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Prep time
4 hours 10 minutes
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Cook time
30 minutes
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Makes
8 tacos
Author Notes
This is the taco recipe that made me stop hating tacos, finally. I blitzed up all my leftover cilantro stems, garlic cloves, jalapeños, salt, sugar, and a generous glug of olive oil, and marinated a couple pounds of cut-up, boneless chicken thighs in this herby liqueur. I roasted the chicken in a hot oven, warmed up a soft flour tortilla in the green chicken fat, topped it off with some leftover watermelon I had magicked into a spicy salsa—all doused in hot sauce—and, as Nigella Lawson says, "applied to face." I stood by my stove that day and ate one taco at a time, made a ritual out of the assembly. —Eric Kim
Test Kitchen Notes
Featured in: I Made You Birthday Tacos, 873 Miles Away. —The Editors
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Ingredients
- For the tacos
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4
large jalapeños, 1 whole, 3 deseeded
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4
cloves garlic
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1 cup
cilantro stems
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1/2 cup
olive oil
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2 teaspoons
kosher salt
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1 teaspoon
sugar
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1 teaspoon
freshly cracked black pepper
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2 pounds
boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces (I usually just quarter each thigh)
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8
small, soft flour tortillas
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1
lime, cut into wedges, for serving
- For the salsa
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1 cup
watermelon, finely diced
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1/4 cup
red onion, finely diced
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1/2
lime, juiced
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1
large jalapeño, thinly sliced into rings
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1 handful
cilantro leaves, finely chopped
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1 pinch
kosher salt
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1 pinch
freshly cracked black pepper
Directions
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In a food processor or blender, blitz the jalapeños, garlic, cilantro stems, olive oil, salt, sugar, and pepper and toss with the halved chicken thighs. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
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Drain the chicken in a colander to get rid of excess marinade, then lay on a sheet pan and roast at 400° F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through.
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Meanwhile, stir together the watermelon, red onion, lime juice, jalapeño, cilantro, salt, and pepper and set aside. That's your salsa.
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When you're ready to taco up, heat up the tortillas in a dry pan. Top each with some chicken and salsa, and serve with the lime wedges.
Eric Kim was the Table for One columnist at Food52. He is currently working on his first cookbook, KOREAN AMERICAN, to be published by Clarkson Potter in 2022. His favorite writers are William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway, but his hero is Nigella Lawson. You can find his bylines at The New York Times, where he works now as a writer. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @ericjoonho.
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