Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos

This is one of those recipes that almost takes me longer to write about, than it does to make. These Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos use all of your favorite ingredients, so you don’t miss a thing. The difference is, they are prepped ahead of time and baked in a crunchy shell. When they come out of the oven, everyone can dress their taco as they like and eat together! If you love Mexican food as much as I do, you will want to check out my favorite The Best Cheese Enchiladas, Creamy Leftover Turkey Enchiladas or my Low Carb Chipotle Chicken Thighs. These are simple recipes that taste amazing and work well for busy families!

Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos are tender seasoned chicken and refried beans nestled in a taco shell and covered with yummy cheese before being baked into crunchy perfection!!

I have always been a bit of a rebel, so I feel no guilt in taking Taco Tuesday and flipping it on its head and making tacos on Sunday or Monday for goodness sake. I am a lover of tacos, all kinds of tacos, but the convenience and speed of making these Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos won me over when I have a hankering for a nice crunchy taco.

You can use any chicken you have on hand. If you have a rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken from a previous meal or any variety of chopped or shredded chicken that will do just fine. You are going to be sauteing this in a skillet with taco seasoning, so it doesn’t have to be pretty.

Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos are super quick to make. You can even prepare then earlier in the day and pop them in the oven when you are ready for dinner. Just 30 minutes from start to finish and you are enjoying a flavor packed, crunchy taco!!

To start with, I assembled the taco shells in a prepared 9 x 13 baking dish. I would recommend, for ease of preparation, get the crunchy taco shells with the flat bottoms. I didn’t do that this time and it took me a little longer to make, because I was having to reposition the shells when they dell over. No matter the shells you get, all of the crunchy shells end up tasting the same, but to get the tacos to stand up in the baking dish and allow you to fill them quickly, flat bottom shells are the way to go.

The first thing I do is place a little oil in a hot skillet and add my cooked chicken to it. Then, I add the taco seasoning and water and saute this until the spices have evenly coated the chicken and the water is absorbed. I then spread a tablespoon or two of refried beans in the bottom of the shell. This will help to keep the taco shell crunchy, by making a barrier and keeping the shell from becoming wet on the bottom when it cooks.

After the beans are in the bottom, add a generous helping of chicken to each taco shell and then cover the chicken with grated cheese. Pop this into the oven and bake for just 10 minutes. When these come out of the oven, they are hot, crunchy and ready to top with your favorites.

I like to put chopped tomato, cilantro, avocado, spicy salsa and sometimes sour cream on mine. Besides the awesome taste, the thing I like most about these Crunchy Baked Chicken Tacos, is they come out of the oven all at the same time! These tacos are crunchy and flavor packed! Everyone can add their favorite toppings and dig into a wonderful meal together!! Enjoy friends!!

Opa and I love these Crunchy Baked Tacos. What is your favorite family favorite taco recipe?