Rated 5.0 on Google*

Meat Smoke Fire logo

Chicken tacos with Adobo

Chicken tacos with Adobo

Fresh, homemade corn tacos, with a spicy shredded chicken topping, are the perfect finger food.

Making your own tacos is really satisfying and so simple. Just mix white masa harina (flour made from dried corn with a little lime), with water and then press into thin tacos, before cooking in a hot dry pan. You can then add your toppings, here we’re using shredded chicken with an adobo sauce.  This is popular in Mexican and Tex Mex dishes.

A taco press makes pressing the dough into a uniform thickness really simple.  If you don’t have one of these, you can use a rolling pin.

Cooking surfaces

Cast iron pan
Cast Iron Grid

BBQ Temperature

For the tacos

200C

For the chicken and adobo

200C

Ingredients

For the Adobo sauce

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tbsp Ancho chilli flakes – if you like spicy you can increase this.
  • 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 60ml cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp Maldon salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tin tomatoes

For the chicken

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 3 cloves garlic crushed
  • 2 tbsp chipotle chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 Oxo chicken stock cubes
  • 4 tbsp tomato puree
  • 400ml water

For the onion pickle

  • 1 red onion finely sliced
  • Juice of a lemon
  • 1 tsp Maldon salt
  • 1.5 tsp sugar

Other ingredients

  • Mini flour tortilla wraps or make your own with Masa flour and water
  • Guacamole
  • Toasted Corn Salsa
  • Soured Cream
  • Fresh coriander
  • Sliced chillis to garnish
  • Spring onion to garnish

Equipment

Method

For the tacos

  1. Mix your flour with water to make a dough.
  2. Setup your Egg to cook directly at 250°C, adding a cast iron skillet to full-moon plancha to heat up.
  3. Break off a small piece of dough, enough to make a ball just smaller than a ping-pong ball (about 28g).
  4. Using two sheets of parchment, place your ball beteeen them in the taco press. Press it out. It should form a 10-12cm taco, fairly small.
  5. Carefully peel off the paper and place the taco in the hot pan.
  6. Cook for 30 seconds and then flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds. Your taco should puff a little bit and your should slightly scorch the edges.
  7. Remove from the pan and place on your taco rack.
  8. Repeat to cook as many tacos as you need.

For the adobo sauce

  1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 180°C.
  2. Heat up the oil in your pan.  
  3. Add the garlic and chilli flakes to the oil and fry until the garlic softens.
  4. .Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and simmer for 1.5 hours.
  5. Pour the sauce into a food processor or blender and blitz.  You’re looking for the consistency of a sauce.  Thin with a little water, if required.

For the chicken

  1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 180°C
  2. Debone your chicken thighs.
  3. Add the garlic and chilli flakes to the oil and fry until the garlic softens.
  4. Add the chicken and cumin seeds to the pan.  Fry off until the chicken browns on the outside.  
  5. Add the paprika and tomato puree, crumble in the stock cubes.  Give it a good stir.
  6. Add the stock.  Cook your chicken thighs for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.  The chicken temp should be at least 90°C.
  7. Take your chicken off the grill and use two forks to shred it..

For the pickle

  1. Place the finely sliced onion in a bowl.
  2. Add the lemon juice, sugar and salt to the onions.
  3. Mix all the ingredients together and leave to sit for at least 15 minutes.

To assemble your tacos

  1. Add some shredded chicken to your taco.
  2. Top with a teaspoon of salsa, a teaspoon of guacamole and a teaspoon of soured cream.
  3. Sprinkle over some onion pickle and fresh coriander leaves.

If you like your tacos really spicy, you can add some chilli sauce or some pickled jalapenos.

0