These chicken taquitos are stuffed with seasoned shredded chicken and cheese, then baked or fried to crispy perfection. Serve these taquitos with your favorite dipping sauces for a fun party snack or meal!
Chicken taquitos are an easy yet unexpected appetizer that’s perfect to feed a crowd – I have instructions for both baking and frying these crispy bites of goodness! Serve your taquitos with sides such as salsa fresca, black bean soup, cilantro lime rice and Chipotle guacamole for a complete meal.
I have to admit, for the longest time I thought of chicken taquitos only as a food you buy in the freezer section of the grocery store for a quick snack. Homemade chicken taquitos are SO much better than the store bought frozen kind, and they’re fun to assemble too!
Table of Contents
Chicken Taquitos Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, tortillas, and oil for frying.
How Do You Make Chicken Taquitos?
Make your filling by combining the chicken, cheeses and spices. Microwave the tortillas to make them pliable, then divide the chicken mixture between the tortillas. Roll up each tortilla tightly and secure it with a toothpick. From here, you can either deep fry the taquitos in oil, or bake in the oven on a baking sheet. Serve immediately, with toppings of your choice.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- The toothpicks are to hold everything together while the taquitos are cooking, and you should discard them before serving.
- Any type of cooked chicken works for this dish. I often use leftover chicken from the night before, or else I purchase a rotisserie chicken to save time.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or you can freeze them for 2 months. To reheat, bake the taquitos at 350 degrees F for 7-8 minutes or until crispy and warmed through.
- Serve your taquitos as a snack, or as part of a Mexican inspired meal with other dishes such as taco lasagna, chicken tinga, chipotle salsa, mexican tortilla pinwheels and cilantro lime shrimp.
- I like to add a drizzle of sour cream and some fresh pico de gallo or chipotle salsa to my chicken taquitos. Other great options are ranch dressing, guacamole, grated cotija cheese, chopped cilantro leaves, there are so many possibilities!
Quick Tip
Avoid store bought pre-shredded cheeses, as they often contain preservatives and anti caking agents and will not melt as well.
Recipe FAQs
Chicken taquitos have a chicken and cheese filling that is inside small corn tortillas.
The primary difference is that flautas use flour tortillas, and taquitos are use corn tortillas. Flautas also often use larger tortillas compared to taquitos.
The best way to make taquitos stay together is to roll them very tightly and secure them with toothpicks. Once the taquitos are out of the oven or fryer, they will hold together on their own and you can take the toothpicks out.
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Flavor Variations
While this dish is great as-is, you can change out the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Protein: Instead of shredded chicken you can also use cooked ground beef or ground turkey. Another great option is cooked shredded beef or pork.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add some vegetables to the mix such as sauteed peppers and onions, or even some cooked diced mushrooms.
- Cheese: Swap out the cheddar and Monterey jack for other types of shredded cheese such as mozzarella, pepper jack, queso oaxaca, or queso asadero. You can also stir some cream cheese into the filling.
My kids adore these chicken taquitos so I make them quite frequently. No need to buy the frozen version when you can have fresh, hot taquitos any time!
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Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Chicken Taquitos (Baked or Fried)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 12 small corn tortillas
- oil if frying
- cooking spray if baking
Instructions
- Place the chicken, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese in a bowl. Stir until combined.
- Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and place on a plate. Microwave for 1 minute or until tortillas are warm and pliable.
- Lay out the tortillas on a flat surface and divide the chicken and cheese mixture among the 12 tortillas. Roll up each tortilla tightly and secure with a toothpick.
- To fry the taquitos: Heat 3/4 inch of oil in a deep pan to 350 degrees F. Add 3-4 taquitos and fry until crisp and golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Repeat with remaining taquitos.
- To bake the taquitos: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the taquitos in a single layer on a sheet pan coated with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the taquitos with the cooking spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.
- Remove toothpicks, then serve.
