Slow-cooked chicken tacos in a cassava tortilla built to hold together

Taco night gets a full rebuild here, tortilla and all, and it holds together in your hand the way a real taco should. The filling is mostly the slow cooker doing quiet work while you go about your day, and the cassava tortilla is 4 ingredients with no gums or fillers, so what wraps the filling stays as clean as what is inside it. A crisp romaine leaf works too, if you would rather skip the rolling.

What you are eating here is more than comfort food. Chicken is a source of B vitamins involved in energy metabolism, and the pork in the filling is a source of zinc, a mineral involved in immune regulation and in repairing the gut barrier. Real, whole ingredients, cooked simply, are doing genuine work for a body in repair.

Color belongs on this plate: the shredded meat, a spoonful of guacamole, a little slaw for crunch. The animals that fed this meal deserve a moment of gratitude, and so does the version of you that took the time to cook. Make it beautiful, and let the meal land in a settled body.

Ingredients

Taco filling:

• 1 lb chicken, chopped
• 3/4 lb bacon, chopped (clean-label, no added nightshade spices)
• 1/4 cup nomato sauce (carrot-beet, nightshade-free)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano

Cassava tortillas:

• 3/4 cup cassava flour
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Optional toppings:

• Coleslaw (egg-free dressing)
• Guacamole

Method

Add the chicken, bacon, nomato sauce, onion, ginger, garlic powder, and oregano to the slow cooker. Cook on high for about 2 hours, until the chicken pulls apart easily. Shred the meat with two forks and stir it back through the cooking liquid.

While the meat cooks, make the tortillas. Stir the cassava flour and salt together, then work in the hot water and olive oil until you have a smooth, soft dough. Divide into 6 balls. Roll each ball thin between two sheets of parchment.

Heat a skillet over medium-high. Cook each tortilla about 1 minute per side, until it is spotted and lightly bubbled. Stack them under a clean towel to stay warm and pliable.

Fill each warm tortilla with the shredded meat and your toppings.

Instant Pot variation

The Instant Pot gives you both paths. For the same hands-off result, use the slow-cook setting on high and cook the filling about 2 hours until the chicken shreds. To do it faster, brown the bacon and onion right in the pot on saute first, then add the rest of the filling, lock the lid, and cook on high pressure with a natural release. Aim for roughly 12 to 15 minutes at pressure for chopped chicken, then check that it shreds and add a few minutes if needed. The high-pressure time is a starting range, not yet kitchen-tested for this filling.

*Adapted from a-clean-plate*