20 Minute Mini Baked Chicken Tacos
These mini baked chicken tacos come together in about 20 minutes with just a handful of simple ingredients. They’re perfect for feeding a crowd and simple enough to throw together for an easy weeknight dinner! Street taco corn tortillas are filled with taco-seasoned chicken and shredded cheese then baked to perfection for a crispy chicken taco the whole family will love.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cooked Shredded Seasoned Chicken Breast – My go-to recipe for getting the best shredded chicken taco meat is my three-ingredient slow cooker chicken. You can also use ground beef and make mini beef tacos, or fish or shrimp for seafood tacos. The key though is my homemade chicken taco seasoning – store-bought will work too if you’re short on time!
- Colby Jack Cheese – I love to use Colby Jack Cheese for these tacos. You can also use shredded cheddar cheese, Mexican blend cheese, or your favorite melty cheese.
- Street Taco Corn Tortillas – Corn tortillas are the best option for these mini tacos because they crisp up beautifully in the oven. I like to use the super small street taco tortillas, but regular-size corn tortillas will work as well. You can also use street taco flour tortillas – they will crisp up too though not quite as well as the corn tortillas.
- Olive Oil Cooking Spray – Olive oil cooking spray (or nonstick spray) makes the tacos extra crispy. If you don’t love cooking with olive oil, you can omit this ingredient.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush or spray tortillas with olive oil. Place on a large baking sheet or shallow baking dish. Add a heaping tablespoon of the shredded chicken mixture to the tortilla and top with a heaping tablespoon of shredded cheese.
Bake tacos for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts. Carefully fold each tortilla in half, gently pressing them together in the shape of a taco.
Bake for another 12-15 minutes or until the corn tortillas begin to crisp on the outside.
Serve with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro. Enjoy!
Tips
- For the shredded chicken I recommend using my super easy 3 ingredient crock pot shredded chicken breast or my simple instant pot shredded chicken. If you prefer you can also use shredded rotisserie chicken and add 1/2 a cup of salsa and 2 tablespoons or so of chicken taco seasoning (which is made with a variety of spices including cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and paprika).
- This recipe works well with regular-size corn tortillas as well. I love to use the street taco size because they’re so cute and make the perfect handheld tacos, but regular-size corn tortillas will work too!
- You’ll know the tacos are done when the taco shells are nice and crispy on the outside and the cheesy chicken filling is warmed through on the inside.
Variations
Feel free to add your favorites to these mini chicken tacos. Some of our family’s favorites include:
- green chiles
- diced red onion
- diced red bell pepper
- canned corn
- black beans
- refried beans
- a squeeze of lime juice
- sliced green onion
- diced tomatoes
Is it OK to use taco seasoning on chicken?
Yes! Taco seasoning is a great way to season the chicken in these chicken tacos. Combine it with salsa and a bit of water and cook in the instant pot or crock pot and you’ve got perfectly cooked, tender, shredded chicken ready to go!
How do you make taco seasoning stick to the chicken?
In this recipe, you don’t need to worry about getting the chicken taco seasoning to stick because it’s combined with salsa to create a flavorful braise for the chicken. However, in general, the natural moisture found in chicken does a great job of making the taco seasoning stick to it without any extra steps on your part.
Can chicken tacos be cooked in an air fryer?
Yes! The air fryer is one of my favorite ways to cook these mini chicken tacos! While I prefer to bake them in the oven when I’m cooking a big batch, the air fryer works really well when I’m just making a quick lunch for myself and don’t have time to heat up the oven.
Air Fryer Instructions
If you want to make air fryer tacos instead of baked chicken tacos, you totally can! If I’m in a hurry, I actually tend to use the air fryer to make these tacos more than the oven because they take a little less time to cook.
- Set the air fryer to 400 degrees.
- Follow the same recipe instructions and add tacos to the air fryer in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes.
- Carefully fold each taco in half and cook for another 5-8 minutes, flipping them halfway so both sides get crispy.
Stove Top Instructions
You can also cook these crispy chicken tacos in a large skillet on the stove!
- Heat a large skillet (a medium skillet will work too!) over medium heat.
