The first truly warm evening of spring happened on Tuesday. I opened the living room windows for the first time since October, Olive planted herself on the sill to supervise the sidewalk, and Sam walked in from work and asked, without even taking his shoes off, whether it was a taco night. It was. It nearly always is.
We have eaten some version of these tacos most weeks since we moved into this apartment. They work in a galley kitchen with one good pan, they cost about the same as a single fast-food meal, and the leftovers turn into lunch. Here's the version we've settled on.
Why these stuck when other recipes didn't
A weeknight dinner in our house has to clear a few bars. It needs to be ready in about 30 minutes, use one pan plus a cutting board, and be flexible enough that I can swap things in based on what's in the fridge. These tacos check all three, and the slaw is what keeps them from getting boring. Something crunchy and sour against warm smoky chicken just never gets old.
Ingredients (serves 2, with a little left over)
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs, about $4.00
- 1 tsp each chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika, plus 1/2 tsp garlic powder (pantry, maybe $0.30)
- 1 lime, $0.40
- 8 small corn or flour tortillas, about $1.50
- 2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage, about $0.60
- Small handful of cilantro, $0.50
- 2 tbsp sour cream or plain yogurt, $0.40
- Hot sauce, salt, oil
Total: roughly $7.70, or under $4 a person.
Steps
- Season the chicken. Pat the thighs dry and rub them with the spices, a big pinch of salt and a little oil. If you have time, let them sit 15 minutes while you do everything else.
- Make the slaw. Toss the cabbage with half the lime juice, a pinch of salt and the chopped cilantro. Squeeze it with your hands for a few seconds so it softens slightly. Set aside.
- Make the sauce. Stir the sour cream with a splash of hot sauce and a squeeze of lime.
- Cook the chicken. Heat a heavy pan over medium-high. Lay the thighs flat and leave them alone for 5 to 6 minutes, until deeply browned. Flip and cook another 5 minutes, until cooked through.
- Rest and slice. Move the chicken to a board for a few minutes, then slice into thin strips. Pour any juices from the board back over it.
- Warm the tortillas. Wipe the pan, then warm each tortilla for 20 to 30 seconds per side. Stack them in a clean kitchen towel to stay soft.
- Build. Chicken, slaw, a drizzle of sauce, more lime. Eat standing at the counter if you're us.
Notes and swaps
When the chicken budget runs out
Swap the chicken for a can of black beans warmed with the same spices and a splash of water. Mash some of them so they hold together in the tortilla. It drops the cost to about $4.50 for the whole meal.
If you hate cilantro
One of our closest friends does, and she comes over often. Thin-sliced green onion and a little extra lime works almost as well.
Keeping the kitchen bearable
Browning chicken in a galley kitchen makes some smoke. We open the window and run the range hood, and I put a towel down near the base of the bedroom door because our smoke detector is dramatic. It's the only part of this recipe that requires strategy.
Leftovers
- Leftover chicken goes over rice with the slaw for my lunch the next day.
- Extra slaw keeps two days in the fridge, though it softens. It's still great piled on a fried egg.
- Tortillas freeze well. We put a sheet of parchment between every few so they come apart easily.
Tacos, a few hundred times later
I sometimes think about how many times we've made this. Tired Mondays, snowed-in Fridays, the evening we celebrated renewing the lease. It's never the most exciting thing we eat in a week, but it's the one neither of us ever vetoes.
Now that the windows can stay open again, taco night has a soundtrack of kids on bikes and someone downstairs practicing guitar. Olive still thinks the chicken is for her. It is not.
