Chicken for Tacos and Enchiladas – Simplified for Small Batch

Notes:

The original recipe is great. This recipe is simplified and reduced to smaller portions. The original recipe can be found, here.

Basic Phylosophy:

In any recipe chicken should taste like chicken. You should want to eat it by itself before you add it to the recipe. This is one of the reasons why people make so many things out of pre-cooked chickens from the big box stores.

It doesn’t matter how you cook your chicken. What matters is that you don’t overcook your chicken. This recipe uses an oven instead of a sous vide but you still need to monitor the temperature of the chicken with a good meat thermometer to avoid overcooking it.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs boneless-skinless chicken breasts
• 1.5 lbs boneless-skinless chicken thighs
• Spices for Chicken
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground thyme
  • 1.5 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds (ground)
• One 20oz can Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
  • Drain the liquid from the can before using.
• 7 oz MILD Green Enchilada Sauce (Be careful, too much can make the chicken very spicy.)
• 4 oz Mild Ortega Taco Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Masa Flour
  • You can substitute GP Flour if you don’t have Masa. Masa Flour has a sweeter flavor.
• Salt to taste (If needed after recipe is completely cooked)
• Pepper to taste (If needed after recipe is completely cooked)
• Chicken Broth (if needed if the recipe is too dry)

Instructions:

1. Coat the chicken in the spices.
2. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 casserole dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees.
   • Test with meat thermometer and pull the chicken breasts when they reach 158 degrees.
   • Pull the thighs when they reach 167 degrees.
3. When the chicken cools, chop it into 1/2-inch or smaller cubes.
4. Place the Rotel, enchillada sauce, taco sauce, in a sauce pan.
5. Whisk in the flour.
6. Heat on medium, stirring frequently, until thickened.
7. Stir the sauce into the chicken.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. If the mixture is too dry, add chicken broth.
10. Place everything back into the original casserole dish.
11. Bake at 350 degrees, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 155 degrees.
12. Serve.