It is no secret that I love to cook. I really do. It relaxes me, makes me happy, and I really enjoy making meals for people that I love. What I don’t love is the getting-dinner-on-the-table-every-night struggle. You know what I mean – the cooking that goes on during a busy week when you have lots of places to go and things to do, and not a lot of time to enjoy the process of cooking. The cooking that is more about survival. I am lucky that I work from home, and coincidentally my work occurs in a kitchen, and even I have the weeknight dinner struggle. How do I make it easier for myself?
Well, I am big fan of a meal plan. I know what we are having for dinner for the week starting on Sunday. I usually do my planning on Friday or Saturday, do the grocery shop, and have everything in the house to start a new week. I have tried doing for longer than a week, but it never ends up working out the way that I want it to. However you do it, it needs to work for you. For me, that means a pen and paper plan and one week at a time. Here is a simple sheet that I made for you to print out.
Second, I try to get some of the things on the plan done ahead of time. For instance, this buffalo chicken taco can be started the day ahead of time, or earlier in the day. I tend to do a lot of my dinner prep in the morning while everyone is at school. In fact, for this post, I just cooked enough to take these pictures and made the rest later for dinner. You can cut up the chicken and get it marinading, make the blue cheese dressing (or buy it, no judgement here), and the buffalo sauce if you have extra time the night before. So when dinner rolls around, you have about 10 minutes worth of cooking and assembling to do.
These tacos are the marriage of my husband’s two favorite things, buffalo wings and tacos. The buffalo sauce is not hot, very kid-friendly, so if you want it hotter, use less honey and more hot sauce. A little cayenne pepper will heat it up too.
4 chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces
2 Tablespoons buffalo seasoning
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup hot sauce
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Blue Cheese Dressing:
2 cups sour cream
1/3 to 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup blue cheese crumbles
1 Tablespoon chopped dill
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
Tortillas
Shredded lettuce
Shredded cheese
Shredded carrots
Sliced celery
Blue Cheese Dressing
Add the chicken to a Ziploc bag, sprinkle buffalo seasoning over and coat the chicken with seasoning. Let sit for 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.
If you are making the blue cheese dressing yourself, whisk the sour cream and buttermilk until smooth.
Add vinegar, salt, and pepper. Whisk until smooth.
Fold in blue cheese, dill, and parsley. Transfer to a container. This keeps for a week in the fridge.
To make the tacos, heat a skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil to pan. Add chicken and cook until cooked through, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, add butter, hot sauce, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper to a saucepan. Heat until the butter is melted and whisk until smooth.
Toss chicken with buffalo sauce.
Assemble your toppings. Heat the tortillas and start building. I think that a cold beer goes perfectly with these tacos. And some extra napkins.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces
- 2 Tablespoons buffalo seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1 Tablespoon chopped dill
- 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
- Tortillas
- Shredded lettuce
- Shredded cheese
- Shredded carrots
- Sliced celery
- Blue Cheese Dressing
Instructions
- Add the chicken to a Ziploc bag, sprinkle buffalo seasoning over and coat the chicken with seasoning. Let sit for 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.
- If you are making the blue cheese dressing yourself, whisk the sour cream and buttermilk until smooth. Add vinegar, salt, and pepper. Whisk until smooth. Fold in blue cheese, dill, and parsley. Transfer to a container. This keeps for a week in the fridge.
- To make the tacos, heat a skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil to pan. Add chicken and cook until cooked through, about 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, add butter, hot sauce, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper to a saucepan. Heat until the butter is melted and whisk until smooth. Toss chicken with buffalo sauce.
- Heat the tortillas and assemble tacos. Layer tortilla with shredded lettuce, cheese, celery, carrots, chicken, and blue cheese dressing. Serve with a cold beer. And some napkins.
I am Bree. I love to cook. Even more than I love to take pictures.
Oh I love the twist on the traditional taco! I also cook to de-stress and feed others!
Katie recently posted..Veggie Bagel Sandwich with Herb and Garlic Cream Cheese
Thanks Katie! Cooking is my therapy.
We have been talking about making a buffalo inspired taco since Lenny made those chicken wings; just haven’t gotten around to it! Now I have the bug to add it to our list for next week! Looks delicious ….
Denise recently posted..Octopus Stew
They are so good! The celery is my favorite part, I love the crunch that it adds. Hope you like!
I plan all of my meals for the week as well… it’s a great way to stay within my budget and I love being organized!!!
These tacos look delicious!
Emily ~SoDomesticated~ recently posted..Cannellini and Sun Dried Tomato Bean Dip…
It really does make the week go smoother.
Buffalo chicken and celery just to perfectly together! I am so glad you put celery on these tacos. They look really good.
Tanya recently posted..The Best WordPress Anti-Spam Plugins for 2012-2013
I agree. I love the crunch.
Oh man, these are my kind of tacos! I sure wish I was having this for lunch!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious recently posted..Bolognese Sauce with Cloves and Cinnamon
Come on over!
I just made a buffalo style chicken meal this week…for the first time! I love it! Now, I’m buffalo obsessed. This looks wonderful!
Caroline @ chocolate & carrots recently posted..Leprechaun Chocolate Bark
Over here too. If I could put buffalo on everything, my husband would be happy!
Cooking is relaxing for me too… except when it’s 5:00 pm, I’m getting off work and my husband is already calling me to ask me what’s for dinner. I tried to meal plan but then the day would come and I wouldn’t want what was on the menu. lol. I’m starting to get back into the habit of at least planning 2 days out and I think this will be going into my planning.
Angie @ Big Bear’s Wife recently posted..Shrimp & Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo
I hear you! I feel the same way, I need to be in the mood for something. I got over it, it just makes life easier to plan it out.
I really do think I have an addiction to buffalo sauce – I put in on everything and constantly dream of other things I can do with it. These tacos look like another great way to use it, looks so good!
Amber @ Sprinkled With Flour recently posted..Chunky Twix Cookies: Before & After
You and my husband! I don’t like when he makes his sauce though, it is just butter, hot sauce, and vinegar. I think that he has melted off his taste buds.
Just printed this recipe and meal planning printout. I also love to cook and do not enjoy when I can’t enjoy it! Anyway thanks so much!
Leslie recently posted..Another Waffle Recipe
You are welcome, I hope it helps you out.
I can’t wait to try these! Do you have a fish taco recipe?
Yes, you can search for it using the search bar, or the recipe index.
Delicious. Truth be told, I love the flavor of wings more than I actually like eating them. It’s the meat off tiny bones that gets to me. I love a good taco so I’m pretty sure I’d gobble these down. And with a cold beer no less!
kelley {mountain mama cooks} recently posted..Granola Breakfast Cookies
Me too, and I don’t like to get messy. You will like these!
sounds great. how much does this recipe yield?
About 4.
Yum!! I am pretty sure those tacos taste heavenly and they look really good in the pictures. I will try this tomorrow, “Taco Tuesday!!!!” and see if I can replicate this amazing recipe. Wish me luck, but I am pretty sure it will turn out great!
No luck needed! This recipe is fool proof!