This is a delicious dinner recipe that's ready to eat in under an hour. The chicken is simmered in a skillet and all you need to add are a few pantry staples and street taco tortillas.
Place a large skillet on the stove, add olive oil. Heat over medium-high until the oil starts to shimmer. Add diced chicken, chopped garlic and diced onion. Cook until the chicken is nearly done and the onions and garlic are fragrant and begin to soften. Add olives, green chilis, corn, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Don't cover the skillet. Let the mixture simmer for about 15-20 minutes with no lid, or until most of the moisture is gone. (A little moisture is OK.) Remove from heat, stir in cheese (optional), cover and keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Warm the Street Taco Tortillas
Wrap the tortillas in paper towels or use a tortilla warmer and heat them in the microwave. Check every 30 seconds or until the tortillas are warm and pliable. As an option, heat the oven to 325° F, stack the tortillas and wrap in foil. Heat for about 15 minutes while the chicken filling is cooking.
Serve
Use the skillet chicken taco mixture to fill street taco tortillas - or any size tortilla, or top a bed a salad greens for taco salad, or serve as nachos and top a baking sheet filled with corn tortilla chips.
Sprinkle grated red cabbage on each serving, add a squeeze of lime juice and cilantro. As an option, serve with your favorite tomato salsa on the side.
Variations
For skillet chicken street tacos: Allow for about three street tacos per person, and I like to double up the tortillas. Fill each tortilla with the skillet chicken taco mixture and top with shredded cabbage, lime juice and cilantro.
For skillet chicken taco salad: Arrange your favorite salad greens on a serving plate, top with 1 cup of skillet chicken taco mixture per serving, add shredded cabbage, a squeeze of lime juice and cilantro.
For skillet chicken nachos: Spread contents from 1, 16 ounce bag of corn tortilla chips on a large baking sheet and place in a 375° oven for 10 minutes or until the chips are warm. Top with chicken taco mixture, shredded cabbage, a squeeze of lime juice and cilantro.
Notes
Since there are so many variations to this recipe, the nutritional information here was calculated using only the ingredients for Chicken Street Tacos, and does not include nutrition details for tortillas, tortilla chips or salad greens. The nutritional details are based on approximately a one-cup serving of the chicken taco filling per person. Serve these with Mexican Fried Rice for a classic flavor combination.