I always try to make recipes for Taco Tuesday but end up posting them a bit too late. No, I will tell you the tale of cheesy baked chicken tacos that ended with burns and a broken tooth. No, that is not a part of a recipe, just a tale of a very unlucky Monday. But don’t worry, these 3 ingredient chicken tacos are lucky, delicious, and easy to make.
It all started with me running all around town trying to find corn tortillas while there was the blizzard of the century outside. Thank god for an off-road car that is my daily transportation. It all ended up with me only finding cornmeal and trying to make tortillas myself. Fast forward a couple of hours later, I burn myself frying the tortillas and a few minutes later I break off an already fractured tooth on one of the tortillas. This whole thing could’ve been avoided if only I had settled for the 50% corn tortillas that were at the store. Oh well. Please do so or use wheat ones, my whole project lasted for a few hours and was only partly worth it.
Let’s not dwell on the negative, because these baked chicken tacos are the best way to use up some of that frozen shredded chicken.
Ingredients
For this recipe, you will need a couple of ingredients. But just a few main ones and some spices.
- Corn tortillas
- Crispy shredded chicken
- Some oregano, paprika, garlic powder, coriander, salt, pepper, and sugar
- Chipotle paste for some heat
- Canned tomatoes
- Grated white cheddar for the cheesy part
- Sour cream or greek yogurt
- Pickled onions for serving
For a full list of ingredients and how to use them, please view the recipe card.
Instructions
These baked chicken tacos are one of the best meals with shredded chicken. I like to make some stock with a whole chicken and then use the meat for other recipes. I usually shred it and end up with a fair amount, depending on the size of the chicken. Making shredded chicken is really easy. You can easily freeze shredded chicken for other recipes and later use. It thaws beautifully and doesn’t lose any of the texture.
First of all, you will heat a pan with the chicken and quickly brown it for a couple of seconds, then add the tomatoes, sour cream, and spices. While stirring this should be cooked for a couple of minutes until the whole thing comes together and the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated and cooked in the meat. After that, just add the cheddar to the pan and mix.
While you are doing that, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and start adding filling to your tortillas. I sprayed some olive oil on the sheet pan under the tortillas and on top as well. A few tablespoons per tortilla will work just fine, it all depends on what size tortillas you have. Since the filling is already cooked, you can go ahead and bake these in the oven for how long you want, just a few minutes for warm, more for crispy.
Variations
Vegetarian – try shredded mushrooms, soy, or plant-based meat.
Spicy – add Cayenne peppers and more chipotle paste to the mix.
Lighter – Skip the cheese and sour cream and serve with some creamy avocado sauce.
I like to serve these with some pickled onions on top which you can either buy or easily make at home. Don’t forget to use some more sour cream for dipping and some avocado on top. You can also serve this with some coleslaw or nothing at all. But one thing you definitely need is a cold beer or lemonade.
Cheesy baked chicken tacos
Ingredients
- Corn tortillas
- 400 g shredded chicken
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1/ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp chipotle paste
- 400 g canned tomatoes
- 250 g grated white cheddar
- 2 tbsp greek yogurt or sour cream
- Pickled onions for serving
Instructions
- In a skillet, add the chicken, spices, tomatoes, and greek yogurt, mix
- Heat for 5 minutes, while stirring until it comes together
- Add in the grated cheese, mix in and remove from heat
- Add about 3-4 tbsp of filling in each tortilla, fold it, and place on a sheet pan
- Spray with olive oil or cooking spray
- Bake at 200C for 5 min each side
- Turn on the broiler for some extra crispiness
- Serve with sour cream, avocados, and pickled onions
Notes
If you are suddenly inspired for taco Tuesday, try these two recipes: