by Danae · Published: Feb 20, 2015 · Updated: Aug 22, 2021
Well it isn’t taco Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean we can’t end the week eating tacos. Normally we stick to pizza Friday, but not this week! No sir! This week the husband and I will be feasting on these Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa!
These tacos you guys, where do I begin. Well let’s start with the inspiration for them. Last Sunday my husband and I were watching the movie Chef. Have you seen it? If not then you MUST! If you love food, humor, and an overall feel good movie, then it’s definitely worth watching.
I won’t ruin the movie for you, but Cuban food is heavily involved. After seeing all the delicious dishes I got a crazy craving for some Cuban food. There is most definitely nothing near where I live that has anything remotely Cuban so I knew I would be making something.
I didn’t have pork so Cuban sandwiches were out, but I did have some chicken, plenty of citrus, black beans, corn tortillas, and spices galore. So obviously tacos popped into my head! I wanted these tacos to be easy to make, but have lots of flavor.
To keep things easy I made the shredded chicken in the slow cooker. The chicken cooks in there with orange juice, lime juice, cumin, oregano, chili, soy sauce, and some honey for sweetness. Those boring old chicken breasts absorb all the wonderful juices and spices and leave you with deliciously moist and flavorful chicken!
Now let’s talk about these Cuban black beans. Wow! Talk about flavor! So easy to make too since I chose to use canned beans. The beans are flavored with onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, oregano, and a bay leaf. They then get a punch of flavor from a little bit of honey and red wine vinegar. Sounds a little odd, but it tastes incredible!
The finishing touch on these Cuban inspired tacos is the pineapple salsa. So I have a confession. I absolutely love pineapple, but if I eat more than one piece I get a huge stomach ache. It makes me so sad because I love the fruit dearly and sometimes, like with these tacos, I pretend like it won’t affect me. Well, it affected me, but boy was it delicious while I was eating it!
The salsa is super simple and only uses a few ingredients. Pineapple, jalapeño, onion, lime juice, and cilantro. So simple, so fresh, and so good! Eat lots of it for me since my stomach and my mouth have different agendas when it comes to that lovely golden pineapple. Let’s change things up this Friday and instead of the usual pizza make these Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa!
Yield: 8 servings
Cuban inspired chicken and black bean tacos topped with fresh pineapple salsa!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time5 hours
Total Time5 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Zest of an orange
- Zest of a lime
- 1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari for gluten free
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Black Beans
- 14.5 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Pineapple Salsa
- 3 cups diced fresh pineapple
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of a lime
- Salt to taste
- 16 corn tortillas
Instructions
Cuban Chicken
- Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker.
- In a glass measuring cup, whisk together all of the remaining ingredients for the chicken, then pour the mixture over the chicken breasts.
- Cover the slow cooker and set it to cook on low for 4-6 hours depending on the size of your slow cooker and how fast it cooks. When the chicken is cooked through shred it with two forks.
Black Beans
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil.
- When the oil is hot add in the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic. Cook the vegetables until they have softened, about 3-5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium low and add in the remaining ingredients minus the red wine vinegar.
- Stir everything together then cover with the lid and let it cook for 10 minutes. Remove the beans from the heat, take out the bay leaf, and stir in the red wine vinegar.
Pineapple Salsa
- In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients for the salsa. Stir together and taste for seasoning. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Assembling the Tacos
- Heat the corn tortillas in the microwave for 20 seconds or place them over the open flame of a gas stove for a more charred taco.
- Place a scoop of the shredded chicken in the tortilla and top with a spoonful of black beans and pineapple salsa.
Notes
The leftover chicken can be placed in a freezer bag and frozen for a later use.
More Taco Recipes:
Pork Tenderloin Tacos with Pico de Gallo
Slow Cooker Carnitas Tacos with Apple Salsa
Mini Taco Cups
