Crispy Baked Chicken Tacos with Avocado Crema
This baked chicken taco recipe makes taco night easy. The homemade taco seasoning is simple, economical and makes the most flavorful chicken using ingredients you likely have on hand. These perfectly delicious and crispy tacos are a weeknight favorite.
The cottage cheese avocado crema is more flavorful and nutrient-dense than sour cream. You’ll want to put this on everything so save some for breakfast burritos bowls, lazy enchiladas and air fryer mini tacos.
Serve your tacos with your favorite taco toppings, a side of black beans and Spanish rice to complete your taco spread.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 18g of protein per taco.
- Easy simple ingredients!
- Perfectly crispy.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for these crispy chicken tacos. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and instructions for this recipe.
- Lean Ground Chicken: ground beef or ground pork are super flavorful and taste delicious with these. You can also use rotisserie chicken, chicken thighs or chicken breasts if you prefer bigger chunks of chicken. Cook chicken until an internal temp of 165 degrees F and continue with the recipe.
- Homemade Taco Seasoning: you can use store-bought, if needed, but this one is inexpensive, easy to make and so dang good.
- Fresh Lime Juice: adds flavor and some zest to the taco filling.
- Corn Tortillas: or small flour tortillas but I prefer corn for a more authentic taco feel.
- Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
- Avocados: make sure these are ripe. Avocados are ripe when they are slightly soft to the touch but not mushy.
- Low-Fat Cottage Cheese: or full-fat for a richer sauce.
- Cilantro: adds flavor to your crema. Omit if cilantro is not your thing.
- Milk: used to thin out your avocado crema.
Variations
- Add cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes for some heat in the homemade seasoning blend.
- Add pineapple salsa on top for a touch of sweet.
- For extra flavor, add a little enchilada sauce to the taco meat. I always do this when I have leftover enchilada sauce from my taco pie. It makes the tacos a little more wet and heavy.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free as written.
- For dairy-free, omit the shredded cheese or use a dairy-free option and use almond milk in the crema.
How to make these crispy baked chicken tacos (a visual step-by-step guide):
Step 1: preheat oven & cook the chicken
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a large skillet with nonstick spray over medium heat. Add the ground chicken and cook (image 1), breaking into bite size pieces for approximately 5 minutes until no longer pink. While the meat cooks make the taco seasoning. Add the salt, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, water and lime juice to a small mixing bowl and combine (image 2). Lower the heat to a simmer, add the taco seasoning paste (image 3) and stir to combine. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes (image 4).
Step 2: build the tacos
To make the corn tortillas easier to work with, wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 15-20 seconds. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray and lay out a tortilla. Top half the tortilla with 7g Mexican cheese, ¼ cup (58g) chicken filling and top with an additional 7g shredded cheese inside or outside the tortilla (image 5). Fold over and repeat with the remaining tacos (image 6). Spray the tops of the tortillas with oil spray and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few moments to get nice and crispy.
Step 3: make the avocado crema
While the tacos cook make the crema. Add the avocado, cottage cheese, lime juice, cilantro, salt and garlic to a high-speed blender (image 7). Blend for 5 minutes, and add 1 Tbsp. of milk at a time until you reach your desired consistency (image 8).
Step 7: serve crispy tacos
Remove the crispy tacos from the oven (image 9) and serve topped withyour favorite taco toppings like red onions, green chiles, salsa, pico de gallo and cilantro. Add a drizzle of crema to top it off or put it on the side for dipping.
Expert Tip!
To avoid the taco opening, place a baking pan on top of the tacos in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted enough to keep the shell folded over then remove and keep baking until crispy.
Recipe FAQs
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Add your favorite taco toppings on top of your tacos. I love cilantro, onion, salsa, olives, etc. Serve with Spanish rice and 5 layer dip.
Check out some of our other easy chicken recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Baked Chicken Tacos
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Baked Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
Taco Filling
- 1 lb. lean ground chicken 96/4
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder 1/5
- 1.5 Tbsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 Tbsp. lime juice
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 ⅓ cup shredded Mexican blend cheese 112g
Avocado Crema
- 2 ripe avocados 183g
- 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese 110g
- 4 Tbsp. lime juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 2-3 Tbsp. milk (any) to thin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spray a medium skillet with nonstick spray over medium heat. Add the ground chicken and cook breaking into bite size pieces for approximately 5 minutes until no longer pink.
- While the meat cooks make the homemade taco seasoning. Add the salt, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, water and lime juice to a small mixing bowl. Combine.
- Lower the heat to a simmer, add the taco seasoning paste and stir to combine. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes.
- To make the corn tortillas easier to work with, wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 15-20 seconds. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray or oil spray and lay out a tortilla. Top half the tortilla with 7g Mexican cheese, ¼ cup (58g) taco meat and top with an additional 7g cheese. Fold over and repeat with the remaining tacos. (see note)
- Spray the tops of the tortillas with oil spray and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few moments to get nice and crispy.
- While the tacos cook make the crema. Add the avocado, cottage cheese, lime juice, cilantro, salt and garlic to a high speed blender. Blend for 5 minutes, and add 1 Tbsp. of milk at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Serve tacos topped with a drizzle of crema or on the side for dipping, red onions, salsa, and cilantro.
Notes
- Baking tip: You may need to move the tortillas around to ensure they stay flat, if for any reason they flop open in the oven just push them back over and the cheese will hold them as it melts. Optional, you can lay a second sheet pan on top for half of the bake time and remove the second half to brown the tops.
- If in a time crunch, omit the avocado crema and serve with light sour cream or a dollop of greek yogurt.
- Serving size: 1 taco + 1 Tbsp. crema
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
