This Chicken Taquito recipe is one of the all-time most popular recipes on Our Best Bites. They can be made in a variety of sizes and on any type of tortilla you like (more details below) and also work great as a freezer meal! These are a go-to for me when taking a meal to a friend. I love rolling them up and including baking instructions so people can bake them when they’re ready. They also work well for making ahead and keeping in your own freezer. You can pull them out for a busy weeknight dinner, or just one or two at a time for a snack in the air fryer.
Ingredients Needed
- Cream Cheese
- Green salsa
- Lime
- Cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Chicken – any kind of cooked shredded chicken will work. Rotisserie chicken is great and works well!
- Pepper jack cheese
- Tortillas – more notes on tortillas below, but you can use corn, flour, or un-cooked.
- Salt
- Cooking spray or oil
Here’s a photo walkthrough of the recipe!
How to Make Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos
This is just a quick overview, you’ll find a printable recipe at the end of this article.
- Combine a sauce of cream cheese, green salsa, fresh lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic, cilantro and green onions.
- Mix in shredded cooked chicken and pepper jack cheese and this is the easy flavor-packed filling.
- Now just roll them up in the tortillas of your choice.
- I like to rub them with a bit of oil to help the outsides crisp up and sprinkle the tops with just a bit of kosher salt.
- Bake them up in the oven until they’re golden and crisp on the outside. You might see cheesy filling spilling out the edges and that’s okay! After they come out of the oven you can take a spoon and push it back in.
What tortillas should I use?
You can really use any tortillas you like. I originally created this recipe with small corn tortillas but over the years people kept telling me they loved them with flour so eventually I started doing that too and that’s what you see in my photos. But you can use whatever you like!
- Corn tortillas – you’ll want to buy them fresh so they are less likely to crack. Wrapping in a few damp paper towels and warming in the microwave will help keep them soft and rollable.
- Flour tortillas – I use the soft taco size flour tortilla (which produces about 12 taquitos). They will crisp up brown on the ends, but stay soft in the centers. They’re easy to work with and work great for freezing or making ahead.
- Fresh/raw tortillas – if using this style of tortilla, you don’t need to cook the tortilla before rolling! You can just roll up raw and they cook quickly in the oven. This style of tortilla tends to puff up when baked so you might get some puffs or splits during baking, but they taste delicious.
- Low Carb Tortillas – These work great with low carb style tortillas as well as lavash bread.
Dipping Suggestions
These are great simply served with sour cream on the side, but if you want to kick it up a notch, pair it with my Lime-Cilantro Ranch or some homemade guac and salsa!
Cafe Rio Copycat Creamy Tomatillo Dressing (Lime Cilantro Ranch)
Guacamole
Cantina-Style Salsa
Take a Meal
I love taking this recipe to friends when I’m delivering a meal. I prepare until the rolling step and skip brushing in oil and salt (they’re still great without that step and it’s simpler just to skip it, but that’s up to you! You can also include on the instructions to brush with oil or spray with non-stick oil spray before baking). Just stack the rolled taquitos in a zip-top back or other container and include baking instructions. Some things you can mix and match with this meal depending on what you have time for:
- Sour cream or a container of my homemade Lime-Cilantro Ranch for dipping
- A side of rice and beans
- A bag of chips and a jar of salsa
- A bagged salad
- Fresh fruit
- A quick treat like cookies or a pint of ice cream
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 3 ounces cream cheese low fat is fine, avoid fat free
- ¼ cup green salsa
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoon sliced green onions
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken 10-12 oz
- 1 cup grated pepperjack or plain jack cheese about 4 ounces
- 12 soft taco size tortillas or tortillas of your choice
- kosher salt
- cooking spray or oil
Instructions
For the filling
- Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir.
- Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic, cilantro and green onions.
- Add chicken and cheese and combine well. (You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.)
For the taquitos
- Heat oven to 425℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment or spray a baking sheet or foil-lined baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- If using corn tortillas, work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave, wrapped in damp paper towels until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If using flour tortillas use them at room temperature or warm them slightly in the microwave if they aren't super fresh. If using fresh, uncooked tortillas you can roll them raw.
- The amount of filling you use will be different depending on what size tortilla you use. For soft taco size tortillas place about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1 inch from the edges as you roll to prevent filling from leaking out. Roll up tortillas and place seam down on a baking sheet, not touching one another.
