I've been making these for several years and sometime during the Spring I decided to try smoking the chicken breasts first. The tacos were a hit before that and now it's the only way I'm allowed to make them. It's easy, which is how I like things. Clean up is really easy, also.
Ingredients:
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
+/- 3 cups chicken broth (I use the low sodium 4 cup box from our grocery store, HEB, and use enough to cover the breasts)
1 package McCormick's beef (not chicken but it might work too) taco seasoning (I use the MILD 30% less sodium. I prefer spicy, but I ain't in charge)
Smoke the breasts for about an hour or so at 150 with mesquite pellets. If your pit won't go that low, you may want to smoke for less time. Mesquite is what I usually have in the GMG DB, but hickory would be good, too, I reckon.
Dissolve the taco seasoning in about two cups of the broth while you're smoking them.
Place the smoked breasts in a slow cooker with a liner in it and pour the broth and seasoning over them.
Add more broth to just cover the breasts. The more broth, the more juice, so don't sweat it if you get too much. If you lack a little to fully cover them, they still turn out great.
I cook them on high for around 5 hours or until the breasts are easy to shred with two forks. I've also done 4 hours on high and 2 hours on low. It just depends on when I started cooking. I'm sure 8 hours on low would work, too, but I've never done it.
Serve with warm corn or flour tortillas, pico de gallo and sliced fresh jalapenos, or whatever salsa y'all prefer. Crispy taco shells would also work. Just use what y'all prefer. Corn chips also go well with it.
We store it in the fridge with all the extra juice and I'm sure it can be vac-sealed and frozen. I've never had the chance to do that because it hasn't last long enough. I'll take some pics the next time I make them, which will be soon since I'm now craving them.
