Crispy Cheesy Chicken Tacos

These baked crispy cheesy chicken tacos have a crispy cheesy crust and are loaded with cheese on the inside. I love adding some homemade salsa crema or avocado lime crema on top and eating them with a side of rice, beans, and salad.

Crispy Chicken Tacos

Want to change up your next Taco Tuesday? Make these delicious crispy cheesy chicken tacos. I like making these on mini tortillas, but they can certain be made on any size tortilla.

I use my homemade chicken taco seasoning blend on 1lb of chicken breast and then cook and dice the chicken ahead of time. You can also use rotisserie chicken if you are short on time, and just quickly combine it with a little bit of store bought taco seasoning to dress it up.

After cooking the chicken you will want to preheat your oven to 375F and then add parchment paper to an XL baking sheet. I got a huge one on Amazon, and it still manages to fit in my oven.

Then, I add 12 smallish mounds of cheese to the parchment paper where the tortillas will go. I flatten the mounds of cheese out a little bit before I add the tortillas. There is no need to spray any oil under the cheese as the cheese has enough fat in it and nothing will stick to the parchment paper.

Afterwards, I lay one tortilla on each mound, followed by a couple of spoonfuls of diced chicken and more cheese. Do not fold them over yet as you will be baking them open faced. I bake them for about 13-15 minutes or until I see the tortilla starting to brown around the edges. Once I remove them from the oven, I add some homemade salsa cream or avocado lime crema, plus a few other toppings.

Salsa crema is just a combination of whatever salsa I have in the house and sour cream, mixed together until smooth. My recipe for avocado lime crema requires a few more ingredients but is silky smooth and really brightens this dish up.

Once you add your toppings, fold over the tortilla and dig in!

What type of Chicken is best for Chicken Tacos?

I absolutely love chicken tacos. I feel like they can be customized so easily and they make such a delicious and quick meal. My two favorite types of chicken to use to make tacos are chopped up chicken breast or ground chicken. Ground chicken has its benefits because of how incredible easy it is to cook. Everyone pretty much knows how to cook ground meat because it is very easy to check to see if the meat is done since it is broken up into small pieces.

When I want to make a more elevated taco, I like to season thinly cut chicken breasts with the seasoning blend below, cook them, let them rest so that all the juices stay inside, and then dice them up. This method creates such juicy and delicious meat and because of that it is definitely my favorite way of cooking it for tacos.

Chicken Tacos Seasoning

Here is my recipe for the BEST homemade chicken taco seasoning. It is so easy to make and so delicious. Use this seasoning on chicken for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or fajitas. You can even double or triple the recipe and store it in your pantry.

The perfect chicken taco seasoning recipe should include salt, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and black pepper. If you have chipotle pepper, you can use that in place of the chili powder and smoked paprika because it is both smokey and spicy. I wanted to make this recipe using chipotle powder but I know more people don’t have that spice laying around. The recipe below is made using spices you most likely already own.

If you want to turn this into a marinade, you can. Add 1 pound of chicken to a container with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Then, add about half of your seasoning to the top of the chicken, turn the chicken over and add the rest of the seasoning to the other side of the chicken.

I like to use these silicone tongs to turn meat. I feel like they have a great grip and are small enough for me to handle them easily in my hands. Once you add all of the seasoning, close the container and store it in your refrigerator. Whenever I marinate meat, I also like to add a little splash of vinegar. Any white vinegar will work here. It just gives the flavor a little added “oomph”. Instead of vinegar, you can add the juice of 1 lime.

Keep the chicken marinating in your refrigerator for a few hours and then take them out of the fridge, add a little bit more oil to the pan, and cook up the chicken.

How to make Crispy Cheesy Chicken Tacos

INGREDIENTS  

Chicken

• 1 lb Thinly Sliced Chicken Breast
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 3/4 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Chili Powder
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Tacos

• 16 oz Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese you can use cheddar, monterey jack, or pepper jack
• 12 mini Flour Tortillas I buy these at Trader Joes. You can also look for Fajita size tortillas

Toppings(optional, but encouraged)

• salsa crema instructions in the notes area
• avocado lime crema instructions in the notes area
• avocado
• sour cream
• tomatoes

INSTRUCTIONS 

Cooking the Chicken

• In a bowl, combine the chicken breast with the spices and olive oil. Mix it around so that all parts are covered.
• In a large saute pan on medium heat, cook each chicken breast for a total of 13 minutes. Flip them over at 6 minutes, so that they finish cooking for the remaining 7 minutes on the other side.
• This part is very important. Let each chicken breast rest on a cutting board for at least 5 minutes before you chop it. This will ensure that the juices stay in the chicken and that your chicken does not dry out. Once they have rested, chop them into bite size pieces.

Assembling the Tacos

• Preheat the oven to 375F
• Add parchment paper to an XL baking sheet.
• Add 12 small mounds of cheese to the parchment paper where the tortillas will go.
• Then, lay a tortilla on each mound, followed by a couple of spoonfuls of diced chicken and more cheese. Do not fold them over yet.
• Cook them in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the bottom of the tortillas is starting to crisp up.
• Once they start to crisp up, remove them from the oven, add some toppings to the inside of the tacos and fold them over. Let them cool down slightly on the baking sheet while folded.

NOTES

I love to top these tacos with either my homemade salsa crema or my homemade avocado lime crema.

Salsa Crema

• Combine 3/4 cup Salsa with 1/4-1/2 cup of Sour cream. Stir until it is smooth and creamy

Having a Taco Tuesday Party? Make these recipes along with some Crispy Cheesy Chicken Tacos:

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tacos

Ground Pork Tacos