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.
Oh, hi, I’m here sharing another chipotle pepper recipe! Last week, I mentioned it’s been chipotle-flavored everything lately and I’m back now to prove it wasn’t hyperbole – I have, in fact, been using the smoky, spicy saucy peppers in quite a few recipes lately. Most recently? Chipotle chicken tacos.
I first shared this recipe back in 2016, but I’ve made a few tweaks to make it easier because we all need a little easy these days, don’t you think? Here are a few more fun facts:
- 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 plain 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.
So, it’s basically a two-part recipe: the chicken and the slaw. Here’s how you make it!
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 to or grill 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 like so…
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. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice if you’re feeling it.
A Couple More Thoughts
- 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.
- The chicken is very leftover-worthy. If you want to save some just pop it in a container and use it for more tacos or salads or serve it over some cilantro-lime rice.
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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PrintChipotle Chicken Tacos
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- 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 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.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe (chicken, slaw and sauce)
- 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 information in this recipe is an estimate only and was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
The post, recipe, and photos have been updated from the archives. First published in May 2016.
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!