There are countless ways to make chicken tacos, but these adobo tacos are flavorful and easy enough for a weeknight. You can make the marinade ahead of time, and even freeze it! Then just marinate your chicken in the adobo paste and cook until juicy. Delicious!
4dried ancho chiles(about 2 ounces), wiped clean, stemmed, and seeded
4dried guajillo chiles(about 1 ounce), wiped clean, stemmed, and seeded
½cupwaterplus more for soaking the chiles
1tablespoonfinely chopped peeled ginger
1 ½teaspoonskosher saltplus more as needed
¾teaspoonground cumin
¼teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
2poundschicken tenders, cutlets, or boneless, skinless thighs
About 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For serving:
Warm corn or flour tortillas
Diced avocadooptional
Salsaoptional
Sour cream or Mexican cremaoptional
Chopped fresh cilantro leavesoptional
Lime wedgesoptional
Finely chopped white onionoptional
Instructions
Combine the chiles in a large bowl and add enough water to cover them (I use hot but not boiling water). Soak the chiles until they’re soft, about 30 minutes. Drain and discard the soaking water.
Place the drained chiles in a blender. Add the ½ cup water, ginger, salt, cumin, and pepper and blend until smooth, stopping and scraping down the pitcher with a rubber spatula as needed, about 1 minute. (The mixture will be thick—don’t add extra water.) You will yield about 1 cup of chile purée.
Put the chicken in a bowl, add ½ cup of the chile puree (the rest can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for a few months to make another batch of tacos in the future), and rub it onto the chicken until the meat is well coated. At this point you can cook the chicken right away, or cover and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.
Preheat a grill, griddle, or large skillet over medium heat. Add just enough oil to add a thin sheen to the grill grates or pan. Season the chile-slathered breasts with salt and cook, in batches if necessary, until they’re well browned on both sides and just cooked through, turning them over once, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes, then slice or dice it for tacos, and serve with the tortillas and your choice of garnishes.
Notes
This recipe uses kosher salt (aka cooking salt, kitchen salt, coarse salt outside of the US). If you are using table salt, definitely scale down the salt as that is a saltier type of salt! The type of salt will make a big difference in how salty your food tastes, so keep that in mind.