This Chicken Taquito recipe is one of the all-time most popular recipes on Our Best Bites. The story behind it is interesting, too. I was actually making something entirely different that I planned on entering into a recipe contest. That recipe was somewhat of a flop, but the filling I came up with was amazing and I thought it would make an incredible filling for a crispy taquito. So I said forget-it to the recipe contest, and re-worked the filling in these crispy oven-baked taquitos, and turns out it was one of the best decisions ever, as this recipe has become a beloved family favorite all over the country.
These come together fairly quickly, and an awesome bonus is that these freeze (unbaked) beautifully so you can make extra and have a meal for later.
You’ll need some cooked, shredded or diced chicken for this recipe. You can use a mix of dark and/or white meat, or whatever is easiest. For me, easiest is often a rotisserie chicken from Costco.
The “creamy” component in this recipe comes from a couple of things. For starters, I use a little bit of cream cheese. It melts together with the shredded jack cheese to make an awesome creamy texture that coats the chicken.
You can use either plain Jack cheese, or pepper jack if you’d like a little more heat.
Some other things go in there for tons of flavor, like some green salsa,
green onions, fresh lime juice, and plenty of seasonings.
Just mix it all up and your filling is done.
You’ll place a few tablespoons on small flour, or corn tortillas and roll them up tight. You’ll want to keep your filling about an inch away from both ends because it will leak out the ends. Another trick is to roll them tight. Don’t be loosey-goosey or they’ll fall apart.
Once you get them all rolled up, you can either bake them immediately, OR
save them for later. I’ve taken these to friends in a bag like this one below. They’re great in the fridge for a few days and you can bake them up as needed. Or you can freeze them and bake them straight from the freezer. It’s totally worth it to make a double batch so you can pop one in the freezer!
To bake them immediately, lightly spray a foil-lined baking sheet with non-stick spray, or brush lightly with oil. Place the taquitos in a single layer, not touching each other, and then lightly brush the tops with olive oil, or give them a quick spray of non-stick spray and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.
Bake them in the oven until they turn golden brown, especially on the edges.
You can see how the bottoms totally crisp up
and while that outside tortilla is perfectly crisp, the inside layers are soft and awesome.
These are seriously amazing.
It is absolutely mandatory to serve them with our Creamy Lime-Cilantro dressing for dipping, but they’re also good with good ol’ salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.
If you’ve seriously never tried these, today is your day. Put them on your menu plan!
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup 3 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine, avoid fat free)
- 1/4 cup green salsa
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 3 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 2 Tablespoon sliced green onions
- 2 C shredded cooked chicken for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!
- 1 C grated pepperjack or plain jack cheese
- small flour or corn tortillas
- kosher salt
- cooking spray or olive oil
Instructions
For the filling
- Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir.
- Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic.
- Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions.
- Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
- (You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.)
For the taquitos
- Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
- If using corn tortillas, work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave, wrapped in damp paper towels until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If using flour tortillas straight from the fridge, it helps to warm them in the microwave so they're easier to roll.
- Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1 inch from the edges. Roll up tortillas and place seam down on a baking sheet, not touching one another. Spray lightly with cooking spray, or lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Dip in sour cream, or our favorite: Creamy Lime-Cilantro Ranch.
For the freezer instructions
- Prepare the taquitos through rolling them out and placing them on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze until solid, then transfer to a large freezer bag. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 and place the taquitos on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
Wanna make it a meal?
Serve with a side of Black Beans and a simple green salad with Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing. Wash it down with some Brazilian Lemonade!
Looking for the beef version? It’s right here!
Lastly, recently this recipe was noted in an article in the Chicago Sun-Times where the author noted that they were “some of the best taquitos I’ve ever had”
I’ll take it!
Questions & Reviews
This is one of my very favorites. I slow bake the taco chicken recipe all day so it’s fall apart tender and dip them in your guac recipe! To die for!
Made these tonight for something different after Christmas. Everybody L.O.V.E.D. them – even the picky teenage daughter. 🙂 Tried them with white corn tortillas but will use flour tortillas next time. The corn rolled great when warm but cracked as soon as they cooled. Thanks for such an easy, yummy recipe.
OK I am the one who asked if you could make these with shrimp. I finally did it and they were so yummy! The only change I made to substitute the tiny (what we call) gumbo shrimp. OK now that I look at the actual ingredient list- I didnt have green onions so I didnt put that in, but that would have made them better. So if you can get your hands on some fresh Louisiana shrimp, give it a try! Actually mine were not fresh they were frozen. 🙂
Just turned the rest of my leftover turkey into a double batch of taquitos for the freezer!! YUMMM, and way better than choking down leftover turkey for another 3 days 🙂 Thanks for the awesome recipes!
oh haha, I guess Jaime and I had the same idea! 🙂
They turned out delicious with the turkey! 🙂
I’m allergic to gluten, so I make these ahead of time when I come home from college, and then whenever I need a quick dinner back at school, I just pop them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes and I have a quick, healthy, freezer meal.
(A lot of people asked when they freeze them. I cook them until they’re ALMOST done and then freeze them in giant zip lock bags)
I made them today with a bunch of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, they turned out great! 🙂
Thanks again! I love these! …and pretty much everything on this website! 🙂
-Anita
I made these again tonight with leftover turkey. Followed all directions, just substituted the chicken with all the left over turkey we had from Thanksgiving dinner. They were delicious! Just thought I’d let you know, so if you make a post about what to do with thanksgiving leftovers, you could include this one. 🙂 Thanks!
