Chicken Carne Asada Tacos with Pickled Onions

55 Reviews
ADD YOUR REVIEW
Prep Time
30 Mins
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 2 tacos)
By Adeena Sussman
April 2010
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

We replaced beef with seasoned chicken for a fresh take on carne asada, a traditional Mexican dish. Pickled onions, diced avocado, and crumbled Cotija cheese make delicious toppings for these homemade tacos.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
  • 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 medium red onion, thinly vertically sliced
  • 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into thin strips
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
  • 1 cup diced peeled avocado (about 1 avocado)
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Cotija cheese
  • Lime wedges (optional)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 413
  • Fat 17.1g
  • Satfat 5.2g
  • Monofat 7.1g
  • Polyfat 2.7g
  • Protein 33.4g
  • Carbohydrate 33.6g
  • Fiber 4.9g
  • Cholesterol 123mg
  • Iron 3.2mg
  • Sodium 825mg
  • Calcium 237mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves. Place onion in a small saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; drain and plunge onion in ice water. Drain onion; add to juice mixture. Chill until ready to serve.

Step 2

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper; toss to coat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned and done, stirring occasionally.

Step 3

Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide chicken evenly among tortillas. Drain onion; divide evenly among tortillas. Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons avocado and 1 tablespoon cheese; fold over. Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

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Ratings & Reviews

food question

Saecca
March 13, 2015
what kind of beans do they have on the side

artross's Review

ESmith6
March 02, 2015
MizRev.... What beans......You said you would add more stock to the beans ......what beans i do not see them in the recipe .........

larrylarmour's Review

jstuckermail
May 06, 2014
Made the onions and was not impressed. Would have done the vinegar as one person mentioned. They were bland tasting.......decided to do a different dinner so never got to the tacos.

Stressingkarin's Review

starrb75
May 06, 2014
N/A

JenniferMai73's Review

pooklee
November 27, 2013
If you replace the steak with chicken, the dish is called Pollo Asado Tacos.

daneanp's Review

victoriap16
August 14, 2013
Easy and delicious. A nice change with the onion and thigh meat. DD loved it. The only change was we used flour tortillas because that is what we had on hand. Will look forward to trying it again with the corn tortillas. Served with mixed fruit as a side dish.

Emz101's Review

dmt4641
July 07, 2013
This recipe was good with a lot of alterations. I found the recipe is pretty much just a standard taco with very little flavor. I found using thigh meat was way more fatty and I would have preferred breast meat. As well there was barely any seasoning so I added way more pepper, cumin, some tex mex seasoning and put in some salsa while the chicken was cooking. I don't have access to corn tortillas or cotija cheese so I substituted whole wheat tortillas and mozzarella cheese. As well as a topping I added sour cream, tomato's, cilantro and lime juice. The pickled onions were the only outstanding thing in this recipe and added a real fresh crunch to the taco. I mainly wouldn't keep this recipe because I can make a way flavorful taco without a recipe.

olive04's Review

steponme
June 11, 2013
I made my usual pickled onion using vinegar, lime juice and a dash of sugar as this eliminated the boiling step. Good flavors for the chicken ...will make again.

jstuckermail's Review

lobsterbaby
April 30, 2013
These were OK. The chicken is not very exciting. They definitely needed some salsa, or at least some cilantro or something for flavor. However, the onions are fantastic! I wasn't sure about them, but after chilling for about an hour, they were wonderful on the taco--a citrusy pickled onion. Would be amazing on fish tacos especially!

nevacation's Review

shanz2005
April 19, 2013
This was outstanding! I used chicken breasts instead of thighs, and used flour tortillas instead of corn. I wasn't sure about the picked onions, but so glad I made them. Totally made the dish! The whole family loved this dish.