serving Mexican chicken out of a Dutch oven with tongs

Six Years in the Making

I first published a version of this Mexican pulled chicken in 2020 after experimenting with different seasoning blends. It’s a bit different, with lots of warm and earthy flavors instead of your typical chili-packed chicken seasoning.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with different cooking methods ranging from pressure cooking, stovetop, searing then slow cooking, and a few others.

This Dutch oven method is my favorite, largely due to the fact that it’s mostly hands off.

Just pop everything in the oven, bake for a bit, shred, and then broil. The chicken caramelizes in spots, the onions get jammy, and the braising liquid thickens to leave you with juicy but not sopping wet chicken.

You get all the flavor of browning and searing the chicken without the effort. So easy!

a halved chicken breakfast burrito on a plate with hot sauce

Mexican chicken quesadilla cut into triangles on a plate with bowls of salsa verde and nonfat Greek yogurt

If you’re a fan of batch cooking, you’ll definitely love this recipe. A week’s worth of quesadillas, burrito bowls, tostadas, salads, and more are in your future.

And another beauty of the method is that it works with other flavor profiles like barbecue or anything else you can dream up. Just be careful not to burn any sweeter sauces/seasonings on the broiling step.

shredded chicken in a white Made In Dutch oven

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Servings: 12

The Best Pulled Chicken

By Mason Woodruff

Chicken thighs are braised with a Mexican seasoning blend, onion, and non-alcoholic beer until fall-apart tender then finished under the broiler to get nice and crispy. Perfect for tacos, burrito bowls, and all the Tex-Mex favorites.

Prep: 10

Cook: 1 30

Total: 1 40

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Ingredients

▢ 3 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
▢ 1 medium White Onion, quartered and thinly sliced
▢ 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
▢ 1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic
▢ 1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano
▢ 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
▢ 2 teaspoons Ground Coriander
▢ 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
▢ 12 oz Non-Alcoholic Mexican Beer, or your choice of cooking liquid

Instructions

Add everything to a Dutch oven and stir to evenly combine.
Cover and bake in a 350ºF oven for 75-90 minutes until the chicken easily pulls apart. Pull the pot out of the oven and set your oven to a low broil.
Carefully use forks or tongs to shred the chicken. I like to leave some larger pieces of chicken, about ½", as opposed to completely shredding.
Stir the shredded chicken and remaining juices/jammy onions together and place under the broiler uncovered. (Make sure your Dutch oven is safe to use at higher temperatures. If it's not, you can transfer the chicken to a sheet pan for broiling. You may also want to use the bottom rack of your oven to create more distance between the heating element and pot.)
Broil for about 20 minutes, stirring every 8-10 minutes, until the chicken is nicely browned all over and the remaining juices have thickened.
Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and lime juice. Use the chicken to make tacos or any of your Tex-Mex favorites. See the notes below for more high protein meals to make with this chicken.

Notes

I like to serve on warmed tortillas or charred tortillas (warmed over a gas burner) with thinned nonfat Greek yogurt, guacamole salsa, and a squeeze of lime juice. And you can’t go wrong with a little diced white onion, cilantro, and lime.

For “gringo” tacos, I like to make cheese crusted tortillas by adding some shredded colby jack on top of tortillas in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Once the cheese starts to melt, flip the tortillas over and cook cheese-side-down until a golden brown crust forms.

More creative ways to use leftovers: street corn bowls, cottage cheese enchiladas, and taco bowls with salsa macha cucumbers

If you’re feeling lazy, you can swap the seasoning blend for a couple packets of taco seasoning or chicken fajita seasoning. Just keep the salt content in mind. You can also swap the sliced onion for a can of diced green chiles or something along those lines.