I made these for dinner the other night and 1 & 1/2’d the recipe thinking I would have enough for friends coming for lunch the next day. What a foolish thought that was! My young daughters ate more than their normal portions – as did my husband and I. There was enough for my husband’s lunch the next day, but that was it! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
I am eating them right now making yummy noises!
I am obsessed with these, as is my husband. They are soooo good. They have become a staple in the house. I make fauxtisserie chicken and use it to make these; sometimes I freeze the chicken mix, defrost, then stuff the tortillas and bake.
These were very yummy!! One of my fav’s!!
Mahalo!
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for several days, and finally got around to making these today! WHY did I wait so long. These are delish and super easy. 10times better than the ones in the freezer boxes. Thanks!
I made these using left over turkey after Thanksgiving….yum-o!! Gonna make them again tonight using the Costco canned chicken, in a pinch so it should do!
i live in the town where my husband grew up, which happens to be in mexico, and i’m always trying new mexican recipes. i tried this from your cookbook hoping it would reach my husbands expectations – he’s kind of a hard one to please, as far as food goes at least. he took one bite of these and yelled at me from the kitchen (i was across the house) “Meredith – these are awesome!” thanks for the crowd pleaser!!
When we made these, we sprinkled Parmesan cheese on them instead of the salt…super yummy!
These were SO good, I just bought your cookbook and I am having so much fun with the recipes. Thank you 🙂
These are so tasty! I make them all the time! Thank you so much for this little gem!
Holly @ naturallysweetrecipes.blogspot.com
I just needed to tell you that once you get the technique down for these, they really become a go-to recipe to stock the freezer! I wind up usually using ground turkey browned and seasoned with taco or southwest seasoning, but you can add pretty much anything to the basic recipe! I found that using flour tortilla seem to roll better for me than the corn ones, and come out just as crunchy when baked.
As to freezing them, I only ever cook them frozen anymore. It keeps the filling from oozing out onto the pan too much. One more tip: scoop the filling into a zip-top bag, cut off the corner and you can “pipe” the filling onto the tortilla, which makes assembly much faster!
The only question: does anyone have any filling ideas to turn these into BREAKFAST taquitos?
Thanks again for a winning recipe!
I just did a search of OurBestBites and found the breakfast taquito recipe! Thanks!!!
Yum mm!!! I just finished making these… 30 min prep since I think I’m slow, but DELICIOUS!! what a treat. The cream cheese is a welcome change from a sour cream base. Go girls!
Claire, please read my comment below. I found that if you put the filling in a zip-top bag you can bang out a whole tray of these pretty quickly. Much faster than spooning it on the tortillas, and not as messy!
I’ve made these several times and they’re awesome!
I just recently discovered your cookbook/website. LOVE IT!!! Just made these taquitos last night for dinner, complete with the Taco Chicken and Cilantro Lime Dressing and WOW were they good! Even my picky eater kids ate them up! Thanks for such a great new addition to our dinner menu!!
We love these in our home! especially the flour tortillas. We also love to dip them in home made cilantro lime ranch! yumm!!
I just made these using fat free cream cheese and they were DELICIOUS! My husband who REFUSES to eat “fat free” things didn’t notice because I didn’t tell him 🙂 He told me how amazing they were! Thanks for a great recipe! It will definitely be a staple in our meal plans!
I have made these several times now – delicious! I use the uncooked tortillas that can be found near the canned biscuits at the grocery store. You just heat them up on a skillet and they taste like they came straight from your favorite Mexican restaurant. Plus, they are super soft so they don’t crack when you bake them.
Another question, and someone may have asked this but gosh there are too many comments to read on this recipe! While this is yummy and I am planning to make this tonight for dinner I was just wondering if this was good with shrimp instead of chicken (just noticed shrimp are on sale in my neck of the woods this week). Aren’t shrimp and chicken often interchangable? Or am I making that up?
I honestly have no idea. I hate seafood (especially shrimp) so I’m the wrong person to ask! lol
I tried these last night. They were so good and easy to make! I will definitely make them again. I served mine with sour cream and salsa on the side. Also, I served them with Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos.
Yummy!
My family and I enjoyed these immensely! Can’t believe I’m just now making them, seeing that I’m a Texas girl!
These are fantastic. I have made them for everyone I know. I love love love the filling. I have tried them with flour tortillas, white corn tortillas (my favorite) and even put the filling in a enchilada casserole. Yummy.
These are delicious! I served them for a girl’s night party with the cilantro lime dressing and they were a total hit, everyone was begging for the recipe. It was great that I could make the filling and dressing ahead, and only had to fill, roll, and bake before the party. I’ve since made for dinner using leftover roasted/grilled/whatevered chicken. I have always used flour tortillas and tend to spice mine a lot heavier (more salsa, more hot sauce). Great one girls! Got me hooked on the site 🙂
These sound great. I’m planning on making a double batch to take up to a cottage for a family get together.
Can I bring them up totally done, and just re-heat when I’m up there? Or is it better to roll them up, and not bake at all until just before serving?
Lucy, I’d recommend getting them all rolled up and ready to go, but baking right before serving. Enjoy!
Thanks Sara! I ended up doing the filling at home, and then rolling and baking them up at the cottage. A big hit! My husband loved them. Will be making them again soon, for sure!