The chicken is a simplified version of one of my favorite recipes: smoky Mexican pulled chicken. It gets the bulk of its flavor from smoked paprika, one of my all time favorite spices. It adds the teeniest amount of heat and, as you may have guessed, a lot of smokiness. It’s a great, inexpensive, and natural way to get a deep smoky flavor if you’re in a hurry, can’t grill, and don’t want to use something like liquid smoke. I used chicken thighs because they’re cheap. And delicious. And nigh impossible to overcook. I actually prefer chicken thighs to breasts in almost any recipe for these reasons. They have a higher fat content, which helps keep them juicy and delicious, so if you want a leaner version feel free to use breast meat instead (it will still be awesome!).
While this recipe does only take 20 minutes to throw together, it requires just a little bit of planning with marinating the chicken ahead of time. I prefer marinating meat overnight, but you can get away with 30 minutes if you need these tacos NOW. The chicken marinates in a little bit of lime juice, which helps break down the outer layer of the meat, penetrating the flavors even more and keeping it super juicy.
I mixed the avocado with a little bit of fresh lime juice and kosher salt, like a very simple guacamole, to top the chicken on the tacos. I loveeeeee avocado- it’s one of my favorite foods of all time- but only so far as it mixes with other flavors. I actually don’t like plain avocado. In my opinion, it always needs at least a little bit of salt to bring out its full potential. Speaking of avocado… I am sad to report that it seems Zoey doesn’t like it. Not even with lime juice and salt added. Not even in guacamole form. She’s only 9 months, things could change, so I’m holding out hope. Her father and I already had a discussion with her about how no one in our family is allowed to dislike avocado but it’s like she didn’t listen or something! When she’s older, I have a feeling these tacos may change her mind about avocado. :-)
For a gluten free version of this recipe, be sure to use corn tortillas. These are smaller, so you’ll be able to stretch it to about 12 total tacos, whereas if you use flour it will be more like 8. Use lettuce wraps, serve over cauliflower rice, or toss in a salad for a low-carb, paleo version. Here’s the printable recipe for these super quick and easy smoky chicken and avocado tacos! Here’s a homemade salsa recipe perfect for these tacos.
