I love these tacos!  It took me a while to get the recipe just right and now they are magical.  Just so you know… This is an original recipe with a little grandma technique, you know a pinch on this a dash of that.  One time you will need one can of tomato paste the next time you will need two.  Same thing with a half of a bell pepper versus a whole.  Sometimes the four chicken breasts will produce more meat or broth one time and then the next time a lot less.  Again, just so you know.

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts with bone in and skin on

1 small onion

1 small bell pepper

1 can black beans

2 cans tomato paste

Extra chicken broth

Salt, pepper, ground cumin, garlic powder.

1 tbs. Oil

You will need a large skillet with a lid. Set your burner to low or just above low.  Add oil to pan and place chicken into pan on top of oil with skin side up.

Add 3 Tbs. of Cumin Powder

Add 1 Tbs. of Garlic Powder

1 Tbs. of Salt and a 1/2 Tbs. of Pepper

Then flip the chicken and take note of the time.

Also cover the chicken with a lid. You will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes for about an hour.

While the chicken is cooking low and slow you can prep the rest of the ingredients.

Empty the can of beans into a colander and rinse them.

Then dice the bell pepper

and onion

Remember to turn your chicken every 15 minutes and keep the lid on, don’t have your heat too high!

At about 45 minutes you will notice this beautiful little pool of juice and broth at the bottom of the pan.  You want this!  Great job!

Once the chicken is cooked all the way through and pulls apart easily, turn off your burner and remove the chicken to cool.

Your broth will look like this…

With a slotted spoon remove all of the floating scraps, for lack of a better word, and discard them.

Now your broth should look like this.  You don’t have to remove every little thing, it came from the chicken, you’re gonna eat the chicken, it’ll be fine!

Now add your tomato paste.  Now here’s where I turn into my grandma… I put in one can, if I find a want a little more then I bust open the other can and add a tablespoon at a time.  The tomato paste is what makes it taste a little sweet.  I’ve tried tomato sauce, tomato juice, but the paste is where it’s at.

Throw your paste, onions, peppers, and beans into the broth on a medium burner.  It should be a low simmer.  you want the peppers to turn to a dark green a little and the onions to soften.  Don’t turn your heat up so high that you cook away your broth.

While this is cooking, shred your chicken.  It may still be hot, so be careful.

Once the mixture has cooked for a little while and the chicken is all shredded add it to the pan.

Stir it together, and analyze… this is where I added a little more tomato sauce, thinned it out with the canned chicken broth.  You may also want to add more cumin, salt and pepper or even some chili heat.

Stick them in a taco shell with some fresh lettuce, cilantro and lime or whatever you like and enjoy!

This recipe takes about two hours to prep and cook.  It is not one you want to do in a crunch.  But I have made it with ground turkey and I’m sure it is still fabulous with ground beef.  To do that just cook the meat, season it with the cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper and set it aside when it is done.  Prepare the beans, onion and bell pepper the same. Then you will need 2 cans of chicken broth, add the paste, beans, onions, and peppers to the broth and proceed the same as above.