Tacos de pollo with chipotle and honey Recipe
These tacos combine tender pieces of chicken with a smoky chipotle sauce and a touch of honey, making them both spicy and slightly sweet. In Mexico, this kind of flavor combination is popular at family dinners, when several bowls of different salsas land on the table and everyone assembles their own tacos. It’s a great dish for an evening with friends, because you can put everything in the middle of the table and let everyone have fun building their own.
These tacos combine the smoky aroma of chipotle, tender chicken and the subtle sweetness of honey, giving a flavor very close to what you’d get in Mexican taquerías, but in a version you can make at home. The adobo sauce coats the meat in a thick, slightly sticky glaze that caramelizes beautifully around the edges of the chicken as it fries. It’s a “build at the table” kind of dish that creates a shared eating atmosphere and lets everyone season their tacos to their own taste.
Chef's tips
Cut the chicken as evenly and not too thick – that way it cooks quickly and doesn’t have time to dry out; you’ll know it’s done when the pieces are firm, white in the center and coated in a thick, glossy sauce. Don’t fry the meat over too high a heat, as the sauce with honey can burn before the chicken is cooked through. Chipotle varies in heat depending on the brand, so I always taste the marinade before adding all the honey and adjust the balance of sweetness to spiciness if needed.
How to serve
Serve the tacos immediately after frying the chicken and warming the tortillas, ideally buffet-style: bowls of onion, coriander, lettuce and sour cream in the middle of the table so everyone can assemble their own. They’re perfect for a Mexican-themed evening with friends, where you can serve margaritas, lager-style beer or homemade lime agua fresca. If you have leftover meat, use it the next day in quesadillas or as a topping for rice for a quick lunchbox meal.
Ingredients
- chicken breast - 600 g
- corn tortillas small, about 12 cm in diameter - 12 piece
- chipotle chili in adobo sauce from a can, with 2 tablespoons of sauce - 2 piece
- honey - 1.5 tablespoon
- garlic finely chopped or grated - 2 cloves
- lime juice freshly squeezed - 2 tablespoon
- vegetable oil for frying the chicken - 2 tablespoon
- salt or to taste - 0.75 teaspoon
- ground black pepper - 0.25 teaspoon
- red onion thinly sliced - 0.5 piece
- fresh coriander roughly chopped - 0.5 bunch
- romaine lettuce cut into thin strips - 4 leaves
- 18% sour cream or thick plain yogurt - 4 tablespoon
Preparation
- Rinse the chicken breast, pat dry with paper towels and cut into thin strips or small cubes so it cooks quickly.
- Remove the chipotle chilies from the sauce, chop them finely, then mix in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the can, the honey, lime juice, chopped garlic, salt and pepper until you get a thick, aromatic sauce.
- Add the chopped chicken to the chipotle sauce and mix thoroughly with your hand or a spoon so every piece is coated in the marinade. Set aside for at least 15 minutes (you can refrigerate it longer if you have time).
- Slice the onion into thin strips, the lettuce into thin shreds, roughly chop the coriander and arrange everything in small bowls so everyone can assemble their own tacos.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the chicken together with the marinade and fry for 8–10 minutes, stirring often, until the meat is completely white inside and the sauce has thickened slightly and starts to caramelize around the edges of the chicken pieces.
- While the chicken is frying, warm the tortillas: place a dry pan over medium heat and heat one tortilla at a time for about 30 seconds on each side, until soft and pliable. Keep the warmed tortillas under a cloth so they don’t dry out.
- When the chicken is ready, taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt or a little lime juice if you want a tangier flavor.
- Place a portion of chicken on each warm tortilla, add some lettuce, a few slices of red onion, a teaspoon of sour cream and sprinkle with fresh coriander. Fold the tortilla in half and serve immediately while it’s still warm and soft.
Storage
Store leftover cooked chicken in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat gently in a pan before serving again. Assembled tacos are best eaten right away, as the tortillas quickly soften.
