Made by: Nick

What’s there to say? It’s pulled chicken. It’s super-savoury. It’s as hot as you dare make it. And you can dress it up with all your taco faves or just hover over the pan with nothing but a fork and bad intentions. It doesn’t last long when it’s on the lunch menu at Naked. As “Bingeing with Babish” might say, worthy of the Clean Plate Club.

Recipe

chipotle chicken tacos

Servings: 12 (2 tacos each or plenty for leftovers)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2–3 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
2–3 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
¼ to ½ small tin chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1–1½ cups chicken stock

Directions

To a deep-sided pan or stock pot, add olive oil and heat on high.
In the meantime, salt and pepper the chicken thighs generously on both sides. Once the oil is ripping hot, add chicken thighs (take care not to overcrowd the pan) and brown on all sides.
When the last of the chicken has finished browning, remove from pan and add the diced onion and minced garlic and sauté in pan drippings until soft.
Finely mince chilies and add to pan (use ¼ to ½ tin according to your heat tolerance). Sauté until fragrant (about a minute).
Deglaze pan with chicken stock, using a wooden spoon to scrape up all the tasty brown bits left behind by the chicken. Add enough stock to just about cover the thighs.
Return chicken to pan, cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for about 40 minutes.
Using two forks, pull the chicken apart in the pan and add salt if required. Simmer with the lid off for another 5 minutes or so to reduce the sauce if needed.
Remove from heat and let rest for about 5 minutes before serving with your favourite taco dressing.

Beverage pairing

Usually, we’d suggest a light, crisp Mexican beer with tacos. But if you made this with the entire tin of chilies, then you might be better off with a big glass of milk.

And a side of Bismuth.

Know your onions:

Pickled onion adds a little cool and crunch to these tacos.