Chicken Tacos "Barbacoa"
Who in this world doesn’t love a taco?
Flavorful pasture raised chicken is the smart choice nutritionally speaking—it’s packed with more vitamins and antioxidants, and is higher in Omega 3s than conventional chicken.
And if feeding your crew with an easy meal you whipped up in an Instant Pot is also the kindest thing you could do for yourself, too, well, who could argue with that?
Ingredients
Chicken Barbacoa
2 soup chickens from Bluestem Farm
2 yellow onions (or one big one)
bay leaf
a bunch of thyme
10 ounces tomato puree
salt to taste
3 tablespoons pork fat, perhaps reserved from your morning breakfast sausage
A whole bunch of green garilc, or 3 fat cloves garlic
3 tablespoons whole cumin seed
2 tablespoons smoked paprika or chili powder
4 ounces light beer
For Serving
24 corn tortillas
10 ounces spinach, chopped fine
2 carrots, shaved lengthwise (we used purple ones)
Process
Thaw the chickens in the fridge. In an Instant Pot, set the dial to 90 minutes on high. (No time to thaw the birds first? Just add another 30 minutes to the timer.) Into the pot then with the chickens, a quart of water, one of the onions, and the entire bunch of thyme. Off you go!
While the chickens are cooking, get out a deep frying pan or a wide saucepan. Saute the remaining onion (or half of an onion) in pork fat (other cooking oils will work fine, too) over low heat until they’re transluscent. Toast the cumin seeds, chopped green garlic, and smoked paprika for a minute along with the sauteed onions. Add the beer and pureed tomatoes. Reduce the sauce for about 30 minutes over low heat. You want the sauce to coat the chicken, not run out of the taco.
Once the chicken timer goes off, release the pressure. As soon as you can open the lid safely, lift both chickens out of the broth and let them cool for 20 minutes or more so you can handle the meat without cooking yourself.
Reserve the broth for cooking Spanish rice, or strain it off for sipping like tea. So good for you.
Heat the taco shells on a griddle, shred the spinach, set out those paper plates, and enjoy!