Home Ā» Family Style Dinners Ā» The Best Chicken Taco Seasoning Recipe

The Best Chicken Taco Seasoning Recipe

This chicken taco seasoning is made with simple pantry staple spices that will take your chicken from bland and boring to mouthwateringly delicious in no time. Keep a jar of it stocked in your pantry so you can throw together chicken tacos in just minutes on a busy weeknight!

White plate filled with homemade chicken taco seasoning scooped with a spoon.


 

The Best Chicken Taco Seasoning Recipe

Ingredients for Chicken Taco Seasoning

White plate filled with piles of spices to make chicken taco seasoning.

How to Make Chicken Taco Seasoning

Combine seasoning ingredients in a small bowl or mason jar.

Small white bowl of homemade chicken taco seasoning.

Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place (like the cupboard) for up to 6 months. Use to season chicken breast or to create a delicious chicken marinade and enjoy!

Tips for Making Chicken Taco Seasoning

  • This recipe makes about 4 tablespoons of the best taco seasoning which is enough for about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast. Double or triple the recipe so youā€™ve always got some taco seasoning on hand for when a craving strikes.
  • Switch up the ingredients to suit your familyā€™s taste! This recipe is super forgiving so if you know your family likes cumin a lot, add a couple extra dashes. If they prefer things on the more mild side, add less chili powder and leave out the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Use this recipe as a blueprint and tweak it to make your own family-friendly tacos without the store-bought packet of taco seasoning mix!
  • This homemade taco seasoning can be used to season chicken breast (or boneless skinless chicken thighs) for chicken tacos but you can also use it in black beans, burritos, taco salads, veggie enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken spaghetti casserole, chicken chili, sheet pan nachos, or sheet pan chicken fajitas. You can also use this chicken taco seasoning to season ground beef or ground turkey as well.
White plate filled with diced seasoned chicken garnished with cilantro.

Making Chicken Tacos

  • You can use this chicken taco seasoning by itself to season your chicken breast or add your oil of choice ā€“ olive oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil work well ā€“ along with some orange juice and lime juice for an easy chicken taco marinade. Either way, pop the seasoned/marinated chicken into the refrigerator for an hour or so to let the flavors marry.
  • Cook chicken breast in a large skillet or on a grill over medium to medium high heat.
  • Dice chicken and serve inside warmed corn tortillas along with diced red onion and fresh chopped cilantro. Add your other favor taco toppings like lettuce, diced tomato, avocado, sour cream, or crumbled Cotija cheese and enjoy!
  • Check out my full recipe for grilled chicken street tacos here!

FAQ

Whatā€™s the difference between taco seasoning and chicken taco seasoning?

They are very similar and really can be used interchangeably! They contain a lot of the same ingredients but chicken taco seasoning is generally a bit milder since chicken takes on the flavor of the seasoning very easily.

Does taco seasoning work on chicken?

Sure! Feel free to use taco seasoning on your chicken anytime. But, if you have an extra 5 minutes, throw together my easy chicken taco seasoning instead!

Can you use taco seasoning as a rub?

Of course! Taco seasoning makes a great rub for your favorite cut of meat. If youā€™re looking for a more classic rub recipe though, check out my super easy rib rub!

Metal tray with 4 chicken tacos and little cups of salsa.

Make-Ahead and Storage

  • Make-Ahead: This taco seasoning will stay good in the pantry for up to 6 months so itā€™s the perfect make-ahead recipe! You can keep this chicken taco seasoning on hand at all times for easy weeknight meals.
  • Storage: Store this seasoning in an airtight container in a cool, dark place like the pantry or a cupboard.

More Taco Recipes

Did you love this recipe?

Please leave a 5-star rating and review below!

Print

Chicken Taco Seasoning

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 5 reviews

This chicken taco seasoning is made with simple pantry staple spices that will take your chicken from bland and boring to mouthwateringly delicious in no time. Keep a jar of it stocked in your pantry so you can throw together chicken tacos in just minutes on a busy weeknight!

  • Author: Kylie
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: about 4 tablespoons of seasoning 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: No Cook
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Combine seasoning ingredients.
  2. Store in an airtight container or wide mouth mason jar in a cool dark place (like the cupboard) for up to 6 months.
  3. Use seasoning to make my quick and easy grilled chicken street tacos.

Notes

  • This recipe makes about 4 tablespoons of seasoning which is enough for about 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast. Double or triple the recipe so youā€™ve always got some chicken taco seasoning on hand for when a craving strikes.
  • Switch up the ingredients to suit your familyā€™s taste! This recipe is super forgiving so if you know your family likes cumin a lot, add a couple extra dashes. If they prefer things on the more mild side, add less chili powder and leave out the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Use this recipe as a blueprint and tweak it to make it your own!
  • This homemade chicken taco seasoning can be used to season chicken breast (or boneless skinless chicken thighs) for chicken tacos but you can also use it in black beans, burritos, taco salads, veggie enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken spaghetti casserole, chicken chili, sheet pan nachos, or sheet pan chicken fajitas. You can also use this chicken taco seasoning to season ground beef or ground turkey as well.

10 Comments

  1. So my husband can’t eat any capsasin peppers of any kind so Mexican is always a challenge. I used this recipe but omitted the chili cayenne paprika and replaced it with 1/2 Tbsp of turmeric (I feel like I could have added more) and 1 tsp of fine ground white peppercorn (not related to capsasin pepper so we can use them). OMG it was the best chicken I’ve had on tacos EVER!






    1. YES! I am so glad to hear that, Julia!! This is our go-to taco seasoning also šŸ™‚ Thanks for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it.

  2. This is super! Hubby has to watch salt so Iā€™m very glad to kick this up with extra spice!






Please leave a rating, review, or comment!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star