Two cups of salsa verde is the entire sauce. There is no stock, no tomato and no thickener; the chicken releases its own juices into the salsa and that becomes what the shredded meat is tossed in.
Onion turns up twice. A whole small onion goes in quartered to flavour the pot and can be lifted out afterwards; half a raw onion, finely diced, goes on top of every taco.
Why This Recipe Works
- Thighs hold up to four hours in an acidic salsa where breast meat would dry out.
- Quartering the onion rather than dicing it means it can be removed once it has given up its flavour.
- Shredding the chicken back into the green cooking sauce coats every strand rather than leaving sauce in the bottom of the pot.
- Warming the tortillas until pliable is what stops them cracking when folded.
Ingredient Notes
- Salsa verde
- Two cups, and the only liquid in the pot. Its acidity is what keeps the chicken bright over four hours.
- White onion, twice
- A small one quartered for the pot, and half of another finely diced and raw for the top.
- Small yellow corn tortillas
- Twelve. Corn specifically, and the yield is counted in tacos rather than servings.
How to Make It
Load the cooker
Place chicken, salsa verde, quartered onion, garlic, cumin and salt in the slow cooker.
Cook to 165F
Cook on Low 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Shred into the sauce
Discard the onion quarters if desired, shred chicken, and toss it in the green cooking sauce.
Warm the tortillas
Warm corn tortillas until pliable.
Build the tacos
Fill tortillas with salsa-verde chicken and top with raw white onion and cilantro; serve with lime wedges.
What Goes Into One Taco
The cooker fills twelve. This is one of them, in the order the recipe builds it.
What goes into one taco
The tortilla
One small yellow corn tortilla, warmed until pliable. Warming is not optional - a cold corn tortilla splits when it is folded.
The filling
A twelfth of the shredded thigh meat, tossed through the green cooking sauce it was cooked in rather than sauced afterwards.
Raw white onion
Finely diced, from the half onion reserved for the table. This is the sharp note; the onion that cooked for four hours no longer has one.
Cilantro
Chopped, scattered over. Half a cup covers all twelve.
A lime wedge squeezed over at the moment of eating - two limes cut into wedges serve the batch.
Success Tips
- Warm the tortillas just before filling; they stiffen again as they cool.
- Toss the shredded chicken thoroughly in the sauce rather than spooning sauce over it.
- Keep the raw onion raw. It is the sharpness the long-cooked filling has lost.
Serving Ideas
Twelve tacos on a platter, each filled with the green salsa-verde chicken and topped with raw white onion and cilantro, with lime wedges alongside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there onion in the pot and on the taco?
The quartered onion flavours the cooking sauce and can be lifted out; the raw diced onion on top provides the bite the cooked one no longer has.
Can I use chicken breast?
The recipe is written for thighs, which hold up to four hours in an acidic sauce.
How do I know the chicken is ready?
165 degrees Fahrenheit, at 3 1/2 to 4 hours on Low, before it is shredded.
