The original title of this recipe is “Baked Chicken Ranch Tacos,” but I will get to that in a minute…
On Tuesday, I was looking for quick recipes to fix with boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. After a long search, I stumbled upon this gem…and then I kept reading the recipe and got to the part where I saw it needed to be cooked in the crock pot. That night, I never actually found a recipe and I had to make something up. I put this taco recipe on my agenda for today since I knew I would be home for dinner.
As usual, I was running late this morning, and I remembered it was crock pot night. I scrambled around and gathered the supplies, got it all together, and left for work. Approximately one hour later…
I realized that the County Wide 5th Grade Spelling Bee was tonight at 7:00. That meant I needed to come home, finish my tacos, and go back out to the library to cheer on my kiddos.
I planned on using the soft tortilla shells I had and rolling them like enchiladas and baking them somehow. I figured the shells would get a little crispy and delicious. Instead, Since I did not have ample time to do the baking portion of this recipe, we had them like regular tacos.
I have to say, they were very delicious! It really did not taste ranch-y, but I assume the powdered ranch mix gave it just the kick it needed to not taste like regular tacos. I am curious about how it would be if I had baked them. I guess I will need to try them out another time.
Here is the “recipe” as I made it (VERY EASY!!!!)
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 packet of chicken taco seasoning
- 1 packet of ranch dressing mix
- 1 teaspoon of minced onions (I used the sprinkly kind, but you could probably chop some onion up and that would be good too)
- 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
Put all of that in the crock pot for however long you feel like…Recipes always say 4-6 hours, but I always do 10 so it is ready when I get home from work. Maybe some fancy crock pot chef would scowl at my philosophy, but it has worked pretty well for me so far.
Once you are ready for it to be finished, shred it with 2 forks. There was a bit of extra liquid, but if you use the 2 forks as tongs, the excess liquid drips right off.
Then, get creative. Maybe you want regular tacos with cheese, salsa and lettuce. Maybe you want ranch dressing on them too. Maybe you want to try to bake them. Use soft shells or hard. The possibilities are endless!
*Here’s a little cheapskate crock pot tip that I do almost every time. I line my pot with a sheet of foil so the baked on gunk is easier to scrub off. Most of it gets tossed away. The foil is cheaper (and only slightly less effective) than those bags you can buy to line your crock pot.
