Crispy Chicken Tacos: Crunchy tacos, baked on a baking sheet, using chicken, shredded cheddar cheese, lime juice, and chicken taco seasoning to make the most delicious crunchy chicken tacos. It’s a 30-minute or less dinner that you’ll want to add to your meal plan rotation!
Love crispy tacos? If so, you’ll also want to make sure to try these fried tacos soon too!
We love a good taco recipe on taco night and these easy crispy chicken tacos are by far one of our favorites. These chicken street tacos and fish finger tacos are other easy recipes that your whole family will love too! Or, if you’re looking for healthier recipes, these 21-Day Fix chicken tacos are a great option, or you can even make a taco salad with Catalina dressing to get in some greens.
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Why This Recipe Works
- A nice change from beef: Ground beef tacos are delicious but switching things up by using chicken, is a wonderful change every once in a while. You can use any ground beef for this walking taco casserole this week!
- They’re baked: When the chicken and cheese are baked in to the crispy shells, it creates an amazing warm combo of flavors!
- Ready in about 15 minutes: With just a few minutes to prep the chicken taco meat, fill the shells, and then bake… these tacos are ready for toppings in about 15 minutes; perfect for weeknight dinners.
Ingredients Needed
- Cooked Shredded Chicken – We love boiling boneless, skinless chicken thighs to use for a lot of different chicken recipes but especially this one. You can cook your own slow cooker shredded chicken ahead of time, or even use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (then you can even use the bones to make a rotisserie chicken broth), cooked chicken breasts, or your favorite type of chicken.
TIP: Cook extra chicken so you can also make these chicken fajita wraps and these Chicken Chipotle Melts, soon!
- Lime Juice – you don’t have to put this in the recipe but it’s absolutely encouraged. It adds the perfect hint of tang for a delicious Mexican dish.
- Taco Seasoning – you can use a packet of store-bought taco seasoning but we absolutely love using 3 Tablespoons of this homemade chicken taco seasoning recipe.
- Avocado Oil – to help the seasoning cling to the chicken, oil is recommended.
- Shredded Cheddar – we love using the Mexican-style blend cheeses for this recipe.
- Crunchy Taco Shells – the store-bought shells are perfect for this recipe, however, you’re more than welcome to bake your own corn tortillas.
- Taco Toppings – top your tacos with your favorite toppings, such as lettuce, Rotel Salsa, salsa verde, corn salsa, more cheese, sour cream, black olives, black beans, jalapeno ranch dressing, chunky guacamole, green chiles, fresh cilantro, hot sauce.
Substitutions
Sometimes substitutions are necessary because of ingredients that are unavailable or needed for dietary restrictions. Here are some suggestions that can help:
- Cheese – you can use shredded cheddar, monterey jack, pepper jack, or your favorite melty cheese.
- Meat – you can use ground chicken, ground beef, venison, seafood, or your favorite type of meat that you have on hand! Or, these shredded beef tacos in the slow cooker are a great option too!
- Oil – you can use olive oil instead of avocado oil if you prefer.
Equipment
A rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper is ideal for baking in the oven but you could use a baking dish if needed. You can also use a small toaster oven as well.
How to Make Crispy Chicken Tacos
Making this chicken taco recipe is so easy, with just a few steps!
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
If you already have the pre-cooked chicken, preheat your oven to 325°F. If you still need to cook your chicken, do this prior to preheating and prepping the tacos.
STEP 1. Prep Baking Sheet. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, that’s large enough to fit 10 tacos.
STEP 2. Make seasoned chicken. Coat the cooked chicken with oil, lime juice, and taco seasoning (Image 1). Stir until combined and seasoning is mixed in with the chicken, as evenly as possible (Image 2).
STEP 3. Fill tacos. Fill the taco shells with about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture, and sprinkle about a Tablespoon of shredded cheese on top of the chicken filling. Arrange tacos on a baking sheet in a single layer. (Image 3).
Tip: Propping the tacos up on one another, making the first row lean against the rim on the baking sheet can help start the propping-up process. Propping them up will help the cheese and chicken mixture stay inside of the shells while baking.
STEP 4. Bake. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake at 325° for about 6-7 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the shells are golden brown (Image 4).
STEP 5. Enjoy. Enjoy the tacos as they are, or top them with your favorite toppings!
Recipe Pro Tips
- Add toppings as you go. In case there are leftovers, it’s best to top the tacos with your favorite toppings when you’re going to eat them. This is better for reheating or to help prevent the tacos from getting too soggy from wet ingredients.
- Serve at a party. Serving baked tacos at a party is a great way to feed a crowd! Bake them in advance, serve them at a taco bar or fiesta party, and let your guests top them with their favorite toppings!
Recipe FAQs
Baking crunchy taco shells in the oven will give you a crispy taco, and is our favorite way to make them.
If you have leftover crunchy tacos, sometimes they can become soft when chilled from the moisture. Reheat crunchy tacos in the air fryer to get them crispy again.
Popular sides to serve with chicken tacos are this pico de Gallo recipe, cowboy queso, rotel dip, hot taco dip, cold taco dip, Spanish rice, and this elote dip recipe.
Storage
If you have leftover baked chicken tacos, store them in an airtight container or a sealable, plastic bag, and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you love easy Mexican recipes like this one, then you’ll also love these:
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Crispy Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 10 crunchy taco shells
- 2½ cups cooked, shredded chicken
- 6 ounces shredded Mexican-style cheese Or about ½ -1 cup shredded cheese
- 1 packet taco seasoning Or 3 Tablespoons of this homemade chicken taco seasoning.
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil
- Your favorite toppings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine cooked, shredded chicken with taco seasoning, lime juice and oil. Stir until combined and chicken is coated with seasoning mixture.
- Begin filling crunchy taco shells with about ¼ cup of chicken mixture, and then top with about 1 Tablespoon of shredded cheese.
- Line baking sheet with tacos, in a single layer.
- Bake at 325°F for 6-7 minutes or until cheese is melted and shells are a deep golden brown.
- Top with your favorite toppings if desired, and enjoy!
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.
Jamie says
Loved these crispy tacos! So easy to make! The kids all loved them!
Melissa says
Delicious – your recipe was a hit with my family. Definitely adding it to our weekly rotation and meals.
April says
I love a good chicken taco. These were so easy to put together and everybody loved them!