Shredded Chicken Tacos

The Best Shredded Chicken Tacos

If you’re a fan of Tex-Mex or Mexican food and you love Shredded Chicken Tacos, you’re in for a treat because this is the real deal and they’re so easy to make using this slow cooker recipe. The meat is fall off the bone tender and full of amazing flavor. Plus, this recipe can be used for more than just tacos. I’m talking about burritos, nachos, chimichangas, quesadillas or served over rice, it’s that versatile.

Shredded Chicken Taco Seasoning

One of the best seasonings to use for this Shredded chicken Taco recipe is Blackened Seasoning. It’s got everything you need in one and can usually be found with barbecue rubs and all purpose seasonings in your grocery store. It’s also very easy to make if you can’t find someone that carries it and you want or need to make your own. Here’s my recipe for Blackened Seasoning if you’re interested. The seasoning in the photos and video tutorial is my recipe and it’s got smoked paprika, cumin, onion & garlic powder, as well as a few other ingredients you’re going to love. It goes great with pork, beef, poultry and seafood. I highly recommend you try it, if you haven’t already. I also use kosher salt and pepper.

Diced Tomatoes, garlic and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce topped with seasoned chicken thighs and Mexican oregano.

Shredded Chicken Tacos Secret Sauce

Every recipe has that one thing that makes it really special and this Shredded Chicken Tacos recipe is no exception. In the bottom of your slow cooker, you want to add a can of diced tomatoes, chipotle peppers and some minced or chopped garlic. Then, once you add the seasoned chicken thighs, top everything off with Mexican Oregano. If you’re Crock-Pot has a heavy glass lid like mine and it doesn’t allow steam to escape, you won’t have to add any liquid. Otherwise, 1 cup of chicken broth might be necessary. The cooking time will depend on what you’re trying to accomplish. Set on low, I personally cook for 10 to 12 hours but the recommended cooking time by the manufactures is between 6 to 8. On high, the recommended time is 4 to 6 so, you decide.

De-boned slow cooked Chicken thigh meat for tacos.

De-bone the Chicken Tacos Meat

One thing I appreciate is not having to spit back out the food I’m trying to eat. Nothing more annoying to me than biting into a texture that just isn’t palatable so, there’s two things you want to get rid of after the chicken is cooked. They’re both considered one in the same, more or less, but they often separate when the meat tenderizes and that’s the thigh bone and the end cap on the bone. Then once those have been removed, feel free to fork and shred the meat.

Skillet full of Shredded Chicken Tacos meat.

Pan Fry Shredded Chicken Tacos Meat

I like to add a little more texture to the meat, in my Shredded Chicken Tacos, by pan frying the the shreds in an 8th inch of oil for about 5 minutes. Once it starts getting some color and gets a little crispy on the edges, I had a few scoops of the left over slow cooker juice. You don’t want the meat to dry out and there’s so much flavor there, it’s good to utilize and not let it go to waste.

Shredded Chicken Tacos – Slow Cooker Recipe – PMGK

Shredded Chicken Tacos Ingredients:

8 to 10 Chicken Thighs, boneless or bone in
Season with Kosher Salt & Pepper and Blackened Seasoning
1 can Diced Tomatoes
2 tbsp Chipotle Peppers in adobo sauce
1 tbsp Mexican Oregano
1 pkg Corn Tortilla’s
Oil for frying, canola or vegetable

Cook on the Low setting for 10 to 12 hours in a Slow Cooker and follow the directions in the Shredded Chicken Tacos video tutorial.

Lime Margarita Mixer Recipe

Homemade Lime Margarita Mixer

If you’ve ever purchased a Margarita Mixer from the store, you know that they are both pricey and usually crap. So, why do we buy them? Because we LOVE Margarita’s! Right? Damn straight! But if you’re like me, you wouldn’t mind a cheaper alternative and maybe even a better tasting cocktail and that’s what I aim for when I’m mixing a beverage with spirits. But there are a few things you need to consider before you attempt this recipe because there aren’t just several different ways to make this. You have to consider variable ingredients as well as apposing temperatures, as well.

Margarita Mixer Variance’s

All Margarita Mixer recipes are different and I don’t just mean swapping out fruits like Strawberries, Mango’s or Watermelon to make a Margarita. Store bought bottles literally contain 0% juice. And, if you try one brand to the next, both Lime Flavored for example, they’ll taste completely different from one another. But they also have all of that shelf life crap they have to endure, with all of the ingredients, created to preserve the product, all the while trying to maintain flavor. But the only 3 ingredients you need to worry about today are Water, Sugar and Lime Juice.

I make my Margaritas with Triple Sec in them. Which, if you don’t know, is a sweet orange liqueur. But, if you’re not adding that, you might want to consider squeezing in an Orange with all of the freshly squeezed Limes. This, along with the sugar, will help balance the citrus and citric acid.