- Spray each taquito lightly with cooking spray, or lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with just a little bit of kosher salt, if desired.
- Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the ends start to get golden brown and crisp. Different types of tortillas will bake differently so set a timer for less and keep an eye on them. Sometimes seeing a bit of filling coming out is a good indicator. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. If filling has leaked out just use a spoon to push it back in.
- Dip in sour cream, guacamole or my Lime-Cilantro Ranch.
- Air Fryer Instructions: All air fryers will cook differently, but in mine I do 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. I suggest checking them at the 6-8 minute range.
Notes
Nutrition
More recipes to love!
Here’s some recipes that pair nicely with these taquitos if you want to bulk it up into a bigger meal!
Questions & Reviews
Could you suggest a quick easy way to get shredded chicken for this recipe? Please? Thank you =) -Tara
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the recipe that brought me to your yummy blog and got me hooked. After making them the first time, my husband came home the next night and asked when we could have them again — he'd been craving them all day! I've made them many times since then and just spent the last couple of days making a big batch of both the chicken and the chipotle beef versions so I could have plenty on hand in the freezer. ***One thought/suggestion — if you're lucky enough to live near a Costco that carries the uncooked flour tortillas, I'd definitely recommend using those. It makes the assembly process so easy (no worries about breaking tortillas), and the flavor is unbeatable. Just keep an eye on them in the oven — mine take about 9-10 minutes to cook. Delicious!!!
This is absolutely amazing! They taste JUST like a restaurant! I was apprehensive about the taste, but WOW! It is a bit spicy, so not sure what is causing that. The lime and cilantro really come through on the taste. Both corn and flour are really good. Thanks sooo much! I am definitely keeping this recipe!
My husband said the same thing as all the other husbands…"This is a keeper!" I used the corn tortillas, but will try the flour next time.
Thanks for sharing this! Yummmmm!
My husband doesn't prefer chicken. I made these anyway (because *I like* chicken, heh) and he said something to the effect of, 'See, if you'd cook with chicken like this, I like it.' In other words, we have a winner. 🙂 Oh and as for my opinion, loved them; I used flour tortillas btw and yes….. so very, very tasty!
These were so yummy! I'm 34 weeks pregnant and have been doubling meals to freeze for when the baby comes, so I doubled these. They were actually so easy to make. I had cooked the chicken ahead and just had to throw them together. We loved them! I served them with the cilantro lime rice and some corn. Thanks for such a great recipe!
Thanks you're a peach! I made the double batch as I mentioned earlier, however, I don't think they're all going to make it to the freezer (if any!) Hubby took one bite and said, "Wow, this is a keeper." We ate it with your lime rice ("Another keeper" in his words) and brazilian lemonade. This was in the same week we had chunky monkey pancakes for dinner =) as well as your black bean soup. I used to think I was a bad cook, now I'm convinced I just had bad recipes! Cooking is fun again b/c I'm always enjoying the results! I love how ya'lls recipes are non-time consuming and 100% there in flavor. We've got french dip sandwich meat in the crockpot for tonight and I'll be making your tortellini soup this week too. As well as your Thai noodles…and coconut chicken… did I mention I'm hooked? Well, I am. Love love love you guys! Btw, I'm a newbie to the site and I love how you have links sprinkled throughout your food posts. Like when you say, "Goes well with…" or "if you have leftovers of this, use it in this…" Yeah. My kitchen has seen more of me in these last two weeks than it has in a long time. Thanks again for sharing your talents!
Jenissa- you can do it either way. You don't have to thaw them, you can just stick them right on the sheet frozen (spray the sheet first) or if it's more convenient to let them thaw out in the fridge that works too!
these look great… I am making a double batch tonight so that I can freeze some extra while to eat when our kitchen is gutted next week/month/whenever hubby gets to it. One question, I plan on freezing them unbaked, and I'm wondering, when I cook them, do I need to thaw them, or do I just toss them on a baking sheet frozen, and then spray them w/cooking spray and salt (or do you do that step before you freeze?) thanks so much!
Made these with the Cilantro Lime Dipping sauce and the black beans. WOW! Amazing – all had quite a kick as I didn't hold back on the salsa, hot sauce or spices – boyfriend (whose awful picky) stated – You can make these again! Big win in our house. visiting g/f loved them 🙂
(I used flour fyi)
Sooo good – I might just have to make everything on your blog….