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These crispy Baked Chicken Tacos are stuffed with a tender and flavorful chicken filling that the whole family will love. You can control the spice level, and they only take 30 minutes to make, making them a perfect weeknight meal!
Table of Contents
Taco night shouldn’t be complicated, but it’s nice to have options that stray from your run-of-the-mill ground meat tacos. These baked chicken tacos are a fantastic family-friendly choice. Soft flour tortillas are stuffed with shredded chicken, cheese, veggies, and spices, then baked until the edges are perfectly crisped.
If you’re looking for more easy taco recipes for taco night, I highly recommend these Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos or these super fast Instant Pot Tacos With Ground Turkey, which take a measly 8 minutes to make.
Why You’ll Love Baked Chicken Tacos
- No grease—You get a nice golden crisp taco shell without the mess and extra calories from frying.
- They’re healthy—These tacos are high in protein, especially if you use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the chicken mixture, which works super well. You won’t miss the sour cream, honest.
★★★★★
“We needed a quick recipe with ingredients we had on hand. These baked chicken tacos came in clutch. Even with having to defrost the chicken we had this dinner on the table in no time. The shell was not overly crunchy as to shatter with every bite but had the perfect crisp bite that accompanied the filling perfectly. This will be going into monthly rotation, no questions asked!”
—LAUCHIE
Ingredients
A full ingredient list with exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
- Salsa—I recommend using a jarred chunky salsa for this recipe, as it holds up to being baked and doesn’t result in soggy taco shells.
- Chicken—You can buy pre-cooked and shredded rotisserie chicken meat for this recipe, which makes it super quick, or cook up your own chicken and shred it yourself.
Recipe Variations & Modifications
- Taco seasoning—You can omit the chili powder, cumin, and chipotle powder and use a good homemade taco seasoning, or any packaged taco seasoning.
- Sour cream—I like using plain Greek yogurt in this recipe, instead of sour cream. It’s a healthy choice that offers up some extra protein without messing with the intended flavor.
- Protein—Leftover shredded turkey, pork, or beef would also work in this recipe.
- Salsa—A thicker salsa is required, but you don’t have to stick with jarred. Check out how to make salsa macha! This would be a great modification.
- Jalapeño—Don’t like your food spicy? Omit the hot peppers.
How to Make Baked Chicken Tacos
Full directions can be found in the recipe card below, but here’s the gist of it.
Preheat your oven to 425º F with the rack set in the middle of the oven.
Pop your shredded chicken into a large mixing bowl with the cheese, spices, onions, tomatoes, salsa, jalapeño, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), and a pinch of salt. Mix everything with a large spoon or spatula until the ingredients are well-blended.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly brush some olive oil over it with a pastry brush. Place a soft taco shell onto the parchment and scoop a heaping tablespoon or two of the filling onto one side of the shell. Gently press the filling down a bit and fold the shell over. Press down lightly.
Repeat the same steps for the other tacos, then lightly brush the tops of the folded taco shells with olive oil.
Pop the tacos into the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the tortillas are lightly golden and crisped at the edges. When done, remove the tacos from the oven and let them sit for about 5 minutes to cool. Serve them with salsa, guac, queso, and/or Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
How to Serve Baked Chicken Tacos
Well, first you’re going to make sure you have a refreshing classic margarita in your hand. For sides, these honey lime air fryer sweet potatoes are pure bliss! If rice is more your jam, this Instant Pot Mexican Rice is great. Or just serve them with chips and Texas Caviar!
Storage & Reheating
- Leftovers of your already-baked chicken tacos can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I recommend wrapping them in foil individually before popping them into a container together to prevent sogginess, though they may still be a little soggy. If you know you’re going to be eating some at a later date, store the filling separately, and then proceed with the cooking method as noted in the recipe card.
- To reheat leftover baked chicken tacos, I recommend using an air fryer to try and regain some crisp. Cook them at 350º F for 3 minutes or until heated through. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can heat them in a pan over medium-low heat until warmed through.
Frequently Asked Questions
The best way is to fold soft tortilla shells over your mixture, brush the tortillas with olive oil, and bake on a baking sheet until crispy and cooked through.
No. Covering the tacos would prevent that nice golden crisp we’re looking for.
As long as the chicken is bite-size friendly—that could mean shredded or diced—you’ll be good to go. Chicken thigh meat is known to be more tender than breast meat, but with the right ingredients and cook time, breast meat is delicious
More Yummy Tacos for Taco Night…
If you try these baked chicken tacos, please pop back in and leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Baked Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 8 soft shell tortillas
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
- 1/2 cup minced white onion
- 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chunky salsa
- 1 fresh jalapeño, diced
- 2 TBSP plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- Sea salt
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425º F and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven.
If you're using pre-cooked chicken, skip to Step 3.
- Heat about 1 TBSP of olive oil in a skillet. Season the chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper, and add it to the pan, cooking it until it's fully cooked (with an internal temperature of 165º F), flipping it halfway through. Cooking time will vary depending on the cut of the chicken. I like to use chicken tenderloins since they cook quickly and shred easily; breasts or thighs will take a little longer.
- Once the chicken is fully cooked, transfer it to a cutting board and dab it with some paper towels to remove excess oil. Then, with two forks, shred the chicken.
- Transfer the shredded chicken, cheese, spices, onions, tomatoes, salsa, jalapeño, Greek yogurt, and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl, then mix everything up until the ingredients are well blended.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly brush some olive oil over it with a pastry brush.
- Put a soft taco shell onto the parchment and scoop a heaping tablespoon or two of the chicken filling onto one side of the shell. Gently press the filling down to spread it a bit over half the shell and fold the shell over. Press down on it lightly to secure it; repeat the same steps for the other tacos.
- Lightly brush the tops of the folded taco shells with olive oil.
- Place the tacos into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the tortillas are lightly golden and crisped at the edges.
- When done, remove the tacos from the oven and let them sit for about 5 minutes to cool; serve them with salsa, guacamole, queso, and/or Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
Definitely has a nice flavor profile compared to our standard taco night. It was a welcome change. Super easy to make. We didn’t use precooked chicken so it took a little bit longer.
Next time I’d probably have avocado with it or guacamole.
Will make again.
We just had dinner and I’m so happy! Everyone loved it . I loved how they crisp in the oven. I made 2 separate batches of the chicken filling. Our boys didn’t have the onion, tomato or jalapeno and my husband and I had all of the ingredients. A great dinner to add to our rotation!
These baked chicken tacos were quick and easy to make not to mention plenty of flavour !!!
I recommend these for a quick midweek meal.
I made a couple with gluten free tortillas for my husband and they turned out just as amazing :)
Thank you Dana for the delicious time saving recipes…love it !!
Omg, delicious! We are a big taco family but were getting bored of our usual approach. This was similar enough to our regular recipe that it didn’t scare away the kids for being too “different”, but was different enough from our usual to change things up. Above all, it was EASY! Using a store bought rotisserie chicken had this dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. Immediately added to our regular meal plan.
We needed a quick recipe with ingredients we had on hand. These baked chicken tacos came in clutch.
Even with having to defrost the chicken we had this dinner on the table in no time.
The shell was not overly crunchy as to shatter with every bite but had the perfect crisp bite that accompanied the filling perfectly.
This will be going into monthly rotation, no questions asked!
I’m so so glad you enjoyed these!! I also love that crisp without the shatter. Haha. Thanks so much for popping in with feedback :)