Chipotle Pulled Chicken

Father's Day during a pandemic. Luis still doesn't like it. The tradition holds through COVID. Camila updated "Daddy Song" with a new verse: "My daddy wears a mask now, my daddy still drives the van, my daddy is still my daddy, pandemic or no plan." Factually impeccable. Rhythmically questionable. Emotionally devastating. Luis laughed, which is all a song needs to accomplish.

Luis Jr. gave him the gift that broke him: a flag. A small American flag, folded into a triangle, the military fold, with a card that said: "Dad, this flag flew over my base in the desert. I asked them to fly it for you. You built everything I stand on." The flag flew in the Middle East. Over the base where Luis Jr. served. In the wind and the heat and the dust. And now it is in Luis's hands, in a living room in the Lower Valley, and Luis is holding it and his face is crumpled again, the way it crumpled when he read the letter before the deployment, and the crumpling is the feeling, and the feeling is too big for the face, and the face breaks because the flag is too heavy and too light and too much.

Luis went to the garage. Twenty minutes. Came back with red eyes. The garage ritual. The processing room of Gutierrez men. He put the flag on the mantle, next to the photograph of Rosa and the naturalization certificate that lives at the bakery but that has a copy here too, because some documents need to exist in two places at once, the way some people exist in two countries at once, the way some love exists in both the giving and the receiving at once.

I made cheese enchiladas — Luis's Father's Day dinner, the tradition, the simple food for the simple man. And the simplicity was the grandeur, because in a pandemic, in a house with a recently-returned soldier and four children and a flag on the mantle and a father processing in the garage, simplicity is the kindest choice, and kindness is the only recipe that never needs adjusting.

The enchiladas are the tradition, but this chipotle pulled chicken is the tradition’s soul—smoky and warm and asking nothing complicated from anyone holding a folded flag. That Father’s Day I needed a recipe that could sit quietly on the stove while the house held everything it was holding, something I could shred without thinking, something Luis could eat without having to say a word. Chipotle pulled chicken is that recipe: you build it simple, you let it go, and it shows up exactly when you need it to.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from the can)
1 can (14.5 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn.
Build the sauce. Add the minced chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Stir everything together and bring to a gentle simmer.
Add the chicken. Nestle the chicken thighs into the sauce, making sure each piece is mostly submerged. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 25–30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender enough to shred easily.
Shred and finish. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the skillet, stir it back into the sauce, and squeeze the lime juice over the top. Let it simmer uncovered for 5 minutes to thicken slightly.
Serve. Use as a filling for enchiladas, tacos, burritos, or rice bowls, or serve simply with warm tortillas and whatever the table needs that night.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chipotle Pulled Chicken — The Simplest Kindness for the Hardest Father’s Day