Chicken Birria Tacos

yield:  A LOT!

prep time:  5 MINUTES

cook time:  1 HOUR

total time:  1 HOUR 5 MINUTES

Birria tacos are taking over the internet – mine are made with chicken and so delish! The consomme is ZERO points!

Ingredients

• 3 pounds bone in, skin on chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil
• 1 small (10 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 white onion (I left out!)
• 8-10 dried chilies (I used half New Mexico and half Guajilla) (seeds removed)
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• dusting of cayenne pepper (add more if you like it spicy – I added 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon ancho pepper powder
• 48 ounces chicken broth or stock
• 2 tablespoons powdered Knorr brand chicken bouillon
• 2 roma tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 bay leaves (I didn’t have any so left out – but please add if you have)
• Instructions
• Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then cook, skin side down, for 10 minutes, or until skin starts to brown.
• Remove chicken and add onions and saute for five minutes, or until translucent.
• Add chicken back in, the tomato sauce, cilantro, chilies, garlic, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, ancho pepper powder, and stock.  Stir until combined.  Sprinkle the chicken bouillon over the top, stir again, add tomatoes and bay leaves if you have them.
• Simmer on low for one hour.  Remove chicken to cool.  Once cooled, remove skin and bones and pull chicken.
• Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the peppers, cilantro, etc. and add that, plus two cups of broth to a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Convince me that buying a Vitamix is a good idea.
• Pour that into the remaining consomme.
• Warm tortillas.  If you have a gas stove, consider yourself lucky.  If not, microwave for 20-30 seconds so they are pliable.
• Dip the tortilla in the consomme (I only dipped half).  Add chicken and cheese of choice, and fry for about 4-5 minutes a side.  Right before serving, dip the tacos in the consomme – I really like crunchy tacos, so that’s why I didn’t dip the whole thing.
• Notes
• I’ve tried to figure out the WW points for this, but because I took the skin off the chicken after it simmered, I am counting the consomme at 1 WW point on all plans for the little amount of oil and residual fat that came off the chicken skin while cooking.
• My corn tortillas are 1 point each (El Milagro Brand) and 50 calories.  So the points would just have to be calculated for the amount of chicken (blue and green) and cheese (all plans) you add to each individual taco.