Notes
- Nutritional information is for the baked taquitos as it is difficult to determine how much oil the taquitos will absorb during the frying process.
- The toothpicks are to hold everything together while the taquitos are cooking, and should be removed before serving.
- Any type of cooked chicken works for this dish. I often use leftover chicken from the night before, or else I purchase a rotisserie chicken to save time.
- Avoid store bought pre-shredded cheeses, as they often contain preservatives and anti caking agents and will not melt as well.
I make these in our air fryer and they come out perfect. I make a red aioli sauce for dipping and it’s the perfect combo.
One day I felt like making homemade taquitos at home, and I found this recipe. LOVE IT. My whole family really liked this recipe, and I make it at least once a week, or once every other week. It’s quick and easy to make, since this recipe calls for rotisserie chicken. You buy that at the store, and most often, I have the rest of the ingredients at home, and voila! Great dinner. The only thing that varies with this recipe is the heat time of the tortillas in the microwave. Depending on the brand, one to four minutes to heat them up is required, so they don’t fall apart in the oil.
Absolutely lovely. Will definitely make again but mine started to burn after 10 minutes so will do them on a lower temperature next time. Gorgeous flavours and quick to make.
I can bake it I like the fact that you can bakit cuz I don’t want to use a lot of oil thank you
My daughter has celiac an must eat gluten free. This is a greater simple dish that I made with leftover roasted duck and she and my wife loved it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
These were fantastic! Great combination of flavors. I did half in the frying pan, & half in the oven, & both ways turned out well. Thanks for the tip on heating the tortillas with a wet cloth; definitely made it easier to assemble.
Do you fry them with the toothpick in?
Yes you do!
I made them and baked them on foil. I served them with some ranch dip and even the fussy granddaughters ate them!
These are so good! It was the first time I had made taquitos and had never had them before. I baked them, and they turned out perfectly crispy! They were a hit with my family! I definitely plan to make them again! Thank you!
What is the best way to reheat these so they’re nice and crispy? Would you recommend par-frying, then frying them from frozen to finish them? Or is it better to fry them completely before freezing?
Hey there, I just made them the other night and froze them. I made 30 at a time and rolled them tightly and laid them next to each other, seam side down, in a 9×13 pan. Did not cook in advance. A metal pan seemed to work better for not sticking (once frozen) than glass. After they froze through, I placed the taquitos in freezer bags. I ended up frying them from frozen but it should work in the oven too as long as you leave extra time to cook through to 165F internal temp. They fried for maybe 2-3 min per side and then kept them in a warm oven til the rest of dinner cooked (black bean soup!). Awesome stuff.
Great food photos. It looks so good.
Talk about a recipe that my kids will enjoy, especially my two growing boys! I think this is something that I’d love to prepare for them for lunch or as an after school snack!
This is one delicious meal that would make my family go for seconds (and thirds). We love Mexican food and we love it spicy ho! I am saving the recipe and including this in our meal plan for next week. Can’t wait!
I must say I have never made these home made before. This recipe is easily one of the best I have seen for taquitos.
My goal for 2018 is to spend more time in the kitchen, so I’m so glad I came across this recipe! Having two ways to prepare them means I can choose based on how much time I’ve got to prep dinner.
My mouth is watering, I love taquitos. These look so delicious, I’m trying this recipe!
I love taquitos. I haven’t made them in quite a while though, I need to put them on the meal plan.
I love that you included a baked and fried version since my husband is trying to eat healthier, baked would be his preference. These would be great to make ahead of time and freeze for a quick meal solution too, I would think.
Woo hoo! Since we moved to the southwest, I’ve become a huge fan of Mexican and southwestern flavors. Taquitos are a family favorite, and I can’t wait to make this recipe!
I am going to have a family of happy campers very soon! We all love taquitos, and I’m sure this homemade variety is goign to be so much better than the frozen ones I always buy.
These taquitos look like a great snack or even for dinner or lunch. The big game is coming up and I am gathering up recipes like this to serve at aparty.