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Chili Lime Tacos with Mango Salsa {Grilled or Pressure Cooker}

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients

Chili Lime Chicken:

  • 2-3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from about 2-3 limes

Mango Salsa:

  • 1-2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced (for about 1-2 cups chopped mango)
  • ½ cup small diced red pepper
  • ½ cup finely chopped red onion
  • 1 jalapeno, seeds and membraned removed, finely diced
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • Pinch of salt and pepper

Avocado Cream Sauce:

  • 2 avocados, pitted and flesh scooped out
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice, from about 2 limes
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • Handful of fresh cilantro leaves, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
  • Milk for consistency

Extras:

  • Tortillas for serving OR turn it into a main dish salad with romaine in place of the tortillas

Instructions 

  • For the chicken, place the chicken in a ziploc bag or in a dish. Combine all the marinade ingredients (chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne and lime juice) and pour over the chicken. Refrigerate for a couple of hours (up to 8 hours). Grill the chicken until cooked through (about 6-7 minutes per side on a grill preheated to medium-high heat). Alternately, the chicken can be pressure cooked at high pressure for 8 minutes; on an InstantPot, add the chicken and marinade ingredients PLUS 1/2 CUP LOW-SODIUM CHICKEN BROTH OR WATER, secure the lid and press manual --> 7 minutes (let the pressure cooker naturally release pressure when finished cooking). Let the chicken rest for 5 or so minutes before slicing into strips or shredding.
  • For the mango salsa, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and give it a good stir. Refrigerate until ready to serve; can be made a day or so in advance if you have the willpower not to eat it all before you serve it with the tacos.
  • For the avocado cream, combine all the ingredients except the milk in a blender and process until smooth. Add milk, a tablespoon at at time, until the sauce is at the right consistency for drizzling (not too thin!).
  • To serve, top each tortilla with chicken, mango salsa, and avocado cream. You can also transition this very easily into a main dish salad by swapping out the tortillas for romaine lettuce.

Notes

Make Ahead: this recipe is so dreamy because all of the components can be prepped ahead of time. The chicken can sit in the marinade for up to 8 hours (conversely, I've also been pressed for time/lazy before and forgot to marinade and thrown all the chicken/marinade ingredients in the pressure cooker without marinading beforehand). The mango salsa can be prepped a day or so in advance and refrigerated, and the avocado cream can be made a couple hours ahead of time, too (even a couple days ahead of time if you don't mind the color darkening a bit).
Pressure Cooker: I forgot to mention in the recipe instructions below that if using the pressure cooker (stovetop or electric), you'll need to add a bit of extra liquid. Some people will tell you this isn't necessary but for safety reasons, a pressure cooker needs a certain amount of liquid to operate safely. I've updated the directions below.