Nightshade-Free Chicken Taco Recipe (corn-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)

Ali Segersten Dec 14, 2016 6 comments

I've got an easy, nourishing main dish recipe for you today! These Nightshade-Free Chicken Tacos are super easy to prepare and perfect if you are following an elimination diet, nightshade-free diet, or another special diet such as an autoimmune diet. My children also love this recipe! The chicken taco filling is cooked in a slow-cooker making the prep time less than 10 minutes. I like to serve the taco filling with my Plantain Tortillas (pictured here) or my gluten-free brown rice flour tortillas. The filling is also wonderful served inside of a baked half of a kabocha or delicata squash, topped with greens and sprouts of course!

Use this recipe for Phase 2 of the full Elimination Diet. Not quite sure what an elimination diet is? An elimination diet is a powerful tool to get to the root of most diseases and disorders. Why? Because most disease begins in the gut. The gut has the highest concentration of immune cells, and the most common thing that the immune cells will react to is food.

When you are constantly in pain, moody, and fatigued, your body is inflamed.

In other words, your immune cells are being irritated by something in your environment. What is the most likely suspect that is irritating you? Surprisingly, it’s your food.

Odds are that foods you are eating every day are leaving you sick and tired. How do you find out which ones? The Elimination Diet. This foundational tool of Functional Medicine has been used for centuries to discover which foods are making you ill and which ones can make you feel incredible.

The Elimination Diet is a simple process of removing all potentially problematic foods from your diet until your symptoms subside—usually a few weeks. Then you slowly reintroduce foods back into your diet, one by one, to see which ones bring your symptoms back. By finding the foods that are behind your suffering, you can completely turn your health around and elevate your quality of life. 

If you are curious about trying an elimination diet and not sure where to begin then check out the Elimination Diet book, an excellent tool that walk you through each step of the elimination diet.

What if this new tool helped you to become a better you?

A lighter, more energetic, happier you! That's what doing an elimination diet is all about.

While on an elimination diet, you'll find that many of the foods you are accustomed to eating every day are off limits. You'll get to experience new flavors and new foods that promote healing at the cellular level. And you can start right now with these nightshade-free chicken tacos.

Recipe from our Meal Planner

Nightshade-Free Chicken Tacos

Servings
6
Cook Time
4 hours
Prep Time
20 minutes

This recipe is designed for your slow cooker and takes just minutes to prepare! You can put it together in the morning then set your slow cooker to low and you will have a meal ready when you get home from work. Use Plantain Tortillas, Homemade Brown Rice Tortillas, or fresh collard greens for your taco shells. I initially created this recipe using pure, unsweetened pomegranate juice, but now prefer to use unsweetened 100% tart cherry juice. I like the bolder, tarter flavors that the cherry juice provides. You just need to make sure you are buying 100% tart cherry juice and not a mix of cherry and apple juices. Although my original recipe (which can be found in the Elimination Diet book) uses garlic and onions, I don't even add them anymore. The end result is just as good!

Ingredients

Chicken Taco Filling

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts (or boneless chicken thigh)
1½ cups organic tart cherry juice (or pure pomegranate juice)
1 small onions cut into half moons (optional)
3 cloves garlic crushed (optional)
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons Herbamare (or sea salt)
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Other Ingredients

gluten-free tortillas
collard greens (to use as a tortilla if desired)
thinly sliced napa cabbage (or romaine lettuce)
sliced avocados
shredded carrots
chopped cilantro
Directions
  1. Place all ingredients for the chicken taco filling into a 3-quart slow cooker.
  2. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours.
  3. Then remove the chicken from the slow cooker and place onto a plate.
  4. Use two forks to shred the chicken, then place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and mix into the juices.
  5. Let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes more.
  6. To assemble the tacos, place a scoop of the shredded chicken into the center of each tortilla or collard green, then add a small handful of napa cabbage or lettuce, a few slices of avocado, and a spoonful of lacto-fermented vegetables if desired!

Use this recipe in our Meal Planner

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Posted In
autoimmune chicken crockpot recipe elimination diet grain-free nightshade-free nut-free paleo phase 2 plantains tacos recipe
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About the Author

Alissa Segersten, MS, CN

Alissa Segersten, MS, CN, is the founder of Nourishing Meals®, an online meal-planning membership with over 1,800 nourishing recipes and tools to support dietary change and better health. As a functional nutritionist, professional recipe developer, and author of The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, Nourishing Meals, and co-author of The Elimination Diet, she helps people overcome health challenges through food. A mother of five, Alissa understands the importance of creating nutrient-dense meals for the whole family. Rooted in science and deep nourishment, her work makes healthy eating accessible, empowering thousands to transform their well-being through food.

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Comments

Sarah (visitor) Jun 19, 2017 | 10:13pm

This recipe was delish! It looked way too simple to be good, but it was amazing. Thank you.

Alex (visitor) Dec 27, 2016 | 8:08am

Gearing up for beginning this elimination test next week! I know the power of it, I did it once fifteen years ago when healing from fibromyalgia. Now it is time again, after slipping back into terrible eating, and getting my husband to do it too. Hoping it will help his allergies and sinus trouble. (If we can't get his nasal breathing open, he can't try a CPAP for apnea.)

Thank you so much for this site and the free recipes! It is encouraging, unlike all the depressing sites that only say what not to eat.
Thank you for this recipe! I have to test nightshade, as those are my most craved foods. And husband is allergic to raw potatoes and carrots. Easy substitution here with fermented carrots instead of raw. And thank you for saying you can just leave out onions and garlic. I have a sensitivity to these! ! So will have to adapt all recipes that include them. It will probably take months, if ever, for that one to go away. :-( I hate not being able to eat such powerful healthy food, that is a base for so many recipes.
Do you have any recommendations for flavor boosters when these are left out? Just bump up the other spices?

Hi Kate,

Yes! You can add all of the ingredients into an ovenproof dish with a lid....I prefer to use LeCreuset pots for this (enamel-lined cast iron pots). Just pop in the oven at 300 degrees F for 3 to 4 hours, then shred chicken with two forks, and then either simmer on the stove on low for about 10 minutes or place back into the oven for 10 to 20 minutes, and then serve. :)

Kate (visitor) Dec 15, 2016 | 11:53am

Any tips for modifying this to the oven?

Hi there,

You can find the Plantain Tortilla recipe on page 357 of my Nourishing Meals book: http://amzn.to/2hPpU6M

AND

In an Elimination Diet cooking video series I did that you can sign up to watch here: https://wholelifenutrition.net/articles/elimination-diet

The tortilla recipe is grain-free, nut-free, and vegan. Enjoy! :)

Anonymous (visitor) Dec 14, 2016 | 4:44pm

Plantain tortilla recipe?

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