Chicken Tacos
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These chicken tacos are a healthier spin on traditional beef tacos — and they’re just as good, if not better.
When my kids were younger, I came up with some weeknight traditions to make dinnertime fun and special for my family (kudos to past me; I’m much less ambitious now!). Taco Tuesdays was a huge hit. Every Tuesday, they’d come home from school all excited because, “yay, it’s taco night!” We whipped up everything from shrimp tacos to Baja fish tacos, yet these simple chicken tacos were consistently their top fave. Now, even as young adults, their love for them hasn’t waned. These are a lighter take on traditional hard-shell beef tacos, and they easily hold their own in the taste department.
What you’ll need to make Chicken Tacos
Step-by-Step Instructions
To make them, begin by chopping the vegetables. You can do this in a food processor if you like; just be sure not to purée them.
Normally, I don’t believe in hiding vegetables but in this case, I dice them very small so my kids don’t notice them (or at least they can’t pick them out).
I figure what they don’t know won’t hurt them, and one night where I’m not nagging them to eat their vegetables is good for all of us.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the vegetables.
Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until soft.
Add ground chicken and spices use a wooden spoon to break chicken into small pieces.
Turn the heat to high and use a wooden spoon to break the chicken into small clumps; cook until the chicken is partially cooked, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, then turn the heat down to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking chicken into smaller clumps, for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Meanwhile, heat the shells in the oven. To serve, spoon the chicken inside the shells and top with shredded lettuce and cheese.
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- Beef Tacos
Chicken Tacos
These chicken tacos are a healthier spin on traditional beef tacos — and they’re just as good, if not better.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
- 2 bell peppers (any color), finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 pounds ground chicken (not extra-lean all breast meat)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
- 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1¾ teaspoons salt
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce (1 cup)
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro (see note)
- 12 hard taco shells
- 2 cups shredded lettuce or red cabbage, optional for topping
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend, optional for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Heat the olive oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and just starting to brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the chicken, paprika, ancho chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne (if using), and salt. Increase the heat to high; use a wooden spoon to stir and break the chicken into small clumps. Cook until the chicken is partially cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking chicken into smaller clumps, until chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Meanwhile, remove the taco shells from the package and lay sideways on baking sheet. Pull the stack apart, overlapping the edges slightly. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until crisp. Spoon the chicken into the shells and serve with toppings.
- Note: To save time, you can chop the bell peppers and onions in a food processor; just be sure not to purée them. You can also use 1 teaspoon ground coriander in place of the fresh cilantro; add it along with the other spices.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 2 tacos
- Calories: 460
- Fat: 27g
- Saturated fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 26g
- Sugar: 5g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 30g
- Sodium: 1086mg
- Cholesterol: 130mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This is one of my favorite go to recipes. I tried using only half the amount of tomato sauce tonight and like that even better.
Hi! I made this and it was a hit with my whole family! That’s a miracle around here. I served it with soft toasted tortillas and sliced pickles red cabbage tomatoes and cucumbers. Thank you for another keeper
Hi Chef Jen!
I’ve made this a few times–always a success. I typically make it with ground turkey, and it turns out well 🙂
Hi Chef, I’m wondering if I can use finely Shredded chicken instead of ground chicken? Thanks!
Hi Rachel, is the chicken cooked? If so, I suppose you could but you’ll only need to heat it through so I’d add it to the pan after the tomato sauce has been simmering for several minutes.
Thanks!! It is cooked, so I’ll heed your advice and add it at the end! Thanks so much!!
I’ve made this a hundred times and love it. Unfortunately my in laws won’t eat ground chicken so would I need to make any modifications to the cooking process if I were to substitute with ground beef? Would 80/20 beef work or should I go leaner?
Thanks and hope you make a 3rd cookbook.
Glad you like these! Ground beef will definitely work here without any modifications. I’d probably go with 85/15. Please LMK how they turn out with beef!
Made this tonight, grocery was sold out of chicken so I used beef and small amount of chorizo. It was wonderful! Your recipes are perfection! Thank you, Jenn!
Hi Jenn!
I would like to use chopped frozen peppers in this recipe. How much would I use? Thank you again for your amazing recipes! Your site is the only recipe site I use! Every recipe is just awesome! Love your site and your cookbooks! I also love the fact you can read others comments. Thanks for a great cooking experience!
Denise
Hi Denise, So glad you like the recipes! I’d guesstimate you’ll need about 1.5 cups of chopped peppers. 🙂
I think I’ve made this 2 or 3 thousand times. So great. Thank you for giving us all a healthier (and better) spin on tacos. Cheers!
This is my 2nd review for this recipe. I tried this with both chicken and beef separately- and while the chicken is good, the beef was AMAZING. I’m relatively nutrition conscious so used it with 96% lean/4% fat beef (the most lean one I found) – and it tasted surprisingly decadent and fulfilled my occasional Taco Bell craving — guilt free!
Jenn,
Thank you, the best tacos I’ve ever had. I made it using ground beef as I was kind of chicken’d out at the time and had the ground beef. It was so tasty that I skipped the usual store bought taco sauce that you need for the store bought taco kits, just put a dollop of sour cream and and some diced grape tomatoes on top along with the shredded lettuce and was in heaven. I’ll definitely be trying it with the ground chicken in the future. Your step by step guidance and suggestions in all of your recipes are invaluable.
Thanks again