Riced Cauliflower Chicken Tacos

Riced cauliflower?

Chicken tacos?

Yes, please!

Ok, I thought it was just a fad. But friends, I am a convert!

(To clarify, I do still use meat in my tacos. I know that vegetarian tacos are a thing, but as I’ve shared, animals products have helped me heal. However, there’s no reason you couldn’t leave out the chicken if that suits your religious or personal needs).

I’m on this riced cauliflower kick because I found a bag of it in my freezer, as I said in my last post, but it has opened up a whole new world to me!

The sad news is that there are multiple food shortages. (I’m not up to going into the supposed reasons for these shortages. I’m just rolling my eyes so hard). The price of our 5 lb. bag of carrots has doubled, and we use carrots and onions as our base for everything we cook in our house. Including, you guessed it, tacos. 

I started out including sauteed carrots and onions in tacos because the sweetness from sauteed carrots helps to counteract the spiciness of hot peppers. We started growing hot peppers last summer and love them and their health benefits. 

But with the price of carrots doubling, I’m striving to increase our vegetable content with more affordable vegetables. The price of cauliflower has also increased, but not as dramatically. I’m still using carrots in my tacos, but fewer of them.

And when sautéed with all these other ingredients, cauliflower tastes delicious. Plain cauliflower is admittedly bland, but it absorbs the flavors around it. The result is an additional healthy vegetable that rounds out the meal without having to make a separate side dish. I love incorporating my vegetables in the main meal whenever possible because it’s faster and makes fewer dishes to wash afterwards.

So here goes. Don’t let the simplicity fool you.

You will need:

Cauliflower- I used frozen riced cauliflower, but there’s no reason you can cut a whole cauliflower up yourself. I used about 1 lb.

Chicken thighs- We used 2 lbs., but you can use just 1 lb. if you’re trying to increase vegetable consumption and decrease meat consumption.

2 onions

1 lb. carrots

1 garlic bulb

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Garlic powder to taste

Hot peppers of your choice- We’ve been buying fresh jalapenos and using our aji peppers that we dried out and ground up last season on top.

Olive oil

This is how easy it is: 

Precook the defrosted chicken for one hour in the oven at 350 degrees. I season the chicken thighs with salt, pepper and garlic before baking. I leave out at room temperature after seasoning for a half hour before baking so that the meat more fully absorbs the seasoning.

Sautee the carrots and onions in olive oil for about 20 minutes. (I use about a tablespoon of oil, but I recommend adjusting if you see any burning or sticking).

Add hot peppers and garlic and continue sauteeing for another five minutes.

Remove precooked chicken, dice, and add to the pan.  

Cook everything together for another twenty minutes, stirring every minute or so, so that flavors can meld.

Remove from heat and place on taco shell. I love garnishing with avocado, hot sauce, and cultured sour cream. Even though the hot peppers provide nice spice, I really appreciate the vinegar flavor of hot sauce in the mix. 

I also enjoy garnishing with cilantro and red cabbage, but this is less essential to overall flavor if cost is a consideration. Same with limes, for me personally, but that’s subjective.

See! You can eat your veggies and enjoy them!

What has been your best food find to combat inflation? Please let me know in the comments!

Thank you for sharing!

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