PW Wednesdays – Fried Chicken Tacos
What do you get when you get five food bloggers, a new cookbook and master plan of cooking our way through it together over the whole US of A? Pioneer Woman Wednesdays’s! (Of course.)
I don’t know if my arteries are prepared for such fanatasticness! Yes, it’s word. Just go with it.
The wonderful women of Table for Two, Baked By Rachel, Running to the Kitchen, My Life as a Mrs., and yours truely will be teaming up these next few months to bring you Pioneer Woman Wednesdays where we pick our favorites from Ms. Ree’s (HI REE – not that you’ll see this – but I can be hopeful) newest cookbook.
Ms. Julie of Table for Two started us off with Ree’s Fried Chicken Tacos.
Yes, feel free to sit back and unbutton your jeans – because it’s ’bout to get all sorts of real up in here. Homegirl loves her Mexican food, so this choice was no surprise. These tacos were all sorts of epically tasty.
Cooking them on the other hand might have proved a bit…interesting? Challenging? Trying? Testing? READ ON! It gets hysterical…at least in retrospect it’s hysterical. It wasn’t at the time.
And no – it wasn’t because I was drinking a (fine, two) margarita(s) to get me in the Mexican Food mood. That was just an added bonus.
To begin at the beginning, I prepped all the necessary acoutrements for this flavor packed adventure. The usual suspects made an appearance – lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and of course – CHEESE. And just for a burst of fun and rebellion I added a leftover shallot.
The seasonings were simple just cumin, chili powder and salt.
A pound of chicken boobs was roughly cubed and tossed into a non-stick skillet with a tablespoon of canola oil.
Into the skillet also went a can of green chilies. Did I mention that Ben is back in Eastern Washington, so I’m cooking for one again and halving most recipes… This usually calls for two cans and a 1 1/2 pounds of chicken boobs. I just went with one.
After the chicken and chilies sauteed together for a hot minute, the spices were added and it was left to finish cooking.
Now here is where it gets interesting. (Am I glad I poured a margarita before, or I would have resorted to just taking pulls right off the tequila by the end of it…)
The corn tortillas were filled with the chicken getup and all lined up on a plate ready to fry. But as they set stacked next to eachother I didn’t realize how stiff the tortillas were and they all cracked at the bottom!
As soon as they hit the grease they all split – leaving their delcious spicy chicken contents frying on the bottom of my pan.
Panic insued, as I ripped the broken shells out of the frying oil, threw the tortillas in the sink, scrambled to resource myself more tortillas, spoon the chicken into the new shells and plant them back into the pan before they all over cooked and more shells ripped after being folded to long.
AHHH!!
By the third and fourth round, they were holding up much better. But this is one of those recipes I have discovered – be prepared to sacrifice a couple tacos before you get them right.
At least I did the hard learning for you. You’re welcome.
Case in point – round three. MUCH better. And by then, I was much more nimble on my feet and was quickening my pace to avoid the splatter for frying oil from getting all over my arms.
*Note to self* Wear Long Sleeve Shirt Next Time.
Here we have the sacrificial tortillas. In retrospect, I should have just let them fry and turned them into chips… cie la vie.
Good thing corn tortillas come in huge packs…plenty more where these came from.
Once a few (5) made it out of the grease unharmed, maimed or too damanged – they were drained, patted of excess oil, stuffed with cheese, vegg and promptly devoured…
This is quite possibly the fastest I’ve ever taken pictures of a dish. After 5 hours in the car driving home from visiting Ben, I was famished.
And dang did that margarita wash them down nicely. Fine, two.
Don’t forget to check out the other lovelies recipe experiences here! And the printable recipe is down below. Make these and be furiously happy. Just wear long sleeves.
Gina from Running to the Kitchen

PW Wednesdays – Fried Chicken Tacos
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 40 Minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 Tacos 1x
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Cast Iron
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Crispy fried tacos from Ree Drummond’s cookbook!
Ingredients
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 1 tbsp. canola oil
1 1/2 pounds, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 4-ounce cans diced green chiles
14–16 small corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups finely grated cheddar or cheddar-jack cheese blend
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the chili powder, cumin, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp. of canola oil and add the chicken and chiles. Saute for about 3-5 minutes or until the chicken has lost its color.
