Del Taco Chicken Soft Tacos

Home reconstruction

The chicken is straightforward. The tortilla is where home versions fall apart, sometimes literally.

A microwaved tortilla is a steamed tortilla. It comes out floppy, wet and prone to splitting the moment you fold it round a filling. Ten seconds a side in a dry hot pan does something quite different: it drives off surface moisture, puffs the tortilla slightly, and makes it pliable and strong at the same time.

What is happening in the pan

Corn and flour tortillas both contain starch that has partly staled — retrograded — since they were made. Heat reverses that, which is why a warmed tortilla folds instead of cracking.

Dry heat also flashes off the surface water. That is the difference from a microwave, which adds steam and leaves the surface wet.

Dry pan, medium-high, 10–15 seconds a side. You want a few small brown spots, not a crisp shell.

Stack them in a clean tea towel as they come off. They keep each other warm and soft, and the towel absorbs the last of the steam.

The chicken is marinated, then charred

Two stages, and the second is short. The marinade is acid, oil and spice — it seasons and tenderises the surface. The char comes from a very hot pan and dry chicken going into it.

Pat the chicken dry after marinating. Wet chicken in a hot pan steams and goes grey, which is the whole reason home fajita and taco meat looks pale.

Thighs, again

Small pieces of breast in a hot pan have no margin. Thighs stay tender, take the char better because of the fat, and reheat properly the next day.

What you need

Chicken

• 700 g boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

To build

• 8 small flour tortillas
• 150 g cheddar, grated
• shredded iceberg lettuce
• hot sauce

Method

1. Mix the oil, lime and spices. Coat the chicken and leave 20 minutes at room temperature.
2. Pat the pieces dry and get a heavy pan very hot.
3. Cook in a single layer, 4–5 minutes a side, until charred at the edges and cooked through. Work in batches.
4. Rest 5 minutes, then chop into small pieces.
5. Dry pan, tortillas 10–15 seconds a side, stacking them in a tea towel.
6. Build: cheese onto the hot tortilla first so it starts melting, then chicken, then lettuce, then hot sauce.

Cheese first, lettuce last

Cheese against the hot tortilla melts slightly and glues the taco together. Cheese on top of the chicken just sits there.

Lettuce goes on last, at the top, so it never meets direct heat. Warm iceberg wilts and goes watery within a minute.

Chop the chicken after resting, not before

Chopping straight off the heat lets the juices run out onto the board. Five minutes of rest lets them redistribute, and you keep them in the meat.

It also means the char stays on the outside of recognisable pieces rather than being lost into shreds.

Storing

Chicken keeps three days in the fridge and freezes for three months. Reheat it in a hot dry pan rather than a microwave so it keeps some of the char.

Assembled tacos do not keep at all. Warm the tortillas to order.