Blue cheese crumbles, smokey chipotle sauce, shredded chicken, and red cabbage slaw come together, creating smokey chipotle chicken tacos – a gourmet comfort food.

The Old Mattress Factory.
The inspiration for these smokey chipotle chicken tacos came from a recent trip down to St. Louis, MO for a tour of the Bayer Crop Sciences research campus. On our way to St. Louis, we stopped through downtown Omaha with a few of our growers for supper at The Old Mattress Factory.
If you’ve never been there before, I highly recommend it! As a renovated mattress factory originally built in 1883, there’s plenty of history to go along with your eats! Being a close walking distance to the Rosenblatt Stadium, it’s a popular spot during the summer baseball months. But even during winter months, it’s a poppin’ place for good food, local brews, and great history.

While on my travels through The Old Mattress Factory, I had the grand opportunity to sample their chicken tacos. The chicken tacos at The Matt were absolutely incredible! As a lover of any sort of tacos, enchiladas, etc. it was bound to be love at first site for me.
Crisp agave lime cabbage slaw, combined with queso fresco (a fresh Mexican cheese), chipotle aioli, and pico de gallo, it is a life changing eating experience!
Once I returned home to Holt County, I was excited to try my own hand at replicating this recipe. However, living in north central Nebraska, I often don’t have access to extensive grocery store ingredients. BUT, as my mom taught me, there’s always something you can do to substitute or create your own spin on a recipe with the ingredients on-hand.
So on the quest to create these tasty smokey chipotle chicken tacos, I have simplified this recipe for ingredients that can easily be found in your own local grocery store.

The Instant Pot.
To help in the speed and ease of this colorful, culinary creation, I used my 6-quart Instant Pot. Being a fairly new instant pot user, it amazes me how fast and how much you can do with your instant pot!
With the model of instant pot that I own, I simply add the chicken breasts to the main pot, with chicken broth, and seasonings. With a quick click to the poultry setting on the instant pot, I’m free to walk away and prep the remainder of taco components.
The Smokey Chipotle Chicken Tacos.
With whatever ingredients you may have on hand, or your own preferences, put your own spin on these smokey chipotle chicken tacos.
Bon appetite!
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Smokey Chipotle Chicken Tacos
Equipment
- 6 Quart Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 6 6-inch flour tortillas or corn tortillas
- 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1 lime, cut into quarters
Shredded Chicken
- 2 boneless, chicken breasts
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp Chili powder
- 1-2 tsp lime (or lemon) juice
Red Cabbage Slaw
- 1/4 – 1/3 small red cabbage, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/4 – 1/3 green pepper, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, roughly grated
- 1/2 – 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 -1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp miracle whip or mayonnaise
Chipotle Aioli
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp chipotle in adobo
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup miracle whip can use mayonnaise
Instructions
- Place the two defrosted chicken breasts, chicken broth, and chicken seasonings into inner pot of the 6 qt. Instant Pot.
- Set Instant Pot to Poultry setting, with pressure stopper set to vent. Chicken will cook about 10-15 minutes, depending on how long it takes to get instant pot up to temperature and pressure.
- While chicken is cooking, chop onion, green pepper, and red cabbage and place in mixing bowl. Add grated carrot, salt, ground pepper, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon miracle whip. Add more seasoning, miracle whip, and lemon juice to taste. Mix well.
- For the chipotle aioli sauce: mix the egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, ground pepper, and chipotles in adobo in a food processer; electric would be quickest but a hand processeor also works.
- Once the above ingredients have been mixed well; add in vegetable oil and miracle whip (or mayonnaise) until smooth. Season chipotle sauce to taste.
- After chicken is done, be sure to carefully set the pressure gauge to vent, waiting until all pressure steam has been released. Once released, transfer chicken breasts to a plate and shred with two forks.
- To build tacos: Warm tortilla shells on a skillet over the stove or in the microwave.Spread a tablespoon of sour cream and a tablespoon of chipotle sauce on the tortilla.Place a "handfull" (open to interpretation on the amount) of cabbage slaw on top of sauces. Add shredded chicken on top of cabbage slaw layer. Add blue cheese crumbles, extra chipotle sauce, and mild salsa (if desired).Squeeze a quarter of fresh lime juice on top.
- Bon appetit!
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