Oven Chicken Tacos
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Baked Chicken Tacos are an easy and flavorful weeknight dinner. Made with slow-cooked shredded chicken and tasty taco seasoning, this will become a family favorite and you’ll be wanting to make these tacos every Taco Tuesday!
We absolutely LOVE tacos at my house, so I’m always trying to come up with different taco recipes for our weekly taco nights. This recipe is so easy to make and absolutely delicious!
If you’re looking for a healthy taco recipe, check out my Blackened Shrimp Tacos. They’re wrapped in lettuce wraps, and just so refreshing!
These Oven Chicken Tacos are the perfect weeknight dinner
The best part of this baked chicken tacos recipe is that these are perfect for busy individuals. They’re made with just a few ingredients and only take about 15 minutes to make.
The chicken is made in the slow cooker, so you can go about your business throughout the day without having to worry about watching your food while it’s cooking. Shredded chicken makes the perfect filling for the best tacos.
Want more easy recipes? Give one of these Simple 5 Ingredient Recipes a try!
Oven Baked Chicken Tacos ingredients
- Chicken: for this recipe, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. If you’re in a pinch, you can use a rotisserie chicken instead.
- Onions: you will need a small white onion.
- Taco seasoning: what’s a taco without taco seasoning? It’s the easiest way to season the chicken and really packs in the flavor.
- Cheese: for this recipe, I used shredded Monterey jack cheese because it melts perfectly into the taco shells and provides a contrasting buttery flavor to the taco seasoning. Melty cheese is a great way to make sure your tacos don’t fall apart!
- Tortillas: I made my baked chicken tacos with corn tortillas, but you can use flour tortillas if you prefer those.
*For a detailed list of instructions, ingredients and measurements, please reference the recipe card down below.
How to make baked tacos
Baked chicken tacos come together in 4 easy steps:
1. Cook the chicken. Place the chicken breast, sliced white onion, and taco seasoning in the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on low.
2. Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred using two forks. Shredded chicken is the perfect filling for tacos.
3. Assemble the tacos. Preheat the oven to 425° F. You will need two baking sheets or work in batches. Lay 6 corn taco shells on a sheet pan or baking dish. Cover each taco shell with some shredded cheese, and place 2 Tbsp of the shredded chicken mixture on one side of each taco.
4. Bake the Tacos. Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for 4 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Remove the tacos from the oven and fold each taco in half and press down lightly so the tacos stay folded. Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes for crispy taco shells.
5. Serve the tacos. Add mango pineapple salsa, chunky salsa, or avocado salsa to complete the tacos and serve!
Oven Chicken Tacos variations
This chicken tacos recipe is completely customizable! Replace the chicken breast with your favorite fillings, such as ground beef, shrimp, beef, or thinly sliced steak, and use flour tortillas or lettuce wraps, instead of corn tortillas. You can use a Mexican cheese blend for a variation instead of Monterey jack cheese.
You can also use any leftover chicken you have in the fridge for these tacos. Just heat up the chicken on a skillet with olive oil and the taco seasoning before assembling the tacos.
Add your favorite toppings, like hot sauce, sour cream, cilantro lime crema, taco sauce, lettuce, cilantro, diced tomatoes, or jalapeños. Instead of serving beans on the side, you can add a tablespoon of beans into your taco before baking.
You can also add jalapeños, green chiles, or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to the slow cooker with the chicken to maximize the spice and flavors while everything is getting cooked. Splash some lime juice on the meat once it’s done cooking for a tangy flavor to compliment the spice.
How to serve this Baked Chicken Tacos Recipe
My favorite way to eat tacos is to serve them with chips and salsa. Other great side dishes are cilantro-lime rice, black beans, or traditional refried beans. A salad, like this Avocado Corn Salad would accompany these tacos perfectly, and so would my Jalapeño Creamed Corn.
Baked Tacos Recipe Storage
- Store your leftover tacos in an airtight container after they’ve cooled down to room temperature. They can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
- How to reheat tacos: reheat your tacos in the oven at 350 F for 8-10 minutes or until heated through. You can also reheat them in the air fryer at 325 F for 3-5 minutes.
Oven Chicken Tacos FAQs
If you’ve made baked tacos before, you know it can be difficult to keep them from falling apart while baking in the oven. The best way to make sure the tacos don’t fall apart is to cover the taco shells with shredded cheese and bake them flat before adding the meat.
Melting the cheese before filling the tacos will help keep them together while they bake and after they’re finished.
Chicken taco meat is called pollo, which is a popular taco filling. The pollo filling is made by slow-cooking whole chicken breasts with vegetables of your choice and in a marinade and cutting or shredding the chicken once it’s cooked.
You’ll probably want about 1/4 of a pound of chicken per person.
This recipe calls for 2 chicken breasts, which is about 1 pound and it makes 15 tacos.
Check out these Cinco de Mayo recipes for more Mexican-inspired dishes.
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Oven Chicken Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 24 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 15 corn tortillas
Optional toppings
Instructions
- Place the chicken, sliced white onion, and taco seasoning in the slow cooker. Cook for 4 hours on low.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred using two forks.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Lay 6 corn taco shells on a baking sheet and cover with shredded cheese – you will need to use two baking sheets or work in batches. Place 2 tbsp of shredded chicken on one side of each taco.
- Place the baking sheet to the oven and cook for 4 minutes. The cheese should be completely melted.
- Remove the tacos from the oven and fold each in half and press down lightly to ensure the tacos stay folded. Place the tacos back in the oven and cook for 5 minutes.
- Serve with pineapple salsa or chunky salsa.
