Quick Look: Baked Crispy Chicken Tacos
- ✔ Ready In: About 30 minutes
- ✔ Cooking Method: Oven baked (no frying!)
- ✔ Protein: Shredded chicken or rotisserie chicken (shredded pork works great too)
- ✔ Tortillas: We tested both and love corn tortillas the best here
- ✔ Texture: Golden, crispy tortillas with a cheesy chicken filling
- ✔ Perfect For: Easy weeknight dinners and Taco Tuesday
- ✔ Serve With: Guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, sour cream, and fresh lime
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Looking for More Taco Recipes?
If you love tacos as much as we do, you definitely need to try our Blackstone Chicken Tacos or the Grilled Steak Elote Tacos!
Key Ingredients + Substitutions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- extra virgin olive oil – brushing a little on the tortillas helps to give them the perfect crispness. Feel free to sub avocado oil.
- garlic and sweet yellow onion – classic flavor starters that are always a must!
- shredded chicken – there are so many great ways to quickly cook up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts to easily shred or pick-up a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store.
- taco seasoning – we always have some of our homemade taco seasoning on hand or you can grab a store-bought taco seasoning packet.
- refried beans – love spreading a thin layer of refried beans for the added flavor and protein.
- corn tortillas – option to use another tortilla but these are our favorite tortillas to use!
- colby jack cheese – that ooey gooey melty cheese is a must in any great taco recipe.
How To Make Baked Crispy Chicken Tacos
Step 1: Heat up a large skillet to a medium-high heat, drizzle in the olive oil, & sauté the garlic and onion. Then add the shredded chicken and taco seasoning. Mix it all together to fully combine.
Step 2: Now wrap the stack of corn tortillas in a thin, clean kitchen towel or paper towels and place in the microwave to warm.
Pro Tip: How To Make Shredded Chicken
There are so many different ways to easily turn boneless skinless chicken breasts into tender shredded chicken! We have a complete tutorial on 3 ways to cook and shred chicken – stovetop, slow cooker, or Instant Pot shredded chicken. This can easily be done on a Sunday to meal prep a lot of chicken to be used all week long!
Step 3: Place those warm tortillas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and lightly brush on some olive oil. On one side of the taco shells, spread some warmed refried beans, chicken filling, and sprinkling of cheese.
Step 4: Gently fold tortillas over the filling ingredients and top with more shredded cheese. Bake all of the tacos at 450 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. To make them extra crispy you could place them under the broiler for 1-2 minutes, but watch carefully.
Step 5: Serve the crunchy chicken tacos immediately with all of your favorite toppings!
Tips for Perfectly Crispy Chicken Tacos
- Brush the tortillas with oil. A light coating helps them bake up golden and crispy.
- Don’t overfill the tacos. Too much filling can keep the tortillas from crisping and make them difficult to fold.
- Use freshly shredded cheese. It melts more evenly and helps create delicious crispy edges.
- Bake at a high temperature. A hot oven (450°F) crisps the tortillas while warming the filling.
- Serve right away. These tacos are crispiest fresh out of the oven, though leftovers can be reheated in the oven or air fryer to crisp them back up.
Toppings: How To Serve Crispy Chicken Tacos
These delicious crispy tacos are all about the toppings and we suggest piling on as many as you can, because they are all amazing. We highly suggest some shredded lettuce, easy blender salsa, fresh homemade guacamole, dairy-free sour cream, sliced jalapeños, cilantro lime sauce for tacos, cotija cheese, pico de gallo, fresh cilantro, and lime wedges for a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Recipe FAQs
We kept the chicken for these tacos pretty basic, but salsa verde chicken, slow cooker salsa chicken, or even smoked pork carnitas would also be amazing!
We love a classic colby jack cheese for these crunchy tacos, but you could also use Mexican shredded cheese, cheddar cheese, dairy-free cheese, etc.
