RECIPE: Pickled onions help liven up chicken tacos
No matter what you’re doing with it, marinating often-bland chicken in a salty, acidic sauce is one of the best ways to boost flavor. The problem? Marinades take time to do their work, making them no-gos for 30-minute recipes — unless you use them to cook. Sure, simmering chicken in what amounts to a brine isn’t exactly marinating, but it is getting those flavor-boosting ingredients into the meat, where they belong.
In the recipe below, I’ve used pickled Vidalia onions, along with their brine and a spoonful of spicy chipotles in adobo, to cook slivered boneless, skinless chicken thighs to use as taco filling, but you could adapt this strategy to work with other briny, pickle-y liquids. Classic bread-and-butter pickles, pickled okra, or even olives and their brine would all make fine pairs for chicken served every which way.
You’ll likely want to thin the brine out with water before adding the chicken, and finish with a hit of something creamy and rich to balance out all that tang. Below, I’ve used sour cream, but a small glug of heavy cream or a spoonful of creme fraiche would also work well.
For serving these admittedly untraditional tacos, I like to use flour tortillas, along with a smattering of fresh cilantro, a few extra pickled onion slices, and a squeeze of lime.
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup pickled onion slices in their brine (such as Mt. Olive Pickled Vidalia Onion Strips), plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon minced chipotle in adobo sauce, plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup sour cream, plus more for serving
- 8 flour tortillas, for serving
- On the side: Additional garnishes, such as cilantro and lime
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until beginning to brown on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the pickled onions, water and chipotle. Bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Reduce the heat to medium and cook at a rapid simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, warm the tortillas and prepare any additional garnishes you’d like.
- When the sauce is thickened, remove the chicken from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Stir in additional chipotle to taste. Serve in the tortillas with additional pickled onion slices, sour cream and desired garnishes. Serves 4.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 583 calories (percent of calories from fat, 32), 42 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 20 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 162 milligrams cholesterol, 1,364 milligrams sodium.Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
