauce into the shredded chicken saving the remaining sauce to top the tacos.  Done.

Chicken and sauce for tacos