These Baked Chicken Taquitos are an easy, under-30-minute meal that you can throw together with just a few ingredients for a healthy weeknight dinner. A Crispy cheese perfection.
Our quick, easy, delicious and healthy weeknight dinner this week was baked chicken taquitos. We are big fans of taquitos in this house. One of our favorite recipes uses peaches and caramelized onions. But we all know that it takes about 30 minutes to caramelize onions, always worth it but not practical for dinner in the middle of the week. If you have a few more minutes, try chicken and peach taquitos.
Instead of peaches and onions, try adding Ro-tel tomatoes and chiles to rotisserie chicken. Throw in some seasoning and a little cheese and roll it into a tortilla. Prep only took 8 ½ minutes, and that included grating the cheese and shredding the chicken. While it may seem quicker to buy grated cheese, Natalie timed me and it only took 30 seconds to grate it with a hand grater. I think we can all spare 30 seconds for the texture and flavor that a block of cheese adds, and no chemicals to keep it from sticking together.
What is a taquito
A taquitos or flauta are of Mexican or Spanish origin and consist of either a flour or corn torn wrapped around meat and cheese and then deep fried for a crispy appetizer or meal depending on the size of the tortilla used. For my chicken taquitos recipe I use flour tortillas and they are baked instead of fried.
How do you make homemade baked taquitos
Step 1: Start by shredding rotisserie chicken. Next add Ro-tel tomatoes, cilantro, and cumin and combine.
Step 2: Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 10 seconds. Add chicken to the lower third of the tortilla and top with cheese. Roll tightly and place seam side down in a small jelly roll pan or baking dish.
Step 3: Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with a chipotle yogurt dip, salsa, guacamole or your favorite toppings.
These have a more traditional Tex-Mex flavor with the tomatoes and chillies. You can increase the spice by adding a jalapeño or some cayenne. Don’t leave the salt off the top, it really enhances the flavor.
I thought it would be fun to have toppings, so we all picked one and ended up with guacamole, peach and corn salsa, and my favorite, chipotle flavored yogurt dip. I have included the recipe for the yogurt dip. It’s a simpler version of the one I use for the peach taquitos where instead of chopping up the peppers, you just add the adobe sauce from a can of chipotle peppers. It’s a quicker version, and not quite as spicy.
Chicken taquitos are also great with queso drizzled over the top. Next time you make homemade queso, freeze the leftovers to top these taquitos.
These can be made in less than 30 minutes with only 10 minutes of prep time.
If you love spicy food, try adding jalapenos to the chicken mixture. Or if some of your group want spicy and some mild, add chopped chipotle peppers to the dipping sauce.
Once you have removed the chicken from the bones, use two forks to shred the chicken into bite size pieces.
If making for an appetizer, try using a 6 inch tortilla and cut in half after baking.
Pre-grated cheese contains a preservative to keep it from sticking together. This also keeps it from melting as well as cheese you buy in a block.
More Tex-Mex dinner favorites
- One pot chicken and rice
- Queso chicken
- Chicken tamale pie
- Taco Chicken
- Tex-Mex spaghetti
- Chicken enchilada
- Mango quesadillas
Baked Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 10 ounce can ro-tel tomatoes and chilies drained
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- salt and pepper
- 8 flour tortillas 8 inch
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
DIP
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons adobe sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º. Line a small jelly-roll pan or baking dish and spray with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine shredded chicken, Ro-tel tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine
- Lay tortillas on a flat surface and fill with ⅓ cup of chicken mixture and about 2 tablespoons of cheese. Roll tightly and place in prepared pan, seam side down. Spray all over with cooking spray and sprinkle with course salt.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- For dip, combine 1 cup greek yogurt and 2 tablespoons adobe sauce, stir to combine.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
Nutrition
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