Lettuce Wrap Chicken Tacos with Green Apple Slaw

The Gurneys celebrated Jonathan’s birthday yesterday with this fresh but filling version of a taco. Over the years, we have learned the difference between a food cravings, and the signals from our body, telling us what it needs. For his birthday, Jonathan requested something that would taste fresh and make him feel powerful. We both have been feeling a bit worn down and new our next meal could either help pull us out of it, or pull us further into the fog.

These tacos turned out to be a new favorite for both of us. The variety of veggies gave us some good energy and the chicken thighs brought in a nice balance of fats. If you are not a meat fan, this could certainly be a beautiful vegan taco. It has plenty of flavor and veggies without the chicken. This recipe makes about 8 tacos with extra slaw for a side dish.

Ingredients

• 5- 7 organic chicken thighs – any chicken will do, but we like the fat and flavor that comes from chicken thighs.
• 2 limes
• fresh cilantro
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 head of boston lettuce
• 12- 15 mini multicolored sweet peppers or two – three regular sweet peppers
• 1 green apple
• 1/2 purple cabbage
• avocado or grapeseed oil
• salt
• paprika
• apple cider vinegar
• honey (optional)

In a glass bowl marinate chicken thighs in the juice from 1 lime. Add 2 tbsp oil and sprinkle with salt. Add a few springs of roughly chopped cilantro and let the mixture marinate in the fridge. For a fuller flavor you can let this sit all day while at work, or overnight. It should at least be in the fridge for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is soaking in flavor, chop 1 onion and 12-15 multicolored mini sweet peppers. A couple full sized sweet peppers works fine as well. Set aside for later.

Now it’s time for the sweet and tangy green apple slaw. Roughly peel the green apple depending on how much skin you like. Julienne the apple into fine strips and add to a mixing bowl. Next cut the purple cabbage into fine strips or shavings, about the same size as the apples. Drizzle about 4 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Add a drizzle of honey (optional), about 1 tbsp and sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt. Mix this all together in a bowl and set aside for later.

Take the marinated chicken out of the fridge. Set the chicken out flat on a plate and sprinkle with salt. Drizzle about 1-2 tbsp of oil in a large pan and heat to medium high. When the pan is good and hot, add the chicken salted side down. This will add flavor and give the chicken a good crisp texture. Sprinkle with salt again and add in the remaining marinade. Cook for about 4 minutes then flip. Reduce heat to medium and cook for another 4 minutes or until cooked through. You want the chicken to have a golden outside but have no pink on the inside. Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the pan. Let the chicken rest for a couple of minutes before slicing into bite sized strips.

Reheat the pan to medium, adding the onions and peppers. Sprinkle with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp paprika. Toss the veggies in the pan picking up all the chicken flavor from the bottom of the pan. Cook these veggies down until caramelized, about 4 min.

It’s time to assemble! Use a boston lettuce leaf as your base. Fill it with the pepper and onion blend. Add your chicken, then the apple slaw. Jonathan loves to add a spoonful of vinaigrette from the slaw dressing. I like to add a squeeze of fresh lime. We finish it off with a sprinkle of freshly chopped cilantro.

I hope you find these to be a new favorite. Tag us on Instagram @greengurneys or on our Green Gurneys Facebook page if you test out the recipe. We would love to know if you family enjoyed them as much as we did.

Enjoy the feast!

Mandy