Salsa Braised Chicken for Tacos or Salad
If you’ve read any of our recipes here in the Farm Kitchen, you know we’re trying to make things easy but also authentic and delicious. In our search for a real taco with incredible flavor, this is our method.
This recipe produces tender, flavor infused braised chicken that’s perfect for folding into a taco or topping a southwestern inspired salad. It’s a great way to use all the fresh toppings of summer – tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro. And, when we have it available, Bushel & Pecks fermented Curtido – the absolute perfect topping.
We make our own flour and corn tortillas. We recommend Bob’s Red Mill organic Masa Harina if you want to give corn tortillas a try. We recently added a cast iron tortilla press to our kitchen and we give it a very enthusiastic thumbs up! Making torts is now a bit faster and easier.
Start with the Chicken
2 – BBF whole chickens, preferably small size or 1 regular size, frozen or thawed
1 pint favorite Salsa
2 peppers, large dice
1 medium onion, large dice
3 cloves garlic, preferably smashed or finely diced
Salt, pepper
We use a crock pot to braise the chicken, but you can use your oven or an Instant Pot, if preferred. Heat one pint salsa with 1 quart water until just simmering. Add to preheated crock pot. Add peppers, onions, garlic, 1-2 tsps salt and several grinds of fresh pepper.
Add chicken(s) and additional water if necessary to cover birds 3/4 of the way up. We’ve made this recipe with thawed or frozen chicken. If thawed, remove the liver. You can leave the neck and heart in the pot to cook with the chicken. If you’re using frozen, it won’t bother anything to braise the chickens with the giblets inside the bird cavity.
Cover and allow to cook for 2-3 hours or until the birds are fully cooked and tender but not falling apart. If you can catch the chicken before it’s completely falling apart, it makes picking the meat easier.
Once the birds are cooked, remove and allow to cool long enough so you can pick the meat. Place meat in a pan and ladle a bit of broth from the crock pot over the meat. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if necessary.
Leftover Broth Tip: The broth created from braising the chickens is delicious! Use for making soup, cooking rice, topping a creamy bowl of polenta or freeze for using in another braised chicken recipe.
Assembling the Taco or a Salad
Prepare all your favorite toppings and have flour or corn tortillas warmed and ready if you’re making tacos. If you’re making a salad, have your salad greens ready. Your braised chicken will be delicious any way you use it.
Diced Onion
Sliced Avocado or Guacamole
Greens – Swiss Chard, Lettuce, finely sliced
Pickled Jalapenos
Salsa
Sour Cream
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Lime
Curtido – delicious raw ferment native to South America