Megan Lavin was weathering the typical worries and challenges of her first born when she noticed that her son, at just a couple months old, showed his first signs of food allergies while breastfeeding. By 11 months old, she had to rush him to the emergency room in full-blown anaphylaxis. It was then that she began experimenting and developing her own allergy-friendly recipes. She hoped to find a way for all of her family to eat the same meal at dinner and to truly enjoy it.

Now a mom of three and founder of the blog Allergy Awesomeness, Lavin wrote An Allergy Mom’s Lifesaving Instant Pot Cookbook filled with 60 flavorful recipes free of the top eight allergens. No one will feel deprived of flavor with this chicken taco recipe from the book. It cooks up quickly, even with frozen chicken, in an electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot. The finished chicken is so versatile you can use it on a summer salad, rice bowl, tostada, or, if dairy isn’t an issue, in a quesadilla.

Chili Lime Chicken Tacos

Serves 4

“The punch from the limes and the flavor from the salsa verde make this a taco night to remember! Besides the ease of store-bought salsa verde, I also created this recipe with frozen chicken breasts in mind to really help for that busy weeknight meal.” —Megan Lavin

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 4 frozen chicken breasts (about 2 lbs.)
• ¹/³ cup salsa verde
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• Zest of 2 limes
• Juice of 2 limes (about ¼ cup)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp.)
• Warmed corn tortillas, for serving

Optional toppings:

• Cooked rice
• Guacamole
• Tomatoes
• Fresh cilantro
• Chopped lettuce
• Pico de gallo

Instructions:

1. Place your olive oil, chicken, salsa verde, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, salt, and lime zest in your Instant Pot. Close the lid and push the valve to sealing. Use the pressure button to set your Instant Pot to high pressure. Hit manual and use the plus and minus buttons to reach 25 minutes.
2. After the timer is done, move the valve to venting to quickly release the pressure.
3. Open the lid and shred the chicken. Stir in the lime juice and garlic.
4. Serve on warmed corn tortillas with your choice of toppings. Don’t forget the guac!

Note: “You’ll notice that I add the garlic after the other ingredients are done cooking, so that it’s not muted and fresher, because it should be strong in this recipe. If you’d rather put it in all at once, it just won’t be as strong but won’t ruin the recipe.”

Reprinted with permission from An Allergy Mom’s Lifesaving Instant Pot Cookbook by Megan Lavin, Page Street Publishing Co. 2019.

No Instant Pot?

You can also make these in a slow cooker, it will just take a bit longer. Put everything except the lime juice and garlic in the slow cooker, add ½ cup broth and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken, add the lime juice and garlic. Serve.