Tex-Mex Pulled Chicken Sandwich
Slow cookers can make healthy cooking easy. This pulled chicken sandwich will satisfy your barbecue craving without the red meat and smoking of a traditional southern recipe. Tomato paste, garlic, chipotle peppers and adobe sauce make a richly flavored marinade for the chicken. Add the roasted poblano peppers to infuse the dish with a kick of heat. Serve on whole-wheat buns with a cool coleslaw and dream of warmer summer days.
Tex-Mex Pulled Chicken Sandwich
Makes 6 servings.
Per serving: 364 calories, 8 g total fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 34 g carbohydrate, 38 g protein, 5 g dietary fiber, 510 mg sodium.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup no salt added tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp. no salt added tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 1-2 canned chipotle peppers (finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp. adobo sauce from canned chipotle pepper
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 2 lbs. skinless and boneless chicken thighs (fat trimmed)
- 2 poblano peppers (halved and seeded)
- 1 large onion (halved and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices)
- 6 whole-wheat hamburger buns (split)
Directions:
In 6- or 8-quart slow cooker, combine tomato sauce, paste, Worcestershire sauce, chopped onion, garlic, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, cumin, salt and pepper, spreading mixture to cover bottom of cooker.
Arrange chicken pieces on top of sauce in cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with foil. Arrange poblano halves skin-side up on baking sheet. Bake until skin is blistered, 10 to 13 minutes. Wrap peppers in foil and set aside for 5 minutes. With your fingers, pull off skin. Cut peppers lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips. Scrub your hands thoroughly.
After chicken has cooked for 2 hours, add poblanos and sliced onion to slow cooker, distributing them over chicken. Cover and continue cooking until chicken shreds when picked at with fork, about an additional 4 hours.
Remove chicken to plate. One piece at a time, using 2 forks, shred chicken pieces by pulling them apart. Return chicken to slow cooker and mix with sauce, stirring vigorously.
To serve, toast buns. For each sandwich, place bottom half of bun on sandwich plate, top with one-sixth of pulled chicken and cover with bun top. Serve accompanied by coleslaw and pickle spears.
Grocery List
- No salt added tomato sauce
- No salt added tomato paste
- Worcestershire sauce
- Onion
- Garlic cloves
- Chipotle peppers
- Adobo sauce
- Cumin
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Skinless and boneless chicken thighs
- Poblano peppers
- Whole-wheat hamburger buns
The Author:
Something Different Recipe -Developed by Dana Jacobi
Dana Jacobi takes a fresh look at deliciously healthy food. Her Something Different recipes are inspired by local produce, the seasons, and bold ethnic flavors. She is the author of fifteen cookbooks, six for Williams-Sonoma. Cooking Light, O:The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times and many other publications have featured her articles. A devoted teacher, her classes feature recipes along with technique, also a frequent subject in her personal blog at danajacobi.com, and in her books. She lives in New York City where she shops its many Greenmarkets and loves exploring the city’s varied neighborhoods. She is also an addicted knitter.
