Baked Chicken Tacos

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Say olé to a fast, fun and festive meal you can make at home for Cinco de Mayo. It doesn’t get any better than a big plate of crunchy crisp tacos. Served piping hot from the oven, this Baked Chicken Taco recipe is easy to make and perfect for a party. Made with shredded chicken, taco seasoning, and shredded cheese, you just mix, stuff, and bake. Prep it in just 10 minutes, bake it for another 10, and in 20 minutes you’ve got a party.

I’ve made and served tacos so many ways – in a skillet, as a dip, soft, crunchy, street-sized, wrapped in lettuce, baked in a cast iron pan, as a salad – but I’ve never made them like this. Lined up in both directions, filling a big 13- by 9-inch baking dish, this is a serve ‘em all at once, family-friendly way to go. The ingredient list is short and the prep is quick, but the big sell of this recipe is the finished product: all your tacos bake in one big dish, so everyone can just enjoy. Crunchy, a little spicy, and topped with melted cheese, these are de-lish! 

While you’re at the store, go ahead and buy 2 packages of taco shells. You never know if you are going to end up with a package that has broken ones, and you want to fit as many as you can into your baking dish. You can buy the kind that stand up, but honestly you don’t need to. Fitting them snugly into your dish helps to keep them all standing nicely. 

Start by arranging a row of shells down the middle of your baking dish (7 or more will fit this way), then fill in the space on both sides with shells placed in the opposite direction. When I baked my taco shells for the initial 5 minutes, they mysteriously shrunk, leaving space for a few more in the dish. I fixed this by heating two more shells in the oven while I was filling my tacos, then added them into the middle row to use up all the space. 

Make your filling by mixing the seasoning ingredients for your chicken in the bottom of your bowl. This ensures a nice even mix that you can then add the chicken to and evenly coat. You can even make the filling ahead of time and keep it refrigerated until you are ready to use. I used rotisserie chicken for super speedy prep, but you can also make these with your own chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, your favorite plant-based filling, or even just prepared beans.

Make your own homemade taco seasoning (recipe follows) and you’ll have some to keep on hand. Mixing your own lets you control the salt and other ingredients, plus it’s way more cost-effective than buying seasoning packets. And for the cheese, I used the lite shredded Mexican cheese blend that I like so much. 

To round out the meal and add extra protein and fiber, serve refried beans and Spanish rice alongside. For toppings, I offered diced tomato, shredded lettuce, sour cream, some homemade guacamole and taco sauce, but you can serve these any way you like. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. To keep things crunchy, skip the microwave and reheat in the oven. You can do this right on your oven rack on a sheet of aluminum foil, at 300º F for as long as it takes to get your tacos hot (and crunchy!) again. 

These are so easy and so good! Once you make ‘em and bake ‘em, you’ll be doing it like this from now on. 

Baked Chicken Tacos

• cooking spray
• 1 4.5 ounce can diced green chiles
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 10-12 taco shells (gluten-free, if needed)
• 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend 
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• sour cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine diced green chiles, lime juice and taco seasoning and stir together to thoroughly mix. Add chicken to bowl and stir until evenly coated. Set aside. 

Arrange taco shells in pan and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, then spoon chicken mixture evenly between taco shells, filling them halfway full; top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until tacos start to brown and the cheese is melted. Serve immediately with chopped cilantro and your favorite toppings. 

-feelgoodfoodie.net

Taco Seasoning 

makes 6 packets

• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 3 Tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon each paprika, crushed red pepper, and salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons each garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, black pepper

Measure all ingredients into a small bowl, stirring to combine.  Store in an airtight container up to 1 year.