Chicken Tacos
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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.
YOu may also like
- Street-Style Shrimp Tacos with Corn, Bacon & Lime Crema
- Chicken Nachos
- Grilled Chicken Fajitas
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Quesadillas
- 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
Powered by 
- 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.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This was another winner at our house, surprisingly for both my children despite one loving peppers and one hating peppers.
Love this recipe !
Can I use slow cooker ?
Thank you
Hi Kessy, I’ve never tried it, but in theory it should work 🙂
We didn’t have the red sauce so we just added about 1/4 cup of water to the spices. The tacos still still tasted great, but the meat didn’t “hold together” as well and tended to fall out of the shell. Nonetheless, it was delicious. Having made this once with lean ground chicken and once with ‘regular’ (85% lean) ground turkey, I have to say the latter ground turkey version had more flavor.
Absolute best tacos. I used turkey because my store was out of chicken but I know they were just as good.
Chicken Tacos: My son loves these! They’re so quick and easy. Simple to substitute or add vegetables depending on what you have on hand or if you need to stretch because a few friends showed up around dinnertime. Great family meal.
This is the first recipe from this site that I have prepared & it was delicious! I love the addition of all the fresh veggies to the taco meat mixture. We make tacos all the time with a homemade spice mix but this mix of spices was even better! I added 1 tsp of coriander to the spice mix as recommended in the recipe for those who do not care for cilantro – thank you, Jennifer for that great tip! I think coriander is my new favorite spice.
Do you have nutritional information on Chicken Taco recipe?
Hi Linda, Have just added the nutritional data; you’ll find it beneath the recipe.
Is the nutritional info just for the meat or does it include the tacos/. I am hoping to make it as a lettuce wrap so it is more healthy………can I get just the nutritional info on just the meat?
Hi Dawn, the nutritional info includes the taco shells. For just the meat, each serving has 321 calories. I’d love to hear how they turn out in the lettuce wraps!
It was delicious. To make it even more healthy I skipped the salt and did use ground chicken breast (extra lean). So much flavour with the chipotle Chili powder. Kids loved it will definitely make this again
These tacos are so good! The whole family loved them! I make these once a month.
Oh my goodness! I made these tacos for lunch today and they could not have been more delicious. Every recipe I have tried on this site so far has been AMAZING! So glad I found this one.
We love these minus the peppers. We add chopped spinach in their place.