BBQ Chicken With Mexican Rice Tacos Recipe

Did you know that on the 5th May Cinco De Mayo is celebrated – now I had absolutely no idea what this actually was for or about so had to turn to my old friend Google. It is actually a celebration among Mexican communities in Mexico and North America marking the Mexican defeat of French troops at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. This day is marked by celebrating all things Mexican. Included in this post is a BBQ Chicken with Mexican Rice Tacos recipe.

I’ve a love hate relationship with Mexican food, I absolutely love to eat it however it’s not something I choose to cook often as I live in a household of fussy eaters – well not really fussy, more those with plain tastes. After a very successful fajita dinner recently where I cooked chicken and steak, peppers with onions and laid it all out on the table for the children to make up their own fajitas and the children love plating up their own food, rolling them and generally making quite a mess I decided it was time to test their taste buds again, only this time using the Old El Paso Stand ‘n’ Stuff kits as a base for our meal.

I chose to use the smoky BBQ soft taco kit with chicken as it’s the children’s favourite meat (Emmy has only just started to eat meat so I don’t like to push the boundaries too much).

Old El Paso, Mexican recipe, BBQ Chicken with Mexican rice, recipe

Ingredients: (serves 4)

3 large chicken breasts thinly sliced (or cubed)

1 pack of Old El Paso Stand ‘N’ Stuff Soft Taco Kit (Smoky BBQ)
Olive Oil
1 cup of long grain rice
2 Tbsp of Sweetcorn (frozen or tinned)
2 Tbsp Adzuki beans (optional) (these need soaking in water for around 2 hours before cooking – or overnight)

1/4 Onion finely chopped
1/2 Tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt
2 cups of chicken stock

To make:

Add 2/3 tbsp. of oil to a wok and warm over a low heat
Add the rice and coat in oil, add the onions, salt and cumin and cook until the onions are tender – keep stirring to avoid sticking

Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat – stir regularly to avoid sticking. Cook for 10 minutes
After 10 minutes add the beans and cook for a further 5 minutes

Then add the sweetcorn and cook for another 5 minutes
When the rice is cooked and the liquid all absorbed stir in the taco salsa (from the kit) to the rice and heat through – keep stirring

Meanwhile:

In a frying pan add 2/3 tbsp of oil and heat on a low heat

Add the chicken – cook through until the chicken is almost cooked
Add the BBQ seasoning (from the kit) and stir so it is evenly spread over the chicken – I added 2 tbsp of water here to stop the seasoning from sticking to the pan.
Cook until the chicken is cooked

Warm the tacos for 30 seconds in the microwave, add rice to these and top with chicken – serve.

I added sour cream to mine and the kids, and Jalapeños to mine.

You could keep this recipe really simple by just cooking your rice in chicken stock and adding the salsa and nothing else except the chicken and if you aren’t too keen on a strong flavour, add only half of the BBQ seasoning or leave off entirely…..the choice is yours.

Of course, it is almost an essential part of eating different food in our house that you must dress up – who needs an excuse really, so the children donned Sombreros and played their Maraca’s while watching The Book of Life.