Chipotle Roast Chicken Tacos

Bon Appetit, you've really outdone yourself. There is actual drool, my own drool, on the pages of my April magazine. Carson has compared the way I read recipes to the way people do drugs - I get a high. My brain can taste the recipe. It tasted the Chipotle Roast Chicken Tacos and it thought, yummy, make this Woman. (My brain calls me Woman.) So I did, last night.


Welcome to Flavor Town. Flavor Island. Flavorville. Stop it this instant.

Chipotles in adobe might be my new favorite thing. What even is adobe? Whatever it is, it's delicious! Smoky hot chicken, sweet garlic, charred onions, creamy avocado. An easy recipe too. However, I have decided that I am not good at handling whole chickens, especially getting stuff under the skin. I get very paranoid about sanitation, borderline OCD-style. In my head, I imagine everything I touch turns to salmonella, even after I've washed my hands for 20 minutes and muttered "show me the blueprints" exactly 13 times out loud.

Chipotle Roast Chicken Tacos

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves plus 3 fresh cilantro sprigs
1 T chopped fresh oregano leaves plus 3 fresh oregano sprigs
1 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves plus 3 fresh rosemary sprigs
4 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 5 1/2- to 6-pound roasting chicken, rinsed, patted dry
2 large onions, each cut into 8 wedges through root end, leaving root ends intact
12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
8 warm corn tortillas (I used flour)
1 avocado, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400. In a small bowl, combine with fork butter, chopped herbs, minced chipotles and coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.


Place chicken on a roasting pan, breast side up. Starting at the neck end of the chicken, loosen skin with fingers. Ew. Stuff all but 1 T of chipotle butter under skin and on top of breast. Season cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff with herb sprigs.


Melt remaining T of butter. Place chopped onions in butter and toss.


Spread onions around chicken. Season onions and chicken with salt and pepper.


Roast for 30 minutes. Then, place peeled garlic cloves around chicken. Pour 1/4 cup broth into pan.


Continue to roast for another hour or until chicken reaches an internal temp of 170. Took me exactly one hour.


I didn't take picture of the sauce, but it's simple and worth making. I poured the pan drippings into a saucepan and added 1/4 cup of wine and 1/4 cup of chicken broth, brought it to a boil, and let it simmer until I was ready to eat.

BA suggests eating this with tortillas and avocado, which I did. Carson skipped the tortilla part. Both ways, excellent. You have to eat the onions and garlic cloves on the side...you have to. If you do not do this, you have made a mistake. I made a side of what I'll call Confetti Rice, and it was perfect with this chicken.

Confetti Rice

1 yellow pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 cup white basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper

Melt butter and olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add peppers, and saute until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add rice and stir for about a minute.


Pour chicken broth (or stock) over rice and bring to a boil. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is fluffy. Season with salt and pepper.


Cake Batter ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. Um, too much. Has anyone tried it? After only a few bites I felt like I was bathing in actual raw-egg, creamy cake batter. Too much.