- Add a bit of oil to the pan (or spray the tortillas with cooking spray).
- Add cheese and meat filling to the taco.
- Fold in half and cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes or until crispy.
You Will Love These Baked Chicken Tacos
- Crispy baked tacos the whole family will love! Our family enjoys classic tacos too but these crispy chicken tacos are a fun departure from the typical ground beef taco meat. They’re a blank canvas that starts with just seasoning shredded chicken, shredded cheese, and corn tortillas. This means everyone in the family can assemble their own and add in their favorite flavors or favorite taco toppings! Whether it’s hearty black beans, extra cheese, or diced red onion – this quick and easy meal is sure to become a family favorite.
- They’re perfect for a party! Because we use street taco corn tortillas, these handheld tacos make for the perfect party appetizer. The crispy corn tortillas hold the melted cheese and taco-seasoned chicken for an easy-to-eat, crowd-pleasing snack that your guests will love! Serve alongside my creamy cilantro avocado dip for a delicious game-day app!
- If you loved the taste of this baked chicken taco recipe, be sure to check out my Best Chicken Street Tacos, Easy Cilantro Lime Chicken, and my Instant Pot Chicken Chili.
Serve Mini Tacos With
- creamy avocado dip
- chicken and veggie taco bake
- chipotle sauce
- creamy street corn dip
- creamy street corn soup
- smoked queso dip
- crock pot queso dip
- stuffed peppers
- instant pot taco soup
- easy southwest salad
- vegan black bean soup
- homemade blender salsa
- quick corn salsa
- tater tot nachos
- cilantro lime rice
- Pico de Gallo
- guacamole
Make-Ahead, Storage, Freezing, and Reheating
- Make-Ahead: These mini tacos can be made ahead, but more importantly, you can prep all the elements ahead of time and store them in the fridge so when you’re ready to eat all you need to do is assemble them! I love to make a big batch of shredded chicken and avocado sauce over the weekend so I’ve got quick and easy lunches ready to make all week!
- Storage: Store leftovers or prepped ingredients in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Freezing: You can freeze these tacos cooked or uncooked. If you want to freeze them uncooked, be sure to heat up the tortillas before assembling them so that they’ll be easy to fold. Then prep them as usual, wrap them in plastic wrap, place them in freezer-safe containers, and freeze them for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before cooking or reheating.
- Reheating: Reheat tacos on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven for 5 minutes or until warmed through and crispy on the outside. You can also reheat them in an air fryer set at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or until warmed through.
More Easy Taco Recipes
Did you love this recipe?
Please leave a 5-star rating and review below!
Mini Tacos
These mini baked chicken tacos come together in about 20 minutes with just a handful of simple ingredients. They’re perfect for feeding a crowd and simple enough to throw together for an easy weeknight dinner! Street taco corn tortillas are filled with taco-seasoned chicken and shredded cheese then baked to perfection for a crispy chicken taco the whole family will love.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 20–24 tacos 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 1 lb. cooked shredded seasoned chicken breast (3-4 cups shredded chicken breast *see notes for cooking options*)
- 8 oz. shredded colby jack cheese
- 20–24 street taco corn tortillas
- olive oil or cooking spray
Serve with:
- sour cream
- salsa
- fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place tortillas on a baking sheet.
- Brush or spray both sides with olive oil.
- Add a heaping tablespoon of the shredded chicken mixture to the tortillas and top with a heaping tablespoon of shredded cheese. You may need a second baking sheet depending on the size of yours.
- Bake tacos for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts. Remove from oven and carefully fold each tortilla in half, gently pressing them together in the shape of a taco.
- Bake for another 12-15 minutes or until the corn tortillas are crispy on the outside.
- Serve with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro. Enjoy!
Notes
- For the shredded chicken I recommend using my super easy 3 ingredient crock pot shredded chicken breast or my simple instant pot shredded chicken. If you prefer you can also use shredded rotisserie chicken and add 1/2 a cup of salsa and 2 tablespoons or so of chicken taco seasoning.
