Weekly dinners at Casa Meyers can be a challenge with juggling the family schedule, and I try to keep things as easy as possible, including cleanup (my least favorite part). Some kind of Mexican food is on our menu every week, and it’s always a favorite for our boys. For our latest Mexican meal we made grilled chicken sliders flavored with chipotle powder and served the shredded meat topped with mango avocado salsa on whole wheat slider buns, and also made a slaw with chipotle vinaigrette. I played around with the salsa recipe a bit, trying it with and without jalapenos, and we decided the jalapenos made it way too hot.
Though it sounds like a lot of food to make in a short amount of time, when everyone in the family takes on a part of the work, it comes together in about 30 minutes. The kids can help with the salsa and slaw and an adult can take over working on the chicken.
Make sure to visit The Kids Cook Monday for more recipes to cook with your kids.
Recipe Notes
I now use gluten free bread or buns for these sliders.
How Adults Can Help the Kids
- Demonstrate and assist with any tasks that might be new: juicing limes, cutting mango and avocado, seeding bell pepper, measuring, stirring, pouring, chopping.
- Assign the simpler tasks, such as mixing the vinaigrette and washing and drying the vegetables, to the younger kids, and save the more challenging tasks for the older kids and adults.
Safety Tips
- Make sure an adult is present at all times.
- Young children should not handle sharp knives unattended. Make sure an adult or older child or teenager works at the stove.
Grilled Chicken Sliders with Mango Avocado Salsa and Mexican Slaw
Equipment
- grill pan
- medium bowl
- large serving bowl
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder (or chili powder)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 8 gluten-free buns or rolls (or slider buns)
Salsa
- 1 mango (peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks)
- 1 avocado (pitted, peeled, and cut into ¼-inch chunks)
- ½ red onion (diced)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 2 limes (juiced)
Slaw
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 bell pepper (seeded and diced)
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- ½ red onion (diced
)
Vinaigrette
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 limes (juiced)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce (more or less to taste)
Preparation
Chicken
- Stir the ground pepper, chipotle powder, and salt in a small bowl, then rub it all over each chicken thigh. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat, then coat with cooking spray. Grill the chicken thighs until done, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and allow to cool for about 2 minutes, then shred the meat.
Mango Salsa
- In a medium bowl, stir together the mango chunks, avocado chunks, diced red onion, and cilantro. Seed the grilled jalapeño, then mince the skin and toss with the other salsa ingredients. Sprinkle the juice of the limes over the salsa and toss.
Slaw
- Whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, hot sauce, and salt. In a serving bowl, toss the vinaigrette with the cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, and red onion.
- Mound the chicken on each of the slider bun bottoms, add some salsa, then the bun tops. Serve with the slaw on the side.
Nutrition
More Kids Cook Monday Recipes
For the complete list of The Kids Cook Monday recipes, visit my Cooking with Kids page.
Karen Martinez says
Thank you so much for this post. My daughter walked up to the computer as I was reading this and asked if she could help me make the salad. Next thing you know I had both my 5 and 2 yr old washing veggies and tearing up lettuce for our slaw. They had fun prepping and then mixing after I was done chopping all the veggies. And they didn't forget about the bread. The oldest made herself an actual sandwich out of the salad. The baby ate them separately and couldn't get enough. What a fun night. Thank you!!!
Andrea says
That's wonderful, Karen! I'm so glad you had fun cooking with your children.
Jenny @ BAKE says
It's great to see kids with such a healthy varied diet! I wish my Mom had made food like this for me when I was younger