Grilled Adobo Chicken Tacos

Name: Grilled Adobo Chicken Tacos
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 12 tacos
Ingredients: water; 3 dried guajillo chilies; 2 dried ancho chilies; 5 chipotles in adobo; 8 garlic cloves; 1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano; 1/2 tsp cumin seeds; 1 whole clove; 1 tsp coriander seeds; 2 tbsp whole annatto seeds; 1 tsp whole black peppercorn; 2 tbsp kosher salt; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar; 1/2 cup orange juice; 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs; corn tortillas; your favorite toppings and sides

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Cook Time
mins
Marinating Time
15 mins
Total Time
30 mins
Servings
12 tacos
Calories
184 kcal
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
Mexican

Grilled Adobo Chicken Tacos

Marcus Rose

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Flavorful Mexican Chicken Adobada Tacos! Juicy chicken tacos marinated in a spicy adobo sauce, grilled, and served on corn tortillas with lime, herbs, and onion for the perfect weeknight recipe.

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Ingredients

Servings

Adobo Sauce Marinade

water to rehydrate the chilies
3 dried guajillo chilies stemmed and seeded
2 dried ancho chilies stemmed and seeded
5 chipotles in adobo use less for more mild adobo
8 garlic cloves peeled
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 whole clove
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp whole annatto seeds
1 tsp whole black peppercorn
2 tbsp kosher salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup orange juice

Adobo Chicken Tacos

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
corn tortillas
your favorite toppings and sides

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Instructions

Make the Adobo Marinade

Pour water into a saucepan, enough to cover your dried chilies, and turn the heat to medium. Rehydrate the stemmed and seeded chilies for about 5-10 minutes. Discard the water.
If using whole spices, use a spice grinder or high powered blender to pulverize the spices into powder. **If not, use already-powdered spices!
Add the chipotles, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and orange juice to the powdered spices in the blender and blend until the mixture is smooth. It'll be somewhat thick, but we don't want it to be chunky.

Marinate the Chicken

In a large mixing bowl or gallon sized zip-top bag, add in the chicken thighs and pour the marinade over them. Really coat every nook and cranny, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then either let it marinate for fifteen minutes to an hour on the counter OR marinate up to overnight in the fridge.

Make the Adobo Chicken Tacos

Oil your grill grates with high heat oil or nonstick cooking spray and preheat the grill to medium high - high (around 400℉ to 450℉/ 204-232℃).
Once grill is hot, use tongs to carefully place the chicken thighs on the grill grates. Close the lid and let cook for 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken thighs are. After the 5-7 minutes, flip them with tongs and let cook for another 5-7 minutes. Don't worry about char, we want that on the chicken.
With clean tongs, carefully remove the chicken thighs from the grill onto a plate and cover with aluminum foil to rest for a couple of minutes before chopping the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Serve the chicken hot in pan-warmed tortillas with toppings like salsa roja or pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and chopped onion, and sides like refried beans, rice, cotija cheese, avocado slices, etc.

Equipments used:

Notes

Store in the fridge: store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days
Freeze + Thaw: put all the leftover chicken into a freezer safe zip top bag and freeze for up to 6 months
Reheat: rewarm the chicken in a skillet over medium heat until warmed through or in the microwave until hot.
If you want a mild version of the adobo instead of spicy, use only 1-3 chipotles in your adobo. While guajillo and ancho chiles aren't spicy, the chipotles are. Swap the boneless thighs for chicken breasts, just chop the breasts in half so they cook quicker. Use whatever protein you want! Adobo is classic on pork but it's delicious on beef and even marinating tofu. Swap the corn tortillas for flour tortillas, if you like. Swap the orange juice for pineapple juice and turn this into chicken al pastor tacos! You can cook the chicken on a cast iron skillet over medium high heat until fully cooked.
If you want a mild version of the adobo instead of spicy, use only 1-3 chipotles in your adobo. While guajillo and ancho chiles aren't spicy, the chipotles are.
Swap the boneless thighs for chicken breasts, just chop the breasts in half so they cook quicker.
Use whatever protein you want! Adobo is classic on pork but it's delicious on beef and even marinating tofu.
Swap the corn tortillas for flour tortillas, if you like.
Swap the orange juice for pineapple juice and turn this into chicken al pastor tacos!
You can cook the chicken on a cast iron skillet over medium high heat until fully cooked.
You can find achiote paste and adobo sauce at your local big box grocery store in the hispanic aisle. Make your life even easier! Oil your grill grates really, really well. Otherwise your chicken will stick and rip apart when you pick it up. Freezer Meals - this is a fantastic recipe to have as a freezer meal, ready to thaw, heat, and east when you just don't feel like cooking. Double everything and either freeze the raw marinating chicken to thaw and grill when ready, or grill the marinated chicken, chop it up, bag and freeze for later.
You can find achiote paste and adobo sauce at your local big box grocery store in the hispanic aisle. Make your life even easier!
Oil your grill grates really, really well. Otherwise your chicken will stick and rip apart when you pick it up.
Freezer Meals - this is a fantastic recipe to have as a freezer meal, ready to thaw, heat, and east when you just don't feel like cooking. Double everything and either freeze the raw marinating chicken to thaw and grill when ready, or grill the marinated chicken, chop it up, bag and freeze for later.

Nutrition Information

Show Details

Serving 1taco Calories 184kcal (9%) Carbohydrates 20g (7%) Protein 17g (34%) Fat 4g (6%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Polyunsaturated Fat 1g Monounsaturated Fat 1g Trans Fat 0.01g Cholesterol 72mg (24%) Sodium 1.249mg (0%) Potassium 405mg (12%) Fiber 5g (20%) Sugar 4g (8%) Vitamin A 1.827IU (0%) Vitamin C 8mg (9%) Calcium 47mg (5%) Iron 2mg (11%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 12tacos

Amount Per Serving

Calories 184 kcal

% Daily Value*

Serving	1taco
Calories	184kcal	9%
Carbohydrates	20g	7%
Protein	17g	34%
Fat	4g	6%
Saturated Fat	1g	5%
Polyunsaturated Fat	1g	6%
Monounsaturated Fat	1g	5%
Trans Fat	0.01g	1%
Cholesterol	72mg	24%
Sodium	1.249mg	0%
Potassium	405mg	9%
Fiber	5g	20%
Sugar	4g	8%
Vitamin A	1.827IU	0%
Vitamin C	8mg	9%
Calcium	47mg	5%
Iron	2mg	11%