- Sprinkle in the spice mixture and saute the chicken until all is cooked through. Remove the pan from heat and set aside.
- In a separate skillet, heat up 1 cup of canola oil. Drop in a small piece of your tortilla to see if the oil is hot enough. It will sizzle as soon as it hits the oil.
- Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken into the tortilla then grasp the tortilla shut with tongs.
- Gently lay the filled tortilla in the hot oil, holding down the top half of the tortilla so it remains closed.
Cook one side until golden brown, 30-45 seconds, then flip the taco over to fry the other side. Cook the other side until brown and crispy. - Remove each taco from the pan, allowing the excess oil to drip out one end. Wrap in a paper towel and gently shake it to remove excess oil.
- While the tacos are still hot, gently stick some cheese inside then add whatever toppings you like to add to your tacos.
Keywords: Chicken, Tacos, Mexican, Fried
Great idea, excited to see what you ladies cook over the next few months! I so admire your perseverance here, I would have been order take out long before I got five out the pan!
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In the end they turned out fantastic! Great story to go along with it! It’s crazy how each of us had such a different experience.
What a great idea! I just got the book. It will be nice to see all of your takes on Ree’s recipes.
ahahaha i swear i picked the best recipe for all of us to get BURNED with..i laughed out loud when you called them chicken boobs…my taco shells ripped on the bottom too, woops. all my filling came out too. basically, disaster the first few times but it was scrumptious!! 🙂 yours look great! i hope you enjoyed that margarita too!
What fun way to share love of cooking! Love Ree’s new book! Looking forward to what you will be cooking up together!! 🙂
your tacos are so much prettier than mine!! haha and the margarita on the side is totally catching my eye 😉 I’m a total margarita fanatic!
I like that you ladies are doing this on Wednesdays; it’s great to see all of the different takes on wonderful recipes.
What a cool idea to try out PW’s recipes like this. Her stuff is always so delish. Bummer about them splitting open though. But if this is the end result of the mishaps then hey, it’s all good. And washing them down with margaritas is not a bad way to end the day. I love the lighting in your kitchen, when I try to do step by step it goes all kinds of wrong.
They look amazing Megan! And the margarita is a must-have to pair with these!!
1. What a fun idea for PW Wednesdays! I was eyeing these tacos in the cookbook, but I feared the exact falling out that happened to you.
2. You said “chicken boobs” in a recipe post. THAT is exactly why we are friends.
Chicken boobs! haha, how have I never heard of chicken breasts referred to as that…amazing.
Your post definitely makes me feel better about my experience. And seriously, what’s with the insane amount of corn tortillas in the package? I think mine is a 100 count or something equally as ridiculous.
Oh, my husband loves fried taco shells, but I have had the exact same problems as you when I have done it. I just make him do it. I just can’t get it right! But, I think these still came out great! And hey, it’s the taste that matters most!
I’m dying over the stories and experiences everyone shared. Whenever I fry something I never even think to put on long sleeves! I’ve got to try to remember that in the future. Can we make it a requirement to drink while we prepare the recipes from now on? 🙂
That is quite the experience! They turned out great though, once you finally got the knack for it! I love that you’re cooking through her book. I thought of doing them same thing. Are you guys sticking with just the five of you or would you be willing to let another blogger in?
Holy Guacamole…….I have never fried a tortilla shell. I feel so ashamed. I’m about ready to have a few of these tacos and about 5 margaritas.
Oh my deliciousness! Love tacos, thees look amazing! Glad you were able to make them work in the end.
These look so scrumptious, Megan. What a fun recipe, and combined with that margarita – whoo-wee! I think my dinner plans for this weekend have been set!
Really sunshine. C’est la vie in a post about Mexican food??!
(Love you, and miss you.)
Uh, yum. I will take two please!
What a great idea! Looking forward to reading about it!
Happy Easter!
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One way to get around the corn tortilla mishap is this. Heat the oil and then put the tortilla in the oil briefly so it will soften. Spoon your fixins in and then fold to finish cooking, turning over as necessary. After they are done, prop on a plate so the oil will drain and then fill with all your other fixins. (Parmesan cheese is amazing in them)
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Ooh, boy, these sound amazing! I hope to put this on my menu next week…and I’ll be sure to wear an apron 🙂
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