Crock Pot in the summertime? You betcha!! I used to only think about dragging my crock pot out in the Fall when a crisp nip began to fill the air. But no more! When it’s hot outside the last thing you want to do is heat up the house cooking dinner. Besides we have better things to do with our time than cook on a beautiful summer day. My list is long and it usually involves some pool or beach time!
Mexican food makes me happy! I feel so lucky to live in Southern California because really great Mexican food is around nearly every corner. Granted we do have a lot of Americanized Mexican food but we also have some very authentic meals being created here too. Some of the sauces take hours to make and a cart full of ingredients. Mole Poblano is one of those dishes and has an average of 20 ingredients. According to Rick Bayless, Mexico One Plate At A Time, (I love this cookbook!!) the ingredients for mole can be grouped into five distinct classes: chiles, sour (tomatillos), sweet (dried fruits and sugar), spices, and thickeners (nuts and tortillas). This man is a genius when it comes to capturing the flavors of Mexico in the most amazing dishes!
Not all the food is complicated to make but the flavors are always complex and interesting. We’re going to the opposite extreme and making a very simple dish that is so satisfying! This is my go to dish for large groups. It leaves me lots of time to prepare all kinds of other goodies for my guests and they have fun making the perfect taco! The flip side to making all this delicious taco meat when you don’t have a crowd for dinner is that it freezes beautifully. Now you can have a fiesta any night of the week!
It is so easy to create a taco bar in your own home! Or a burrito bar, a quesadilla bar or filling for enchiladas. The only limit to all of this taco madness is your imagination.
While it’s cooking you have time to mix up some Pineapple-Jalapeno Margaritas or Micheladas.
The sooner you get the crock pot fired up, the sooner you’ll be doing a happy little Mexican hat dance in your kitchen! Ole! Love, love, love these flavors of Mexico!!
Easy as Uno, Dos, Tres!
1. (Uno) The seasoning powerhouse! Hatch green chiles, Herdez sauces, cumin, and onion.
Place chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker and add the powerhouse ingredients! Cover and set on low. Cook for 6 hours.
2. (Dos) Leave chicken in the pot and use two forks to shred the chicken. Let the shredded chicken hang out in the savory broth in the crock pot so it can absorb more flavor. This will taste even better the next day! I make mine a day in advance so the flavors can meld. It is so much more flavorful!
3. (Tres) Serve up the chicken taco meat in a large bowl. Fill smaller bowls with shredded lettuce or cabbage, tomatoes, grated cheese, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, lime wedges and diced onions. Place corn or flour tortillas on the grill or gas burner of your stove to warm and create a few charred grill marks. For oven baked crispy taco shells check out the rcipe below.**
**Oven Baked Taco Shells:
Place top rack of oven on top level and line bottom rack with foil. I didn’t put foil down the 1st time I made these and it was a huge mess to clean up!! The burned, smokey smell invaded my house for hours too!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Wrap 4 tortillas at a time in a damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on High until steamed, about 30 seconds. Alternatively, wrap in foil and heat in the preheated oven until steaming, 5 to 7 minutes.
Lightly spray one side of each tortilla with the cooking spray. I followed the original recipe and sprayed both sides. Maybe that’s why I had such a mess from too much cooking spray. The key to the crunch is minimal cooking spray! Less spray, fewer calories too! And no foil needed because there was no dripping. You can still put foil in place just in case. Better safe than smelly!
Drape tortillas with the sprayed side facing up over 2 rows of the top oven rack.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until crispy and lightly browned. There is a fine balance between slightly under cooked which gives them a chewy texture not the crunch we love and browned just enough to create the crunch. You figure it out pretty quickly. They will crisp up more after they are out of the oven so don’t over bake them. Play with the timing a bit until you get it down. More tacos please! Crunch is great but too much crunch is a cracked up taco!
They do look a little funky with their flat bottoms but the up side, no pun intended, is they do stand up and you don’t need a taco rack. Saves you another buck right there!
Be sure to drain the chicken taco mixture well! Nobody likes a soggy bottom taco! I also like to put the cheese in first and then the meat. The meat melts the cheese and helps glue things together …so to speak. The crunch is great and the flavors are oh so satisfying! I’m in taco heaven!
- 1 can Green chiles, diced
- 1 - 7 oz can Herdez Ranchero Sauce
- 2 - 7 oz cans Herdez Salsa Verde Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1 whole onion, chopped
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Taco shells, flour or corn tortillas
- Place chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker. Top with green chiles, Herdez sauces, cumin, and onion. Cover and set on low. Cook for 6 hours.
- Leave chicken in the pot and use two forks to shred the chicken. Let the shredded chicken hang out in the savory broth in the crock pot so it can absorb more flavor. This will taste even better the next day!
- Serve up the chicken taco meat in a large bowl. Fill smaller bowls with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, salsa and diced onions.
- Place corn or flour tortillas on the grill or gas burner of your stove to warm and for a few charred grill marks or wrap in a moist paper towel and then foil and place in the oven on low to heat through or make the Oven Baked Taco Shells.
- Drain chicken taco mixture well before assembling tacos or you will have soggy bottoms in your tacos!
- I make mine a day in advance so the flavors can meld. It is so much more flavorful!
- Chicken Taco Meat can be frozen for later use in enchiladas, tacos or burritos.
- Corn Tortillas
- Cooking Spray
- Place top rack of oven on top level and line bottom rack with foil. I didn't put foil down the 1st time I made these and it was a huge mess to clean up!! The burned, smokey smell invaded my house for hours too!
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Wrap 4 tortillas in a damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on High until steamed, about 30 seconds. Alternatively, wrap in foil and heat in the preheated oven until steaming, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Spray one side of each tortilla with the cooking spray.
- Drape tortillas with the sprayed side facing up over 2 rows of the top oven rack.
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until crispy and lightly browned. There is a fine balance between slightly under cooked which gives them a chewy texture not the crunch we love and browned just enough to create the crunch. You figure it out pretty quickly. They will crisp up more after they are out of the oven so don't over bake them. Play with the timing a bit until you get it down.
- They do look a little funky with their flat bottoms but the up side, no pun intended, is they do stand up and you don't need a taco rack.
- Be sure to drain the chicken taco mixture well before assembling your tacos. Nobody likes a soggy bottom taco!
These look really good! I will give them a try next week!
Kathy, make sure to check back in and let me know what the family thought of Taco Night!