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Tomato Bacon Chicken Tacos
We eat chicken so often in our home, because it's so inexpensive and easy to cook, that it's necessary to change it up and cook it in different ways.
We've joked for a while that we could open up a restaurant and only serve chicken dishes, and we would never run out of new dishes to offer we have so many.
Chicken can easily be boiled, like for my Chicken and Dumplings recipe, baked like in my Baked Fried Chicken, grilled for just about any dish, or any number of other ways to cook it.
One of the fastest ways we've learned to do this, in order to have simple chicken dishes on the table fast, is to cook it in a saute pan with a closed cover on the stove. The heat from the bottom searing it, and the steam kept in with the cover can have it completely cooked in about 10-15 minutes and ready for the table.
I'm always coming up with new recipes just based on what ingredients we have available in the refrigerator. The other night, we had just gotten mangoes and zucchini in our basket from a puritan we work with in our neighborhood called Bountiful Baskets. You'll really want to check it out for yourself.
I wasn't quite sure how I was going to use those mangoes, but it hit me to dice them up with some crunchy but steamed zucchini slices for some chicken tacos. We have tons of different types of salad dressing in the fridge, so I could just season the chicken with something new for a different kick.
It could work. It was delicious!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken breast
- 1 bottle Tomato Bacon salad dressing
- 2 large squash or zucchini
- 1 large mango
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning, we use Harley's Seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 medium flour tortillas
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a square casserole dish generously with cooking spray.
- Either use a fresh chicken breast or thaw a frozen one. The best way to thaw frozen meat is in room temperature water in the sink. If you prefer, you can also pre-thaw it in the refrigerator overnight or set it out on the countertop earlier in the day to be ready to use for dinner. It's not the best method, but we defrost our meat in the microwave.
- Place your chicken breast in the casserole dish, without it's juice, and season with your garlic powder and all-purpose seasoning.
- Just before putting it into the oven, douse it with your Tomato Bacon salad dressing. Not only should the dressing cover the top of the meat, but it should also pool around the meat in the casserole dish for maximum absorption. Cook for about 45 minutes.
- While you are waiting, slice up your zucchini or squash.
- In a steam basket, steam your zucchini pieces on the stove for approximately 15-20 minutes. The zucchini should still be crunchy, but should be cooked thoroughly. You'll know it's ready because it will cut easily, but the color of the vegetables will get a great deal brighter just before it's overcooked.
- While both of these are cooking, you will want to peel and chop your mango (as seen below) to be ready for your tacos.
- When your zucchini/squash is done, strain out the water and set aside in a bowl to cool.
- When your chicken is done, you will want to chop it up into small pieces, or shred it finely.
- Don't be afraid of the burned/overcooked dressing on the sides of the casserole dish. Mix it up with the rest of your prepared chicken, as this is where all of the best flavors will be.
- When you are ready to begin dinner, heat your tortillas in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.
- Top your tacos with chicken, zucchini, mango, and even a little additional salad dressing for a delicious treat.
- Feel free to make these even more delicious with your own ingredients. Cooked or raw cabbage, raw or caramelized onions, apples, coleslaw, or other fruits and vegetables would make an awesome addition!
- Yummy! Yummy!
Nutritional Information
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 2 tacos | |
| Calories | 148 |
| Calories from Fat | 18 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 2 g | 3% |
| Saturated fat 1 g | 5% |
| Carbohydrates 6 g | 2% |
| Sugar 3 g | |
| Fiber 3 g | 12% |
| Protein 26 g | 52% |
| Cholesterol 50 mg | 17% |
| Sodium 92 mg | 4% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Personal Review
This is only one of the different varieties of chicken recipes we have around here.
This was particularly good though with the mixture of the tomato and bacon flavors in the salad dressing, and the sweet and crunchy from the zucchini and mangoes.
I actually used more dressing on my tacos after I put them together and say down at the table because it made for such a delightful flavor.
This recipe could really be made with just about any salad dressing flavor and toppings. In fact, try it with some Ranch dressing, cucumber and apple for a real tear. Or some Italian, asparagus and pears is smashing too!
One great thing about this dish is that you can really pull together just about any ingredients you find in the fridge together for an amazing taco. I wouldn't suggest anything strange, like mashed potatoes or applesauce though.
Have some restraint!
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© 2013 Victoria Van Ness
