Sesame and Gochujang Chicken Tacos with Pickled Slaw
Filled with tender, spicy chicken and topped with creamy gochujang mayonnaise and tangy pickled slaw, these chicken tacos will satisfy your Korean food cravings. Although we live less than an hour from New York City, we’re sadly deprived of Korean restaurants and grocery stores. So, with just the few Korean ingredients available to me, I’ve created recipes like these tacos, and now we can have delicious, spicy dinners without leaving home.
The Ingredients
- For better taste, try and find a pure sesame oil, as opposed to one mixed with vegetable oil. Sesame oil is expensive, but will last a long time.
- Gochujang sauce can be found in the Asian aisles of some supermarkets, like Stop and Shop.
- Fresh ginger always adds great flavor to food. It can be kept in the freezer, whole, and then taken out whenever you need it. You can also use a half teaspoon of ginger powder, in place of fresh ginger.
- Mirin can also be found in the Asian section of almost every supermarket, but if you don’t have any you can substitute honey.
- Rice Wine vinegar can be found in the Asian section of the supermarket, or in the vinegar section. It’s nice and mild so I like to use it in salad dressings. If you can’t find it, or don’t want to buy it, just use any other white vinegar.
- This recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Before you marinate the chicken, check for little bone fragments that sometimes need to be trimmed away.
How I prepare the Tacos
First of all, please know that if you don’t have time to marinate the chicken, it will still be delicious. Just brush some marinade on both sides of the chicken before you bake it, and then maybe some additional marinade on the chicken before you broil it. In this case, you wouldn’t put the chicken in the marinade, but brush it on, using a clean brush each time, so as not to contaminate the marinade with raw chicken juices.
Secondly, I really love that this chicken is totally hands off while it bakes in the oven. I used the marinating time to make the mayonnaise and slaw, so while the oven baked, I had 30 minutes of “free” time. Of course, being a mom, I used that time not to relax, but to make totchos, which is tater tots topped with taco meat and cheese sauce, since some of my picky eaters “needed” to have them. When I perfect my homemade tater tots, I’ll definitely post that recipe, too. But, in the meantime, I hope you’ll try these very tasty Sesame and Gochujang Chicken Tacos with Pickled Slaw.
Sesame and Gochujang Chicken Tacos with Pickled Slaw
Ingredients
For Sesame and Gochujang Chicken Tacos:
- ¼ cup sesame oil
- ¼ cup gochujang sauce
- 1 tbsp. grated peeled ginger
- 2 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 tbsp. mirin
- 1 tbsp. light corn syrup
- 1 minced shallot
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- ¼ cup sliced scallions
- 1 tbsp. sesame seeds
- 8 flour tortillas
For the Gochujang Mayonnaise:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp. gouchujang sauce
- ½ tsp. sugar
For the Pickled Slaw:
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup thinly sliced green cabbage
- 1 cup thinly slice red and orange peppers
- 1 cup grated carrots
Instructions
For the Sesame and Gochujang Tacos:
- Mix all of the ingredients, except for the chicken, scallions, and sesame seeds, in a large bowl. Add the chicken, stirring until it is well coated with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Spread the chicken out on a large baking sheet, and bake it for 30 minutes, and then broil it until browned. Watch it closely, because it can burn quickly. Take the chicken out of the oven, slice it, and sprinkle it with the scallions and sesame seeds.
- Toast the tortillas in a cast iron pan until they're browned. Fill with chicken, and top with gouchujang mayonnaise and pickled slaw.
For the Gouchujang Mayonnaise:
- Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, and cover and refrigerate until serving time.
For the Pickled Slaw:
- In a large bowl, mix together the vinegar, sugar, and salt.
- Add the vegetables and stir well. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.
