Slow Cooker Garlic Lime Chicken for Tacos

This is a recipe I just completely made up.  I'm all about marrying different flavors together in somewhat unexpected ways, and something made me think that garlic and lime would be good together on a taco.  Here's what I came up with.

Slow Cooker Garlic Lime Chicken for Tacos

Ingredients:

3½-4cups reduced-sodium chicken stock

6 cloves garlic, sliced

3 chicken breast halves (not cutlets)

1 lime

1 tsp olive oil

Directions:

Pour about half of the chicken stock in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Add about half of the sliced garlic.  Place chicken breasts on top, doing your best to make sure they don’t overlap.  Pour remaining chicken stock on top, making sure chicken is covered with liquid.  Throw in the remaining garlic.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred with two forks.  Place in a large bowl.  Zest the lime and put in a small bowl.  Juice the lime and add that and the oil to the bowl and stir until combined.  Pour lime juice mixture over the chicken and toss to coat.

Put chicken inside flour tortillas and add your favorite taco toppings.  

Makes about 8 servings (enough for about 16 tacos).

These are not your usual heavy, greasy, and rich tacos.  I love those (don't get me wrong!), but I was in the mood for something fresh and light.  This is definitely it!  The chicken is slow cooked all day, infusing with wonderful garlic flavor, then brightened up with lime juice and lime zest.  It was so good that I couldn't stop sneaking bites as I was preparing it.  

You can build your tacos any way you like, of course.  Here's how I layered mine: flour tortilla, black beans, chicken, fresh avocado, fresh cilantro leaves, sliced onion, and then I squirted some chipotle sauce on each side.  Since the chicken has no spice, you need some kind of spicy element in there, in my opinion.  While I thought the chipotle sauce was perfect, my husband chose taco sauce.  You could also use salsa.

These are the perfect summertime tacos.  And since they are made in the slow cooker, there is no oven or stovetop to heat up your kitchen.  And it makes your house smell awesome!

I am just guessing on the serving size.  It makes a lot!  It may be more than that.

 Chicken nestled into the slow cooker.  I turned them over a couple of hours into cooking to make sure they cooked evenly.

The finished chicken.  It's so pretty with the flecks of green!  Jim said it should be called "fiesta chicken".