These chipotle chicken tacos are a little spicy, a little smoky and a whole lot of deliciousness. The chicken is marinated in a simple chipotle sauce and tucked into tortillas with a cool and crunchy cilantro-lime coleslaw.
Table of contents
Here are a few fun facts about these chipotle chicken tacos:
- The simple chipotle marinade doubles as a sauce. It’s a twofer.
- You can cook the chicken on the stove or on the grill. Choices! Yay.
- The spicy chipotle peppers are balanced out with some creamy, cool Greek yogurt that also helps tenderize the chicken as it marinates.
- A crunchy cilantro-lime slaw adds texture and flavor. I love a good slaw.
Ingredients
- Diced canned tomatoes
- Chipotle pepper plus some adobo sauce
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Cilantro
- Kosher salt
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Coleslaw mix
- Fresh lime juice
- Warm flour tortillas
How to Make the Tacos
Chipotle Marinade
For the marinade, we’re combining canned diced tomatoes, cilantro, Greek yogurt, chipotle pepper plus adobo sauce and salt.
I usually go with one chipotle pepper, but you can add more if you want it extra spicy. You do you!
Pop it all in the blender and blend until smooth.
Divide the marinade and use half of it to marinate the boneless skinless chicken breasts. Save the other half to drizzle over the tacos.
Make the Slaw
The chicken only needs about 30 minutes to marinate and while it does you can make the slaw.
First, save yourself some time and buy a bag a coleslaw mix or a bag of shredded cabbage.
Combine the coleslaw with Greek yogurt, lime juice, cilantro and salt. Mix and pop it in the fridge while you cook the chicken.
Cook the Chicken
Remove the chicken from the marinade and let the excess marinade drip off.
Cook the chicken on the stove in a large skillet or grill it over medium-high heat. If you opt to grill I recommend cooking the chicken over indirect heat so it doesn’t char too much.
Once it’s cooked through, let it rest for a couple of minutes and then thinly slice it.
Assemble the Tacos
Warm some flour tortillas, pile on some slaw, top it with the sliced chicken, and drizzle some of the reserved sauce over the top. Add a sprinkle of some chopped cilantro with a squeeze of lime juice if you’re feeling it.
A Couple More Thoughts
- You can use the same amount of boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts.
- Sometimes I skip the tortillas and pile the chipotle chicken on cilantro rice with the slaw for a taco bowl.
- You may end up with some extra chipotle sauce and, for the record, that’s not a bad thing. Store it in the fridge and use it like you would enchilada sauce. It goes with all the things.
- Just make sure to toss the sauce you used as a marinade and keep the extra separate. Any sauce that touched the raw chicken should be tossed (i.e. the marinade) and any sauce you serve with the tacos should be kept separate.
- The chicken is very leftover-worthy. If you want to save some just pop it in a container and keep it in the fridge. It will keep well for several days.
Juicy, tender chicken wrapped up with all the crunchy slaw and spicy-smoky sauce. These chipotle chicken tacos are anything but ordinary. Enjoy!
Happy Cooking,
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Chipotle Chicken Tacos
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
These chipotle chicken tacos are a little spicy, a little smoky and a whole lot of deliciousness. The chicken is marinated in a simple chipotle sauce and tucked into tortillas with a cool and crunchy cilantro-lime coleslaw.
Ingredients
- 15 ounce diced canned tomatoes
- 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, plus 2 tablespoons of the sauce
- 1 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt, divided
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise
- 5 cups bagged coleslaw mix
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of 1 lime
For Serving
- Warm flour tortillas
- Chopped cilantro
- A few squeezes of lime juice
Instructions
- Puree the tomatoes, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, 1/2 cup of yogurt, cilantro and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a blender and process until smooth.
- Divide the marinade in half and pour one half into a large ziplock bag. Place the chicken inside, seal the bag and sort of smoosh it around to coat the chicken. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes and set the other half of the marinade aside to use as a sauce for the tacos.
- To make the slaw, combine the slaw mix, 3/4 cup of yogurt, chopped cilantro, lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss the coleslaw mix around in the yogurt mixture until well coated. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and let the excess drip off. Discard the marinade and cook the chicken over medium-high heat. You can cook it in a pan on the stove or on the grill. If cooking on the grill, cook it over indirect heat so the flames don’t char the chicken too much. The chicken will take about 8 to 10 minutes to cook depending on how thick it is. Once it’s reached a temperature of 165°F it’s done. Rest the chicken for a few minutes before thinly slicing it.
- Place some slaw on a warm tortilla and top it with sliced chicken. Drizzle the reserved chipotle sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped cilantro and lime juice.
Notes
Most likely, you will have leftover sauce. Save it and use it like you would enchilada sauce. It will keep well in the refrigerator for a few days.
The nutrition estimate does not include the tortillas.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 213
- Sugar: 8.3g
- Sodium: 598.2mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 14.2g
- Fiber: 4.2g
- Protein: 23.4g
- Cholesterol: 62.9mg
Keywords: chipotle chicken tacos, chipotle chicken marinade
The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
The post updated from the archives. First published in May 2016.
Fred says
Incredible taste and so easy to make. Tacos have a whole new meaning to me now!
★★★★★
Ahlem says
Hi,
is it possible to leave the chicken marinate all night?
Thanks
April Anderson says
Yes, that would work!
Eva @ Cooking Goals says
Delicious!! will have to try it out
Kelsey says
Just stumbled upon your site not too long ago, and just made these tacos – really refreshing!! 🙂
April says
So glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Rosemary says
These April, sound absolutely amazing. The perfect dinner.
Starla says
Tacos are a favorite of mine so these look delicious!
April says
Thanks so much, Starla!