By Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff | Published on June 14, 2026
Serves 16
94 cal · 95 min
Pulled Chicken with Black Beans and Avocado Salsa
Recipe GLPRfba8dbe08532a3
Tender, smoky pulled chicken cooked in a chipotle-barbecue sauce, served with seasoned black beans and refried beans. Topped with a fresh avocado and coriander salsa, crisp lettuce, and lime-pickled onions. Perfect for tacos or serving over rice.
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Ingredients
8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed and trimmed of excess fat
2 tbsp Chipotle paste
250 ml Passata (tomato sauce)
75 g Barbecue sauce
1 Onion, chopped
3 Fresh lime juice from 3 limes, plus lime wedges for serving
800 g Canned black beans, drained and rinsed
215 g Canned refried beans
1 small Ripe avocado, diced
½ small pack Fresh coriander leaves
3 Little Gem lettuces, shredded
8 to 12 Tacos or cooked rice, for serving
Salt and seasoning to taste
200 ml Water
Directions
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan/gas mark 4). Trim the chicken thighs of excess fat and season them with salt. Rub 1 tablespoon of the chipotle paste over all the thighs. In a bowl, combine the remaining 1 tablespoon chipotle paste with the passata, barbecue sauce, 100 ml water, and half of the chopped onion. Pour this sauce mixture into a roasting tin just large enough to fit the chicken thighs in a single layer, then nestle the seasoned thighs into the sauce. Cover the tin tightly with foil and place in the oven for 1 hour.
While the chicken roasts, combine the remaining half of the chopped onion with the fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Set this aside to marinate. Pour the drained black beans and the refried beans into a saucepan, add 100 ml water, and stir well. Leave this on the stovetop ready to heat when the chicken is nearly done.
After 1 hour, remove the foil from the chicken, increase the oven temperature to 200°C (180°C fan/gas mark 6), and return the uncovered tin to the oven for another 20 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and the meat is fall-apart tender.
When the chicken is tender, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool slightly. Using two forks, pull and shred the meat directly into the sauce, discarding all bones. Cover the shredded chicken and sauce with foil to keep warm.
Place the saucepan of beans over medium heat and warm gently for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans are piping hot and the mixture reaches your desired consistency (not too wet). If using tacos, warm them according to package instructions. If serving with rice, ensure the rice is warm and ready.
Gently fold the diced avocado and fresh coriander leaves into the lime-onion mixture, stirring carefully to avoid mashing the avocado.
Assemble the dish by layering shredded lettuce in tacos or on a plate with rice. Top with pulled chicken and beans, then spoon a generous dollop of the avocado salsa on each serving. Serve with lime wedges on the side for squeezing over the top.
Comments
Pulled chicken with black beans and avocado salsa excels on availability and value: all ingredients exist at any Charlotte supermarket with nothing requiring a second stop, and at under $1.25 per serving it's genuinely budget-friendly. The 95-minute time is honest for slow-cooking chicken thighs, which makes this hands-off rather than fussy. Sixteen servings freeze well in the filling form, ready to reheat and assemble fresh, which matters for a weeknight cook who needs a full freezer. The one caveat is that avocado quality on any given week can derail the salsa, and coriander in passata-based sauces sometimes reads as off rather than bright—taste as you build the sauce.
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