Sweetening and Heating the Margarita Mixer

This Margarita Mixer can be tweaked in several other ways and it’s important that you consider these options and understand you might like your Mixer better if it’s heated or unheated, Sweetened with Corn Syrup or Simple Syrup and made with granulated Sugar or Honey.

If you choose to make Simple Syrup, which I recommend, there’s no avoiding heat to fuse and bond the sugar or honey to the water. Simple Syrup is, of course, 1 part water and 1 part Sugar but you can substitute honey, if you like, but consider cooling it down first before mixing the other ingredients at room temperature. The flavor will be different than how it would taste after the ingredients are heated on the stove. To prove my point, think about fresh salsa vs. cooked salsa.

Using the Limeade to make a Margarita Mixer is a quick fix but, once again, you may want to consider mixing the ingredients at room temperature.

Be sure to check out my Pico De Gayo, Shrimp Cocktail with Oyster Shots, Fish Tacos and my Chili Con Queso recipes so you can have something to munch on while you enjoy your Margarita’s. The way I make a Frozen Margarita and a Margarita on the Rocks is up next.

Lime Margarita Mixer Ingredients:

Fresh Recipe
10 to 12 Limes, freshly squeezed

1 cup Lime Juice
1 1/2 cup Water
1 cup Simple Syrup (1 pt sugar, 1 pt water)
add more sugar to taste or as needed

Concentrated Recipe
1 can Limeade Concentrate
1 1/2 cup Water
1 cup Simple Syrup (1 pt sugar, 1 pt water)

Be sure to follow the instructions in the short video tutorial and I’ll show exactly how to make this Lime Margarita Mixer.

Chicken Tikka Masala

The Best Chicken Tikka Masala

I know that everyone thinks they have the “Best” Chicken Tikka Masala recipe but most of these food bloggers are cutting corners and they’re not honoring the full recipe. Simple and easy recipes usually means that your not getting all of the flavor you could be enjoying if you put in just a little more love and finesse. There are a ton of ingredients in this recipe. In fact, probably the most I’ve ever published to date but after enjoying some Authentic Indian cuisine, Valentines Day, I decided this wasn’t a recipe I was going to cheat. So I got to work on it, immediately, and I shopped around until I found all of the ingredients I needed to make the Best Chicken Tikka Masala recipe.

Chicken Tikka Masala Seasoning

The most common ingredient in Chicken Tikka Masala is Garam Masala. Though, you can buy it as one seasoning, it’s really a combination of several other ingredients indigenous to India. Ironically, though, Chicken Tikka comes from India, the Masala recipe was created in England for locals that preferred a gravy with their Chicken Tikka and rice. So if you put the two together, you now have Chicken Tikka Masala and they both have the Garam Masala seasoning in them.

Other Ingredients in this recipe include Cardamom powder, which I have seen used as green and black seeds in recipes that use a blender and a sieve to strain the sauce. Also Fenugreek Leaves are usually used but I could only find the powder. I think everything else is more commonly known, like Cumin, Tumeric, Red Chili Powder(which shouldn’t be taken lightly), Coriander, Cinnamon and Clove.

The Chicken Tikka Masala Marinade

In the video tutorial, I show you how to make the Chicken Tikka Masala Marinade and this can be used the exact same way to prepare either chicken or shrimp. Again, the Garam Masala is used for marinating but the easiest way to add in all of the other ingredients is to just mix them altogether from the start, then add spoon fulls to both the marinade and the Masala, separately. The Seasoning recipe below provides you with enough spice to have a little left over, which is great on steaks, roasts and seafood. Also, the marinade calls for Curd or plain Yogurt. Use which ever is available to you. I went deep with it and bought Greek. On a side note, instead of Heavy Whipping Cream, I also bought Crema or Table Cream from the Mexican Food section in my dairy.

If you’re interested in trying my Plain or Garlic Naan recipe, to go along with this dish, I highly recommend it. I also make a mean Curry Chicken Salad!

Chicken Tikka Masala Ingredients:

1 lbs Chicken or Shrimp

1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger, chopped
1/4 cup Curd or Plain Yogurt
1 cup Table Cream or Heavy Whipping
4 cups Tomato Puree
1/2 Red Onion Chopped
1 bunch Coriander Leaves, chopped
1 Lemon, squeezed
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive Oil, for cooking
1/2 tsp Salt

Seasoning
2 tbsp Garam Masala
1 to 2 tbsp Red Chili Powder, to taste(spicy)
2 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
2 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Fenugreek Powder or Leaves(preferred)
1 tbsp Cardamom Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 tsp Clove, ground

Salt and Pepper to Taste

I use half of the garlic and ginger, all of the curd/yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and 2 heaping tbsp’s of the seasoning mix to marinade the chicken or shrimp. I use approximately 4 heaping tbsp of the seasoning mix for the sauce but you need to play that by ear and adjust the salt and pepper to taste. Just be sure to watch the short video tutorial so that you can see exactly how to make this Chicken Tikka Masala.