Recipe Index

Ingredients

• 8 small tortillas (corn or flour, around 6-inch rounds)
• 3 cups shredded pork carnitas or quick Mexican chicken
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (Monterey Jack suggested)
• 1 1/4 cups corn kernels (fresh, frozen or canned, drained)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, diced (or 2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and diced, about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 shallots or scallions, green part only, sliced
• 1/2 lime, juice only (add more or less to taste)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1.2 lb chicken thigh fillets, skinless and boneless, cut into 3/8-inch slices
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• Pinch of cayenne or chili powder (for heat, adjust to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• 1 lime, juice only
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Sour cream
• Cilantro
• Jalapeños, finely chopped
• Avocado, diced

Method

1. Heat the oven to 350°F before assembling the taco stacks.
2. For the quick Mexican chicken option, combine the sliced chicken thigh fillets with the garlic powder, cumin powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne or chili powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, black pepper, lime juice and every ingredient for the chicken except its tablespoon of olive oil, tossing the meat until the spices coat the slices.
3. Heat that tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat and sauté the spiced chicken until the pieces brown and cook through.
4. Take the Mexican chicken out of its pan and let the meat cool slightly, then chop the chicken roughly into smaller pieces or pull the meat apart with a fork into shreds.
5. If pork carnitas are being used instead, defrost the carnitas if frozen, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat, and fry the carnitas until the underside of the pork turns golden brown without flipping the meat, then lift the carnitas from the pan, scraping up all the browned bits.
6. For the corn and tomato salsa, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over high heat and sauté the corn kernels for a couple of minutes, until the corn chars to your liking, though this charring step can be skipped.
7. Let the corn cool slightly, then toss the kernels with the diced cherry tomatoes, sliced scallion greens, lime juice and salt and pepper to finish the salsa.
8. Lay the corn tortillas directly on the oven shelf and bake the tortillas for 3 to 5 minutes per side, until the rounds stiffen without browning, giving the stacks their structure.
9. Set one stiffened tortilla on a baking tray and scatter a sixth of the pork carnitas or Mexican chicken over the base.
10. Top that meat layer with some of the corn and tomato salsa, reserving a portion of salsa for finishing the stacks, and scatter grated cheese over the salsa.
11. Place a second tortilla on the cheese and repeat the meat, salsa and cheese layering, then add a third layered tortilla the same way, so each stack holds three layers of meat.
12. Cap each stack with a fourth tortilla, either left plain or sprinkled with a little extra cheese, and build the second stack from the remaining four tortillas in the same layered fashion.
13. Bake the assembled taco stacks for about 10 minutes, until the stacks heat through and their cheese melts completely.
14. Lift the baked stacks from the oven and spoon the reserved corn and tomato salsa over the top tortillas.
15. Finish the taco stacks with toppings of choice — sour cream, diced avocado, finely chopped jalapeños and cilantro all suit the stacks — and serve the stacked tacos at once.

Prep: 20 min · Cook: 20 min · Total: 40 min

Nutrition (per serving, where published)

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient data