These copycat Taco Bell Chipotle Chicken Melts, are cheesy, filled with shredded rotisserie chicken and a storebought Chipotle sauce, that’s all wrapped in a tortilla, making these a 4-ingredient recipe.
These cheesy melts are baked and ready in only 15 minutes!
This chipotle chicken melt recipe is great for a school lunch recipe, an easy dinner or even a snack to take to the beach or for a picnic.
Keep the ingredients on hand (you can even boil chicken breasts instead of using a rotisserie chicken) for last minute meals.
Love last-minute easy meal ideas? Make sure to try these Salt & Pepper Chicken Bites and these Texas Toast Pizzas for those nights where you need something quick and can keep the ingredients on hand for.
Chicken Chipotle Melts Highlights
- Quick and Easy: Assembly takes just a few minutes and these copycat melts from the cravings value menu are baked in about 12 minutes for a cheesy treat.
- Control the Spice: The more chipotle sauce that you add, the spicier these melts will get. So if you love a little spice, just a dab will do. If you prefer a lot of spice, add more. You can also sprinkle on a little taco seasoning to give it a little more flavor.
- Family Friendly: These chicken melts are great for the kids and family members of all ages. (Some may prefer these without the chipotle sauce and that’s ok too! They become more like a rolled up chicken and cheese quesadilla by leaving the sauce off and that’s absolutely ok.)
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these copycat Taco Bell Chicken Chipotle Melts.
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Tortillas: You’ll want to use medium flour tortillas to make them as pictured. You can use different sizes and even different types of tortillas (such as corn) if you prefer but they will have a different taste and the portions may very if smaller or larger. You’ll just want to use soft tortillas for these, and if you only have hard shells, you can make these crispy chicken tacos instead.
- Chicken: Don’t have a rotisserie chicken? No problem. Feel free to boil chicken thighs, boil chicken legs, or other types of cooked chicken that you may already have, or make crockpot shredded chicken. Taco Bell’s chicken has a smokey flavor so you can even smoke chicken tenders and chop those up for this recipe to get it even closer.
- Cheese: You can use shredded colby jack or cheddar but I usually just use the feista blend that the store has.
- Chipotle: If you can find the Taco Bell brand of Chipotle sauce, even better! If not, no worries. You can find a chipotle sauce at the store and it should still be delicious. Or, try making this chipotle sauce.
How to Make Chicken Chipotle Melts
TIP: You can adjust how much chicken, creamy sauce and cheese that you put in your melts. The measurements do not have to be exact, and you can do more than suggested. Just be cautious not to add too much sauce for spice and not too much filling, so the tortilla doesn’t roll up properly.
How Long to Bake Chicken Melts: Place baking dish in an oven that’s preheated to 375 degrees, and bake for 12-15 minutes or until it looks like the cheese is melted.
Recipe Tips
- Additional Flavors: Love more flavor? No problem. Mix chicken taco seasoning in with your chicken or sprinkle it on the chicken when making each melt.
- Assembly: When placing your chicken melts in the baking dish, place the tortillas with the flap side, down, so they stay rolled during the baking process.
- Make them Extra: If you’re looking to add more to this recipe, feel free sprinkle more shredded cheese on top of the melts before baking. Or, pour cheese sauce on top and then bake, to make more of a cheesy enchilada type dish.
Storing Tips
- Leftovers: If you have leftover chicken chipotle melts, allow them to fully cool and then store them in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator.
- Freezing: These make the perfect, make-ahead, freezer-meal. Assemble as instructed, and place in a freezer-safe dish or bag and freeze. Simply place in a baking dish and bake until heated through, or microwave. Freezing Tip: Wrap each chicken melt in Glad Press ‘n Seal (or similar), so they can easily be pulled out of the freezer without sticking to one another.
What to Serve with Chicken Chipotle Melts
This Rotel salsa recipe is not only another great recipe that you can keep ingredients on hand for but serving it with chips is a great side dish to serve with these chicken melts.
These stuffed celery sticks are an easy vegetable to serve alongside these melts to get veggies in, or for a warmer side dish, this Elote dip recipe is easy to whip up and pairs with these wonderfully.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Since the ingredients are fully cooked and really only need warming up, these melts can be warmed up in the oven. They’ll have more of a “steamed” tortilla, rather than a toasted texture but that works too.
Chicken, cheese, and Chipotle sauce are wrapped up in a tortilla and warmed so the cheese melts together.
They do taste a little differently than the chicken chipotle melts you get at the fast food change, only because the chicken can be difficult to get the exact same. So the idea of these is to get the same type of outcome, and they’re still a delicious recipe idea.
More Recipes You’ll Love
Love quick and easy chicken recipes like this one? You’ll also love this chicken grilled cheese sandwich recipe, and these crockpot chicken drumsticks.
Recipe
Chicken Chipotle Melts
Ingredients
- 6 medium flour tortillas
- 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken The breasts from a rotisserie chicken
- 6 tablespoons creamy Chipotle sauce I use the Taco Bell brand
- 1 cup shredded fiesta cheese Or shredded Colby or shredded cheddar
Instructions
- Grease an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray or line with parchment paper, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Take one of the 6 medium flour tortillas, and lay it flat. Divide the 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken evenly between the 6 tortillas, and place it on the bottom third of each tortilla. (This is about ¼ cup of shredded chicken, or so. Feel free to add more/less.)
- Next, drizzle about 1 Tablespoon of the 6 tablespoons creamy Chipotle sauce on top of the chicken on each tortilla.
- Divide the 1 cup shredded fiesta cheese between each tortilla, sprinkling it on the chicken and sauce.
- Fold the tortilla, about a third of the way up, just enough to cover the filling and tuck the tortilla under the chicken, and continue rolling the tortilla all of the way up.
- Place the rolled tortillas in the prepared baking dish, with the flap side down so it stays secure in the baking dish. Place the melts, side-by-side, in the baking dish to also help secure them to help stay in place.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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