20 Minute Mini Baked Chicken Tacos
If you’re anything like me, weeknight dinners need to be fast, flexible, and totally delicious. Especially when life gets busy! These mini baked chicken tacos hit all three in about 20 minutes and have quickly become one of our go-to easy dinners (and favorite party snacks).
Here’s the beauty of this recipe: you’re taking something classic (a taco) and giving it a simple, crispy oven twist. With taco-seasoned shredded chicken, melty cheese, and corn tortillas baked until golden, you get that satisfying crunch without frying.
How to Make Crispy Chicken Tacos
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!
Things to Know
- 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.
Flavor 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
Air Fryer Instructions
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 if that’s more your style.
- Heat a large skillet 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.
I Literally Make These (at least) Weekly
Crispy baked tacos that everyone actually agrees on. That’s the dream, right?
We love classic ground beef tacos in this house, but these crispy baked chicken tacos are such a fun way to switch it up. They start with a simple base of seasoned shredded chicken, melty cheese, and corn tortillas, and then everyone builds their own from there. Extra cheese? Obviously. Black beans? Sure. A mountain of pickled onions? Go for it!
It’s one of those dinners that feels interactive but is actually very low effort. I lay everything out, slide the tacos into the oven, and let the crispy magic happen.
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
The Perfect Prep Ahead Meal
- Want to get a jump on dinner? Shred the seasoned chicken up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. When you’re ready to eat, just fill the tortillas, add the cheese, and bake.
- 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!
Make These Taco Recipes Next!
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.
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 20–24 tacos 1x
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.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 taco
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 131.6 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.3 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 23.8 mg
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!
This happened to me too with my first batch. With my second batch, I squeezed the liquid out of the chicken (I used your shredded chicken recipe), and that batch did not break. I’m thinking there was too much liquid from the chicken with the first batch. Regardless, the flavor was great with both batches!
Great tip, Kaylee! Thank you for sharing that!!
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 🙂