Chef’s ‘perfect Monday night’ taco recipe to use up leftovers

If you find yourself with leftover chicken from your Sunday roast, chef Ollie who shares recipes on his TikTok page @ollie_eats has the perfect dish for a Monday evening dinner. He showed how to transform chicken scraps into his “leftover roast chicken Birria tacos”.

Birria is a Mexican meat stew or soup traditionally made from goat meat but occasionally made from beef, lamb, mutton or chicken. Ollie’s recipe shows how to combine leftover chicken with the flavours of a Birria stew to make easy tacos which are a great option for a family dinner.

“This recipe is absolutely perfect for a Monday night if you’ve got any leftover Meat from the Sunday roast,” he said in a video posted for his audience of 457.2K followers.

The recipe makes use of the entire leftover chicken, including the skin and carcass which can be used to make a broth. Ollie explained: “Remove any of the decent meat and leave to the side.

“Add the carcass and skin into a large pot, then add onion dried ancho chillis, tomatoes, cumin, paprika, bay leaves, and garlic and then boil it for at least a couple hours, topping up the water if needed.

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“Once you’ve built up a decent stock, decant the carcass and then feel free to tweak the flavours.”

Ollie showed how he removes some of the “bitter flavours” by adding a squirt of agave syrup. You can purchase Agave Nectar by the brand The Groovy Food Company from Sainsbury’s for £2.50.

The chef continued: “Get the cooked meat from earlier into a pan and then add some of the stock to flavour the meat. Decant the rest into a small bowl and then add some chopped red onion and coriander.”

Then, it’s time for what Ollie describes as the most “exciting part”. He said: “It’s time to assemble your tacos. Brush some of the consommé onto your taco then fill it with cheese meat onion and coriander

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“Fold in half and then glaze again with the consommé. Your tacos are ready when the cheese is melted and you’ve built up a slight char on the outside.

“Plate them up, rip them up, dip them in the consommé and there you have it.”

Ollie’s recipe has been well received by fans, amassing 65K “likes” at the time of writing, and clocking up over 200 comments from viewers.

One user said: “Always wanted to try these, thanks for sharing.” Another added: “Why do I see these when I’m hungry? They look so good.”

Some commenters were concerned about where they might find certain ingredients, such as the ancho chillis, however, other fans recommended looking in Waitrose or on Amazon.

Ancho chilli paste can be purchased from Waitrose for £1.80, or Sainsbury’s sells ancho chilli flakes for £2.60.

How to make Ollie’s roast chicken Birria tacos

You will need

• One chicken carcass plus approximately one-half of the meat
• One red onion
• Three to four dried ancho chillis
• Two tablespoons of paprika
• Two tablespoons of cumin
• Two garlic cloves
• Two tomatoes
• Coriander
• One tablespoon of tomato paste
• One tablespoon of agave nectar
• Tortillas

Method

Step one: Remove any of the decent meat from the chicken and place it to one side.

Step two: Add the carcass and skin into a large pot, then add onion dried ancho chillis, tomatoes, cumin, paprika, bay leaves, and garlic. Boil the pot for around two hours, topping up the water if needed.

Step three: Adjust the flavour using paprika, bay leaves cumin and any seasoning.

Step four: Place the cooked chicken into a pan and pour over some of the stock.

Step five: Use any stock you may have to create a dip. Pour this into a small bowl and add chopped red onion and coriander.

Step six: Assemble your tacos in a pan, adding cheese, chicken and sauce. Once the outside of the tacos are charred and the cheese is melted, your tacos are ready.