- This recipe works well with regular-size corn tortillas as well. I love to use the street taco size because they’re so cute and make the perfect handheld tacos, but regular-size corn tortillas will work too!
- You’ll know the tacos are done when they’re nice and crispy on the outside and the cheesy chicken filling is warmed through on the inside.
Hi there. Could I use ground chicken for these? Thanks!
Sure! Just make sure you cook it first. I’d recommending adding my taco seasoning or my chicken taco seasoning to the ground chicken!
My kids and I loved this meal! I made my chicken in the crockpot from your other recipe linked in the ingredients (thank you) and the taco seasoning made this so flavorful. I’m not sure why I never thought of that before. SO GOOD. This was so easy and my kids are 6+ each, ha! Thank you!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear that, Lexi! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Hi, do you have the recipe for the chicken breast?
Yes! The one I use most often is the chicken from this recipe: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/instant-pot-shredded-chicken-tacos/
Toddler, husband and I all loved them! I love that they’re super easy to make. I used a chicken taco seasoning packet and a hefty dose of salsa to season and keep moist. Definitely adding this to our regular rotation.
I’m so glad to hear that, Kenzi!!! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
Just tried this with my family. They loved it. I lived it. THANKS FOR SHARING!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed these mini tacos, Keturah!
I’m really picky and don’t eat much chicken so I make my tacos with a lb of lean ground beef, add a can of black beans and rotel tomatoes to get it to stretch a little further for our family of 5. I get about 15 regular size tacos out of it. Household favorite, I make a few times a month!
Great idea, Kylene! Ground beef sounds delicious!
Made this recipe and they came out amazing! My husband wanted to recreate it with shrimp the next night and my mom made this recipe for her dinner too!
Great idea to try it with shrimp! I’d love to hear how it goes if you give that a try!
We make this recipe at least twice a month! Such an easy family dinner meal and loved by the whole family. My 5 year old ate 5 tacos in just one sitting!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed these mini tacos, Gianni! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Made these last night—brushed (both sides) tortillas with avocado oil before putting on sheet and filling. After the 2-minute mark— folded perfectly, and the cheese “glued” them into that taco shape.
This recipe is now in the rotation! Thank you!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that this chicken taco recipe worked out well for you Kat! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Have loved this recipe for some time now, it is a go-to now & we make it every other week! It is easy, quick and you can basically use leftovers. LOVE! Thank you for sharing this!
We make this mini chicken tacos recipe all the time too! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Ashley. Thanks for leaving a review! 🙂
Hello Have you tried Freezing these ahead of time?
Check out the “Make-Ahead, Storage, Freezing, and Reheating” section of the post for details on freezing these tacos!
College student looking for easy meal prep – this was great! Made some slow cooker pulled chicken for multiple recipes, so putting together the tacos took just minutes. Super easy!
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed this mini chicken taco recipe, Hadley! I literally just got done making pulled chicken for meal prep this week as well! 🙂 This is the perfect recipe for a busy college student. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it!
Will this recipe work with flour tortillas?
I find that flour tortillas don’t get crispy in quite the same way that corn tortillas do. But you can certainly use them instead!
Loved this recipe! Followed instructions and it turned out great. Very easy. Tortillas folded nicely. No issues. Thank you!
So glad to hear that you enjoyed this crispy chicken taco recipe, Arpi! I just made it again last night and everyone loved it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Every single tortilla broke when I was folding them over…terrible idea.
Did you bake the tacos for a couple minutes before folding them over? I am shocked to hear that they broke when folding as corn tortillas are super pliable after they’re heated. I have never had an issue like that and I literally make this recipe 2-3 times a month! I wonder if your tortillas were old? Fresh tortillas bend very easily when heated. I’d love to hear a bit more about when your experience. Feel free to email me at kylie@midwestfoodieblog.com and I can try to troubleshoot further. Thanks for reaching out, Ashley!
Absolutely loved this! The only thing I did was towards the end it wasn’t crisping up so, I put it on broil and watched it so wouldn’t burn.
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed these chicken tacos, Donna! Great idea to broil them to make them extra crispy. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and share that tip with other readers!! I really appreciate it 🙂