Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
on Feb 20, 2015, Updated Jul 16, 2024
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Well it isn’t taco Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean we can’t end the week eating tacos. Normally we stick to pizza Friday, but not this week! No sir! This week the husband and I will be feasting on these Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa!
These tacos you guys, where do I begin. Well let’s start with the inspiration for them. Last Sunday my husband and I were watching the movie Chef. Have you seen it? If not then you MUST! If you love food, humor, and an overall feel good movie, then it’s definitely worth watching.
I won’t ruin the movie for you, but Cuban food is heavily involved. After seeing all the delicious dishes I got a crazy craving for some Cuban food. There is most definitely nothing near where I live that has anything remotely Cuban so I knew I would be making something.
I didn’t have pork so Cuban sandwiches were out, but I did have some chicken, plenty of citrus, black beans, corn tortillas, and spices galore. So obviously tacos popped into my head! I wanted these tacos to be easy to make, but have lots of flavor.
To keep things easy I made the shredded chicken in the slow cooker. The chicken cooks in there with orange juice, lime juice, cumin, oregano, chili, soy sauce, and some honey for sweetness. Those boring old chicken breasts absorb all the wonderful juices and spices and leave you with deliciously moist and flavorful chicken!
Now let’s talk about these Cuban black beans. Wow! Talk about flavor! So easy to make too since I chose to use canned beans. The beans are flavored with onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, oregano, and a bay leaf. They then get a punch of flavor from a little bit of honey and red wine vinegar. Sounds a little odd, but it tastes incredible!
The finishing touch on these Cuban inspired tacos is the pineapple salsa. So I have a confession. I absolutely love pineapple, but if I eat more than one piece I get a huge stomach ache. It makes me so sad because I love the fruit dearly and sometimes, like with these tacos, I pretend like it won’t affect me. Well, it affected me, but boy was it delicious while I was eating it!
The salsa is super simple and only uses a few ingredients. Pineapple, jalapeño, onion, lime juice, and cilantro. So simple, so fresh, and so good! Eat lots of it for me since my stomach and my mouth have different agendas when it comes to that lovely golden pineapple. Let’s change things up this Friday and instead of the usual pizza make these Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa!
Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Zest of an orange
- Zest of a lime
- 1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari for gluten free
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Black Beans
- 14.5 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup yellow onion diced
- 2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper
- 1 jalapeño seeded and diced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Pineapple Salsa
- 3 cups diced fresh pineapple
- 1 jalapeño seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of a lime
- Salt to taste
- 16 corn tortillas
Instructions
Cuban Chicken
- Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker.
- In a glass measuring cup, whisk together all of the remaining ingredients for the chicken, then pour the mixture over the chicken breasts.
- Cover the slow cooker and set it to cook on low for 4-6 hours depending on the size of your slow cooker and how fast it cooks. When the chicken is cooked through shred it with two forks.
Black Beans
- In a small saucepan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil.
- When the oil is hot add in the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic. Cook the vegetables until they have softened, about 3-5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium low and add in the remaining ingredients minus the red wine vinegar.
- Stir everything together then cover with the lid and let it cook for 10 minutes. Remove the beans from the heat, take out the bay leaf, and stir in the red wine vinegar.
Pineapple Salsa
- In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients for the salsa. Stir together and taste for seasoning. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Assembling the Tacos
- Heat the corn tortillas in the microwave for 20 seconds or place them over the open flame of a gas stove for a more charred taco.
- Place a scoop of the shredded chicken in the tortilla and top with a spoonful of black beans and pineapple salsa.
Notes
More Taco Recipes:
Pork Tenderloin Tacos with Pico de Gallo
Slow Cooker Carnitas Tacos with Apple Salsa
Oh wow! I’m all about Cuban food, this not only looks wonderful but judging by the ingredients is sure to taste good.
Thank you! Cuban food is so fantastic!
These look GREAT! I’m in the middle of a Mexican/Taco obsession right now so this is right up my alley! Thank you for sharing, I’m definitely adding it to my list of things to make, pronto!
Thanks Stephanie! A taco obsession is always a good thing to be in the middle of!
Ok, so when I watched Chef for the first time, is it horrible that I thought something bad was going to happen. I really didn’t think it was going to be as ‘feel good” as it was! I feel like such a horrible person for thinking this! I totally loved the movie though and I adore the fact that you made these tacos afterwards. Yum! Pinned!
I was the same way! I think it’s because almost all movies now seem to have something bad happen, I was so glad when Chef didn’t! Thanks for the pin girl!
These look awesome Danae!! Everything I love in one delicious taco…especially that pineapple salsa. PINNED.
Thanks Aimee! The combination of everything in the tacos is so good together! Salsa is always my favorite part of tacos!
I’ve got Cuban food on the brain! Probably because I just watched Chef. These tacos look great!
Thanks Christina! Watching Chef totally put me in the mood to make some Cuban food!
These look like the greatest tacos ever, I can’t wait for Tuesday!
Thanks Matt! They were pretty awesome. Hope you have a great weekend!
Beautiful tacos! I’ve never tried Cuban black beans, but I’m loving all the flavors (and color from the delicious salsa)!Also, big kudos to you for your photography skills! I have suck a hard time taking a good snap of tacos!
Thanks Patricia! Cuban black beans are wonderful, so much flavor in them. Have a wonderful weekend!