This recipe for pulled chicken tacos with pineapple salsa is flavorful shredded chicken combined topped with sweet and tangy salsa and creamy cilantro sauce, all stuffed inside warm corn tortillas.
You can never go wrong with a good taco, some of my favorites include ground beef tacos, shrimp tacos, chicken ranch tacos and these fabulous pulled chicken tacos.
It’s no secret that tacos are a favorite dinner in my house, my family will eat almost anything if it’s wrapped in a tortilla. These pulled chicken tacos may be my new favorite taco of all time, they’ve got SO many amazing flavors going on. Best of all, the components can all be made in advance which means when it’s dinner time you can just assemble and serve!
How do you make pulled chicken tacos?
The first component of any good taco is the tortillas. I prefer to use Sol de Oro tortillas which are made by the family owned La Tapatia Tortilleria. You can find these tortillas online as well as at Lucky’s and Save-Mart stores in Northern California, I love that they use local ingredients in their products. My kids adore the Gorditas Flour Tortillas for quesadillas and lately I’ve been using the Multigrain Whole Wheat Tortillas to make turkey wraps for lunch. La Tapatia also makes some great tortilla chips that I can’t seem to stop eating!
For these pulled chicken tacos I went with Taco Truck Style Mini Corn Tortillas which was an excellent choice. If you can’t find the mini tortillas, you can easily use regular sized corn tortillas instead. There really is something unique about a taco that fits in the palm of your hand, especially when it’s bursting with flavor – so go for the taco truck size if you can!
The pulled chicken for these tacos is simply chicken breasts cooked in a tomato sauce mixture that’s flavored with plenty of Mexican spices. You can also make this pulled chicken in the crockpot. The chicken can be made up to 2 days in advance and reheated right before you plan to serve it.
These pulled chicken tacos are layered with shredded cabbage, pineapple salsa and finished off with a creamy cilantro sauce. The cilantro sauce can be made in less than 5 minutes with the help of a food processor and can also be prepared a day in advance. You might want to consider making some extra pineapple salsa to serve some on the side with your tortilla chips.
The whole family loved these pulled chicken tacos- the shredded chicken tastes like something you’d get at a Mexican restaurant but the pineapple salsa and cilantro sauce take these tacos from ordinary to fabulous. And how could you resist something so colorful? You know what they say about eating the rainbow!
I’ve had these pulled chicken tacos twice already this week and they’ll definitely be making a repeat appearance on our dinner table soon! I served the tacos with my Mexican rice and beans for a complete meal. If you’re as taco obsessed as I am you should check out La Tapatia on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for great recipe ideas and more information about their products.
This post is sponsored by La Tapatia Tortilleria. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Dinner at the Zoo possible!
More delicious taco recipes
- Ground Beef Tacos
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- Carne Asada Tacos
- Fried Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Relish
- Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa
Pulled Chicken Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 small or 3 large bone- skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 16 ounce can of tomato sauce or 2 8 ounce cans
- 2/3 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
For the pineapple salsa
- 1 cup pineapple finely diced
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper finely diced
- 2 tablespoons red onion finely minced
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves finely chopped
- salt to taste
For the cilantro sauce
- 1 cup sour cream can use light
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- 1/4 cup prepared green salsa
- salt and pepper to taste
For assembly
- 1 cup finely shredded purple cabbage
- 16 Sol de Oro Taco Truck Style Mini Corn Tortillas or 8 Sol de Oro regular sized corn tortillas
- Optional garnishes: lime wedges and cilantro leaves
Instructions
- For the chicken:
- In a bowl stir together the tomato sauce, chicken broth, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper.
- In a large pan heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place the chicken skin side down and cook for 4-6 minutes or until golden brown.
- Flip the chicken and cook on the other side until golden brown.
- Take the pan off the heat and pour the tomato sauce mixture over the chicken; the chicken should be at least 2/3 of the way covered. (Add more chicken broth if needed).
- Place the pan back on the heat and bring the sauce mixture to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the skin and bones and shred the chicken with 2 forks. Pour the remaining sauce from the pan over the shredded chicken and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Crockpot instructions: Place the chicken and tomato sauce mixture in a crockpot. Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
- For the pineapple salsa: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl; place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- For the cilantro sauce: Place all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth.
- To assemble the tacos:
- Place 2 mini corn tortillas on top of each other (for a total of 8 stacks of tortillas). Divide the cabbage evenly among the tortillas. Top with 1/4 cup chicken, a drizzle of cilantro sauce and a tablespoon of pineapple salsa.
- Serve with lime wedges and cilantro leaves if desired.
Notes
The cilantro sauce can be made one day in advance.
The pulled chicken can be made up to 2 days in advance.
This is the first comment I’ve ever left on a blog recipe–these tacos are THAT good. Not only was this the best taco I’ve ever made at home, each of the components was great on it’s own and I will definitely be making again.
Can’t wait to try this! Looks delish!
Made this tonight. My husband LOVED it. I wanted a different spin on regular chicken tacos and this was a winner. We enjoyed and you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t a chef making the pineapple salsa and cream sauce.
I’ve made these once and am going to make it again for a group of friends. Wondering if I used chicken thighs if the chicken would be more juicy? Any thoughts? Thank you!
Chicken thighs would be a great choice for this recipe!
Made this recipe for dinner tonight and the whole family loved it! Great flavour and simple to make.
This is an incredible recipe and has just become my family’s new favourite dish. Happiness on a plate and really fun to cook too. Can’t rate this highly enough.
This was so very delicious and hit the spot! The pineapple salsa is so on point. Thanks for a great recipe!