Chicken Tacos
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Say hello to your new favorite tacos! These family-approved chicken tacos, made with bold spices and tender ground chicken, are a lighter spin on my old-school beef taco recipe — and they’re just as good, if not better.
When my kids were younger, I came up with a few weeknight traditions to make dinnertime feel special (kudos to past me—I was way more ambitious back then!). Taco Tuesday was always a favorite. Every Tuesday, the kids would come home from school all “Yay, it’s taco night!” We made everything from shrimp tacos to Baja fish tacos, but this chicken taco recipe was always a top pick. Even now, as young adults, they still request it! A lighter take on my traditional hard-shell beef taco recipe, these pack just as much flavor and always hit the spot.
Pair this chicken taco recipe with Mexican rice—and round it out with salsa and/or guacamole for a complete Tex-Mex meal.
“I love a delicious ground beef taco but I would choose this over ground beef any day!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Tacos
- Olive oil – Used to cook the veggies and adds a little richness to the filling.
- Onions, bell peppers & garlic – These build the flavor base—sweet, savory, and with just a little bite.
- Ground chicken – The star of the filling. I recommend using ground chicken that includes both breast and thigh meat so it stays juicy and flavorful (super lean blends can dry out fast).
- Spices (paprika, ancho chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper) – This mix brings warmth, smokiness, and a gentle kick—feel free to adjust the cayenne to suit your heat level.
- Tomato sauce – Helps bring everything together with a little tang and depth.
- Fresh cilantro – Brightens things up and adds color (feel free to skip it if you’re not a fan).
- Hard taco shells – Made from corn tortillas and baked until crisp—perfect for holding the flavorful filling.
- Toppings (shredded lettuce or cabbage, Mexican cheese blend, sour cream, avocado, a squeeze of lime juice, etc.) – Optional, but they add great texture and flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Chop the vegetables. You can do this by hand, but a food processor makes it easier. I like to chop them really fine so my kids don’t notice—that way they eat their veggies without the usual fuss.
Pro Tip: If using a food processor, pulse in short bursts so the veggies don’t turn to mush—you want tiny pieces, not a puree.
Step 2: Cook the veggies. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, then add the chopped vegetables and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until very soft.
Step 3: Add the chicken and spices. Stir in the ground chicken and spices, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Adding the spices now helps bring out their full flavor.
Step 4: Brown the chicken. Raise the heat to high and keep breaking the meat into small clumps. Let it cook until partially done, about 5 minutes.
Step 5: Simmer with tomato sauce. Pour in the tomato sauce, lower the heat, and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and keep breaking up the chicken as it cooks. Once it’s done, stir in some fresh cilantro and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Step 6: Heat the shells and serve. Warm the taco shells in the oven. Fill them with the chicken mixture and top with lettuce and cheese—or skip the shells and serve it with chips for scooping. If you have any remaining chicken, repurpose leftovers into bowls, quesadillas, or salads.
More Tex-Mex Recipes You May Like
Chicken Tacos
With seasoned ground chicken, warm spices, and all your favorite toppings, these chicken tacos are fast, flavorful, and endlessly customizable.
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.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: The taco meat mixture can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you're ready to serve, simply reheat it on the stove over medium heat, adding a splash of water if needed to loosen the sauce. For longer storage, the taco meat can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Let it cool completely before transferring to a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag. To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm it up in a skillet, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
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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Comments
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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