For the crispiest tacos, lightly brush both sides of the tortillas with oil, avoid overfilling them, and bake in a fully preheated 450°F oven. Shredding your own cheese also helps create crispy, golden edges since it melts more evenly than pre-shredded cheese.
Absolutely! Rotisserie chicken is a great shortcut and makes this recipe even faster. Simply shred the cooked chicken and toss it with the seasonings before filling the tortillas. It’s also a great way to use up leftover grilled or roasted chicken.
Either works well, but they give slightly different results. Corn tortillas become crispier and have a more traditional taco flavor, while flour tortillas stay a bit softer and are easier to fold. Use whichever your family prefers.
These tacos are best served fresh since that’s when they’re at their crispiest. If you want to prep ahead, you can make the chicken filling in advance and assemble the tacos just before baking.
Reheat leftover tacos in a 375°F oven or an air fryer until they’re heated through and crispy again. Microwaving works in a pinch, but the tortillas won’t stay as crisp.
Other Chicken Taco Recipes You Might Like
Made this recipe and loved it?!
We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- ½ yellow onion, minced
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
- 1 batch taco seasoning, (homemade taco seasoning or 1 packet store-bought)
- 1 cup refried beans
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 cup colby jack cheese, freshly shredded
Topping Suggestions:
- sour cream, regular or dairy-free sour cream
- salsa
- fresh homemade guacamole
- shredded lettuce
- jalapeño, sliced
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 450℉. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Chicken Mixture: Bring a large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Swirl to coat the pan. Add 1 teaspoon garlic and move around pan until fragrant. Add onion and move around pan until softened. Add cooked, shredded chicken and taco seasoning. Stir to combine and continue to move chicken around until it's warmed through. Remove from heat.
- Warm Beans + Tortillas: Add 1 cup refried beans to a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring as-needed. Wrap tortillas in a thin, clean kitchen towel. Place in microwave and warm. Keep warm while you assemble tacos.
- Make Tacos: Taking the warmed tortillas one by one, rub a bit of olive oil over each side and then lay down on the parchment. Spread some refried beans on half (a thin layer), top with some shredded chicken mixture, and then some shredded cheese. Fold the other side over gently and top with a little more cheese. (The oil and warmth of the tortillas will help them from cracking, but some cracking is still normal!). Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Bake: Place in the oven, middle rack, to bake for approx. 10-15 minutes. Feel free to finish with 1-2 minutes under the broiler if you want – just watch very carefully.
- Serve: Enjoy with your favorite toppings!
Notes
- Serve Immediately – for best results you want to serve these right away. They don’t keep very well in the fridge and will get a bit soggy/lose their crispiness if stored.
- Make it a Meal: serve with some steamed broccoli for an easy, no-fuss side dish and maybe some Mexican street corn salad for something fun!
- Nutrition Info does not include the optional toppings.
Thomas Hmielewski says
Baking these instead of frying them gives the tacos a great crunch without the extra cleanup. I used shredded chicken I already had in the fridge, and dinner came together in no time. Perfect for a busy weeknight.
Christina says
The cheese on the outside was crazy good. This will definitely be a regular here, thank you!
Erin says
Thanks, Christina!
Amy Woods says
I made these tacos last week and they were delicious. We will definitely be making them again. They were quick and easy and I liked them so much more than in a soft taco shell. Thank you for all your delicious recipes.
Aly says
Made these for dinner last night and they were so good! Came together very easily which is perfect for a weeknight (or any night really). They’ll definitely be on the rotation.
Erin says
Awesome to hear, Aly!!
Stephanie says
Very tasty and very easy to make. We will be making it again!
Erin says
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed them, Stephanie!
Kelly Buesgens says
These were delicious! My daughter who doesn’t like corn tortillas ate 3 of them. This is a nice gluten free meal that I can make and everyone enjoyed. Will be making these again.
Erin says
Awesome to hear, Kelly! So glad you guys enjoyed them!