Slow cooker salsa verde turkey tacos
Turkey breast slow-cooked in tangy salsa verde until it shreds with a fork, piled into warm tortillas with onion, cilantro and lime.
- 330 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $3.41 a serving
- 440 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2½ lb turkey breast tenderloins, 4 tenderloins
- 1½ cups salsa verde
- 2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cut in wedges
- 18 corn tortillas
- ½ white onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup cotija cheese, crumbled (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 440 calories, 51 g protein, 46 g carbs and 6 g fat, and costs about $3.41 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? Red onions work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Scatter the onion and garlic over the bottom of the slow cooker.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Rub the turkey with the cumin, oregano and salt and lay it on top of the onions.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Pour the salsa verde over the turkey, cover, and cook on LOW 4 to 5 hours, until it pulls apart easily when you press it with a fork.
Timer: 240 min
Dolly’s tip: It’s safe at 165°F, but it needs the extra time to turn tender enough to shred.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the turkey right in the slow cooker with two forks, in the juice of 1 lime, and let it soak up the sauce for 10 minutes.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Timer: 10 min
Warm the tortillas in a dry over medium heat, about 30 seconds per side, and stack them in a clean towel.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Fill the tortillas with turkey, a spoonful of the sauce, onion, cilantro and cotija, and serve with lime wedges.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dolly’s tip: Leftover turkey freezes well in its sauce for quick tacos another night.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
