If I had to pick one type of food to eat the rest of my life I could pretty easily say, Mexican food. Living in El Paso really spoiled me when it comes to Mexican Food. I am a Mexican Food snob. Yes, I know there are different styles from the different regions and I am good with that, well, as long as the food is tasty. I would even be tempted to go back to eating gluten for the fresh made tortillas from Vista Market. Heck, just give me some of their tamales and a strawberry Jarritos and i’m good. Seriously, it is one of the only soda’s I will drink.
I live in North Carolina now though and we have tried several Mexican restaurants and while we have found a couple that were ok nothing has really wowed us. Thankfully I can make some pretty good Mexican dishes and I am always keeping my eye out for new dishes. One of the recipes I tried recently was for Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos.
The recipe had me at Slow Cooker. My crock pot is one of my favorite time savers for busy nights. When my kids were in track we ate crock pot meals on a nightly basis. In my opinion it is so much better to put something in the crockpot for dinner than to stop and get fast food on the way home.
This recipe had an interesting twist to the “normal” crock pot recipes. It was roasting a whole chicken in the crockpot while resting on top of aluminum foil balls. I had cooked whole chicken in the crockpot before but never using the foil ball method. I was intrigued with how it would turn out. So I stuffed the cavity with limes and simply seasoned with seasoned salt and fresh garlic. The original recipe called for wine also but I skipped that part. Chicken broth is often substituted for wine and I knew that cooking in a slow cooker would produce enough juices that extra liquid wouldn’t be needed, and it wasn’t. The end result was a juicy falling apart chicken. The chicken skin was just missing the typical roasted crispness but I was ok with that. I wasn’t cooking it for the skin but the chicken meat to make a family favorite,tacos! All that was left for me to do was shred the chicken and serve. I kept the cilantro on the side instead of mixing in just in case some of my family members decided to be on team no cilantro. I know some people love cilantro while others hate it. Cilantro love and hate is something that has been studied for years like in this article. My family usually loves it but kids can be picky for no reason.
With lime wedges on the side my family ate their chicken tacos and loved them and asked me to make them again the next night. If I do say so myself they were pretty tasty and will be a welcome addition to our dinner rotation.
What type of food is your favorite?
Do you use your crock pot? What do you use it for?
Do you love or hate cilantro?
- 3 sheets aluminum foil, rolled into balls
- 1 (5 pound) whole chicken
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, or more to taste
- 8 cloves garlic, or more to taste, crushed
- 4 limes, quartered
- ½ cup white wine (optional)
- 20 corn tortillas, warmed
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- additional limes for serving
- Put aluminum foil balls in the bottom of a slow cooker crock.
- Season chicken with seasoned salt. Rub half the garlic on the inside surfaces of the chicken's cavity and leave them inside. Squeeze 8 lime quarters into the cavity; drop the squeezed quarters into the cavity. Place the chicken atop the foil balls. Squeeze 8 more lime quarters over the outside of the chicken; drop squeezed lime quarters into the bottom of the crock. Rub remaining garlic over the outside of the chicken and put garlic in the bottom of the crock. Pour white wine into the crock.
- Cook on Low until the chicken meat pulls apart easily, 5 to 6 hours.
- Remove chicken to a cutting board. Remove meat from bones and shred completely. Serve chicken on warmed tortillas with cilantro for topping and lime wedge.
original recipe found on Allrecipes.com
