As I have alluded to elsewhere, Mexican food in the United Kingdom is passable at best, but more often than not it’s profoundly disappointing and I have learned that if I want to satisfy my Mexican cravings, I’ve got to do it myself: hence, these borracha chicken tacos.

Inspired by Taco Temples in AVL, NC, I threw together this chicken taco dish one evening. The only specialty ingredients are chipotle chiles canned in adobo sauce and corn tortillas, which we order as part of bi-monthly delivery from Mexigrocer – more info after the recipe because we’re not here to waste your time. The rest you can pick up at a Sainsbury’s or wherever. Makes enough for leftovers.

Borracha Chicken Tacos

Quick and easy chicken dish made for softshell tacos. Uses canned chipotles in adobo sauce and authentic corn tortillas, both of which can be ordered from specialty shops.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Calimex, Mexi-Cali, Mexican

Servings 4 servings (leftovers if made for 2)

Equipment

• Large pot
• Large frying pan or skillet
• Oven (to roast the pepper and heat tortillas)
• Chef knife
• A mixing bowl to shred the chicken
• Wooden spoon
• Kitchen standmixer (optional but makes shredding chicken easier)

Ingredients

  

For chicken dish

• 650 g chicken breasts (shredded) see notes for directions on shredding chicken
• veggie oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 chipotle chiles with their adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• salt to taste

For serving

• corn tortillas
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• 1 sweet red pepper, roasted in oven and then sliced
• 2 jalapeños, sliced
• a bit of red cabbage, sliced
• a lot of cilantro ("coriander"), chopped
• 1-2 limes, sliced into wedges
• sour cream (or greek yogurt)
• El Yucateco Hot Sauce

Instructions

 

Shredding the chicken and roasting the pepper

• Fill a big pot with some boiling water and throw a bit of salt in it. Chuck your chicken breasts, whole, into the water and let poach cook for 9 or 10 minutes.
• Once cooked, you can shred it by hand with two forks. Or you can chuck it in a standmixer bowl and shred it on the lowest setting. Takes less time.
• Heat oven to 220º C. Put pepper in once hot. Roast for 5-7 minutes until skin blackens. Flip pepper and repeat. Take out and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Making the Borracha Chicken

• Heat your large skillet up with some oil and saute the onions over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir them to ensure they do not brown too much.
• Add the garlic, cumin, and oregano. Cook for 1 minute, stirring.
• Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, and bring dish to a simmer. Cook for 7 minutes.
• Lower heat and add shreded chicken. Stir it up.
• Serve with ingredients.

Keyword Mexi-cali, Mexicali, Mexican, Tex-Mex, Texmex

Borracha Chicken Tacos: let’s talk

Mexican street tacos (to be contrasted with hardshell bar tacos or Taco Bell) may be one of the most elegant dishes ever created. They’re deadass simple, using some sort of marinated or sauced meat and served with some lovely fixings on top. The key here is getting some 💯 corn tortillas (or, if you’re a badass, make them yourself). We got some very fancy one from MexGrocer last time we placed an order, but if you’re lucky you can get some at your local supermarket as well.

Back to the borracha chicken tacos, this is a perfect example of how good food can be healthy and tasty at the same time. Boiled shredded chicken? Doesn’t sound particularly appetising in theory but here we are nonetheless.

Trying to find the ingredients for your borracha chicken tacos?

This recipe wouldn’t be complete with no chipotle chilis and corned tortillas so you better go and find that for yourself. We talked about it in our Fakeaway Fajitas Recipe, but it’s worth repeating:

If you enter any supermarket in the UK, you can be sure to find some Old El Paso-branded product. While we occasionally resort to their tortilla wraps in emergency situations, we rather buy more flavorful and less commercial products. One might even say, more authentic ones.

A few websites that became our go-to for Mexican ingredients are:

• Sous Chef (general): Green tomatillos, blue corn tortillas, corn husks, chipotles in adobo sauce, you name it. They have a very good stock if you’re not looking for anything too mysterious and it’s definitely worth giving it a try. We can definitely recommend this El Yucateco sauce: every single time we buy it, it just disappears in a matter of days.
• MexGrocer: this is where we bought our stuff for these borracha chicken tacos. From seasonings to mezcal, MexGrocer is your go to if you want to place a big, big order of Mexican ingredients. They also sell another excellent hot sauce and you can easily stock up on it.
• Mestizo Market: based in Hampstead Road for those of you that would rather walk into a shop than order online, Mestizo is one of the most famous Mexican restaurants in London. They have an impressive catalogue of ingredients, from chilies to sweets, and it’s quite hard for us to not place an order right now if we’re being honest.

As for all things, Mexican ingredients take practice to master. It has to be hot, but not making you lose your tastebuds. Lime, coriander, and tomatoes are key. But most importantly, freshness. It’s light, healthy food but filling at the same time, and of course, it’s extremely tasty.

If you’re based in the US, we’re gonna assume you know perfectly well where to find your ingredients. And we’re gonna just say: lucky you for having proper Mexican food at your hand, we’re very jealous.