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.

Carnitas

The Best Homemade Carnitas

One thing I think we can all agree with, we love tacos and this Carnitas recipe is no exception. If you don’t know what that means, I’m talking about tender yet crispy thin pieces of pork meat that have been cooked to perfection. Some of the busiest cities in Mexico and in the United States have street vendors cranking out these little gems like they’re going out of style. Folks can’t get enough and I’m going to show you how to do it better than any other online recipe.

Raw bone in pork shoulder roast with the skin.

Misconceptions about Carnitas

The very definition of the Latin word, “Carnitas” translates as braised or roasted pork served shredded in small pieces. Some people seem to think that means that the meat should be cut into small portions before cooking it. Nonsense. It’s the final product that needs to be chopped up. Some of the most famous cookeries in Mexico braise all of the meat in large portions. The only reason to cut the pork into small pieces would be to fit in your pot, if your home pot isn’t big enough. Also, you won’t be needing any additional lard to cook this recipe because this pork shoulder is marinated first, then baked and roasted in it’s own rendered fat.

Carnitas Marinade

As I already mentioned, Carnitas is braised or Roasted pork. In Mexico and most online recipes, the pork is cooked in large amounts of lard first, then all of the other ingredients are added half way through or more towards the end of the cooking. Marinating the meat first, then baking with the slow and low method, accomplishes several things; it flavors, tenderizes and allows you to free up your time instead of baby sitting the stove for several ours. If I want tacos for lunch, I get this started the night before and it cooks itself until I get up the next day. Not to mention, this process cooks the meat perfectly and I prove that in the video tutorial down below.

Fully Cooked Carnitas for tacos and burritos.

Carnitas Final Steps

This Carnitas recipe will roast for 12 hours in the oven but it’s not finished yet. Although you can achieve the tenderness from the slow and low method, you’re still going to want to add some more flavor and a bit of crispiness to the meat. This can be done by adding the final ingredients, orange juice, coca-cola, bay leaves and cranking the oven up several notch’s. After you add those ingredients you want to bake the pork with the lid off for another hour. Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, cut spin and rotate the meat before and every half hour to reach its full potential. You’ll understand better, once you watch my tutorial.

If you’re interested in other taco recipes look into my Chipotle Chicken, Barbacoa, Street Tacos(Cabesa), Fish Tacos and my Taco Salad recipes. I’ve got two recipes for the Greek Tacos too; Pork Gyros and my American Greek Gyro recipe.

Carnitas Ingredients

10 lbs Pork Shoulder

1/4 cup Garlic Infused Oil
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Cumin
2 tbsp Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce
2 tbsp Sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Coca Cola
2 Bay Leaves
1 Onion

Bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 hours. Cut pork into Pieces. Add Orange Juice, Cola and Bay Leaves to the rendered fat and cut pieces of meat. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, with the lid off for 30 minutes. Stir the mixture and bake for 30 more minutes, then remove from oven and shred.

Top 5 Taco Recipes

The growing popularity of Tacos

Tacos have become all the craze. We have Taco Tuesday and taco food trucks and even people serving tacos at their weddings.
There’s a reason people are falling in love with them more and more. They are so easy to put together and super cheep to make. No matter what kind of meat you like there’s a taco for you.

Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos first came from Baja Califorina, Mexico. We’ve kept our Fish Tacos true to its origin. Grilled or fried with lettuce or cabbage, pico de gallo, and a sour cream or citrus/mayonnaise sauce. Sounds so easy but the flavor is unbeatable. I prefer a fish taco over any other.

Tacos Salad

Taco Salad is a Tex-Mex recipe originating in Texas during the 1960’s. It has always been one of my favorites. Put pretty much anything you’d put in a taco or on a salad and you’re good to go. Growing up it was often on the menu for Sunday Dinner. I liked it the best because it was one of the only meals that we were allowed to dish up ourselves. So I could make it exactly how I wanted leaving items on or off as I pleased.

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Chipotle Chicken Tacos are the best because almost everyone loves chicken. You just can’t go wrong with these. This recipe is so versatile. Put it in a rice bowl or on a salad or even in a burrito. But honestly on a lightly fried and salted flour taco shell is my favorite.

Street Tacos

We just can’t get enough of these Street Tacos. If we ever see a taco truck parked on the side of the road we always stop in and grab a few tacos. My oldest daughter loves these especially if we make them with Lengua. For many years she has requests them for her birthday dinner. No matter what kind of meat you decide to use for your street tacos don’t forget the fresh ingredients. Chopped onion, cilantro and lime are a must.

Barbacoa Tacos

No one really knows were tacos originally came from but they are not an ago old recipe. The earliest account is from the 19th Century.
One of the first types of tacos is called tacos de minero. Which translates to miner’s tacos. It has lead people to believe that the Mexican silver miners most likely invented the taco.

Barbacoa Tacos is probably the kind of tacos we make most often. We usually use a beef chuck and that makes for a lot of yummy tacos. Check out our top five tacos video below and decide for yourself which is your favorite.

Taco Tuesdays

Even though we all love tacos and you wouldn’t think someone should be able to make a calm on the words Taco Tuesday. You should be careful when using it. Since 1989, Taco Tuesday® has been a registered trademark of Taco John’s. Even though the history goes way beyond them. They actually battle with other companies for the phrase. Sounds kind of silly to me. Any good Mexican knows every day is a good day for tacos.