Best Chicken Tacos Recipe (Slow Cooker or Stovetop) The Food Charlatan (2024)

My daughter Charlotte just turned 12, and Eric and I had all her presents wrapped and ready for the big day. When she found them in the morning, she said excitedly, “Mom, where did you get this gift bag? I’ve never seen it before in my life!” She was genuinely shocked.

I had bought a large new gift bag at Target (for a whopping 6 dollars), because it had an adorable picture of roller skates on it. It served as a fun clue: we got her a pair of roller skates as her big gift this year. (They are bright turquoise and so awesome)

But apparently in her 12 years of life she didn’t know that the store is where gift bags come from. In our family, when anyone needs to wrap a present, all you have to do is pull a bag from the designated gift-wrapping closet. The bags are just there, existing since before time began, apparently.

I learned from my mother that the ritual of gift-opening on birthdays and Christmases ends with The Mom quietly seated in the corner, carefully smoothing and folding gift bags and tissue paper to be reused for the next event.

I’m dusting off my shoulders and polishing my nails over here. My gift bag game must be seriously on point if I have a tween daughter who doesn’t even know you can get these things at the store. I didn’t know I had reached this level of Mom. Applause welcome.

Maybe someday I will reach Grandpa-level frugality. When Eric was growing up, his family owned the town hardware and furniture store. All his birthday cards from Grandpa had no message written on the card itself, but instead a post-it note stuck inside saying happy birthday. Then after the family party, Grandpa would take the card and the unsealed envelope back to his store and return it to the shelf to sell to someone else. HASHTAG GOALS.

How to cook chicken for tacos on the stove

1. Get yourself some boneless skinless chicken thighs and place on a plate or dish.
2. Make yourself some Homemade Taco Seasoning. You probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboard. If you can’t handle doing homemade, get a quality brand taco seasoning packet and add a tablespoon yellow cornmeal to it.

3. Rub the spices into the chicken, top bottom and sides. Let this marinate for at least 15 minutes, or up to 24 hours if you have the time.
4. Only have chicken breasts?

Cut them like this before adding the seasoning. They will cook more evenly. Use a sharp knife and avoid sawing motions. Chicken breasts are not my top choice (there is not as much fat), but they will do in a pinch.

5. Sear your seasoned chicken in screaming hot oil. Do not move it once it is in the pan! This is how you get a nice brown sear.

6. Can you see how it’s getting all blackened? Yum. When you flip the chicken, add a pat of butter to help the second side brown (and hello flavor.)
7. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and continue cooking the rest of the chicken until it’s done.

8. Let rest a few minutes. Cut against the grain. Squeeze with lime juice. And STUFF! Voila. Chicken tacos.

How to make Chicken Thigh Tacos in crockpot

Here’s how it’s done. This could not be easier. It’s my preferred way to make these tacos. Shh, don’t tell Stovetop Version up above.

1. Slap your chicken straight from the package into your crock pot. If you have skin-on thighs, you will have to trim them first. Bone-in is fine. If you have boneless-skinless, you can just toss it in.

   (You can use chicken breasts, but thighs are better. They have more internal fat, giving them more flavor and tenderness.)

2. Sprinkle your Homemade Taco Seasoning over the chicken and rub it in. You can use a store bought taco packet; add 1 tablespoon cornmeal to it first.
3. Chop 2 tablespoons butter into small chunks. Sprinkle the butter evenly over the chicken.
4. Close the lid and let cook on LOW for 2 and 1/2 hours, or up to 3 hours max.

5. Remove the chicken, let it rest a few minutes, then shred. It should be totally falling apart.

6. Add chicken to a serving bowl and squeeze lime juice over the top. Serve with the crock pot drippings. That’s it!

Why is my slow cooker chicken so tough?

Because you’re cooking it too long, and boiling it at that. You know when you look up something and google gives you common questions other people ask about the topic? On a search for “slow cooker chicken tacos” the first question that pops up is “why is my chicken so tough?” It’s a real problem, y’all, you are not the only one.

Here’s the thing about crock pot chicken. Everyone wants to leave it in all day. Set-it and forget-it, right? WRONG. You can leave a pot roast in all day. You can go for 10 hours on that Pulled pork shoulder. But would you put salmon in the slow cooker for 10 hours? “Of course not!”

Well, chicken should not be put in the slow cooker for that long either. Chicken doesn’t need to see the inside of a slow cooker longer than 2 and 1/2 hours, 3 tops. I know this is a huge blow to your world view about slow cookers. Life is tough.

(By the way, I’m not saying there are zero chicken recipes that go all day in the slow cooker. Just try this Chicken Kale Soup or this Basil Chicken Curry. But if your goal is cooked chicken that’s stand alone, not part of a sauce or soup, you need it to be juicy and browned and flavorful. A short cook time and minimal added liquid is the best way to do it.)

• Don’t leave your chicken in the slow cooker longer than 3 hours tops
• Don’t add salsa or other liquid. We want to braise this bird, not boil it in tomatoes. Heaven’s sake. Salsa goes on your taco AFTER you cook the meat. Have you ever been to a Mexican restaurant where the chicken tasted like a jar of canned salsa? No!!

How to assemble this Chicken Tacos Recipe

Once you have your meat all ready to go, whether you made it on the stove or in the slow cooker, it’s time to put our tacos together.

I love to char my tortillas on the open flame of my gas stove. (California keeps threatening to outlaw gas stoves entirely, and if they do, I’m moving out of state. DON’T RUIN MY TACOS, CALIFORNIA sheesh.)

Set the burner to medium high heat. It only takes a few seconds for the tortilla to char on the edges. Flip it with metal tongs and do the other side.

Place them immediately in a ziplock bag and seal right away to steam them. Every few tortillas, I add a damp paper towel. The goal here is to steam the tortillas and make them nice and pliable. I prefer to use corn tortillas, but flour tortillas work in the process the same way.

Build your Chicken Taco

Once you have your charred and steamed tortillas, build your taco:

• Layer two tortillas
• generous chicken (drizzle with drippings if you made it in the crock)
• Pico de gallo (or at least cilantro and onions)
• salsa
• queso
• radishes
• Mexican Crema

Eat one, and then another, and then another, and another…

Leftover Chicken Taco recipe uses

Chicken taco meat loves to party. All it wants is to hang out with other ingredients in all kinds of meals. Tacos? Of course. Enchiladas? It’s down. Burrito bowls? Yes please. Quesadillas? YOLO.

Here are a few suggestions for how to use the filling for this Chicken Taco recipe (other than tacos).

• Use it as enchilada filling. Honestly this would be perfect with green OR red enchilada sauce.
• Throw it on burrito bowls. Personally I’m a huge fan of cauliflower rice and this Spanish Cauliflower Rice would make a killer base. Add some black beans, pico de gallo, cheese, and guac and you’re outdoing Chipotle by like a million.
• Put it in quesadillas. Turn a tortilla-and-cheese toddler lunch into a full-on adult dinner by adding this chicken taco meat. Dip it in salsa and you’re golden.
• Upgrade your loaded nachos. Take this simple recipe for Easy Rotisserie Chicken Nachos and make it even better with more flavorful chicken.
• Make a plate with rice and beans. These Tex Mex Tejano Beans are the perfect complement to your chicken with a side of rice. Again, a little guac never hurts.