Taquitos! Just in time for Cinco de Mayo. One of my pet peeves is when people say that a healthier version of a traditionally unhealthy food tastes just as good. When it obviously doesn’t. “You’ll never know it’s light!” Ya, maybe if you’ve never tasted real food, but most of the time that’s just crap. Anyone who has followed counsel of the diet books to make spaghetti with spaghetti squash instead of pasta knows what I’m talking about. So when I tell you that a lighter version of something really does match up to it’s calorie-dense cousin, you can believe me! That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I made taquitos at home for the first time. The tortillas baked up nice and crisp, and I found spraying the tops with a little cooking spray and a pinch of salt helped them have that deep-fried flair. And actually, I prefer this baked version because the deep fried ones tend to get so chewy and oily. These are super easy to make and even easier if you prepare the filling ahead of time. You could experiment with all kinds of filling–shredded beef or pork would be great, too. This particular filling is something I came up with for an entirely different recipe but I thought it might work well as a taquito filling and I think I was right. My family gobbled these up.
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
print recipe text only
1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese
small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well)
kosher salt
cooking spray
Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
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. Stir to combine and then add 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.
Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.
Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.
Then roll it up as tight as you can.
Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.
Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.
The ones pictured below are actually flour tortillas- which I found out I like just as well (maybe even better!) than corn ones.
Dip ‘em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or this dressing.
Makes 12-16
Wanna make it a meal?
Serve with a side of Black Beans and a simple green salad with Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing. Wash it down with some Brazilian Lemonade!
Looking for the beef version? It’s right here!
Lastly, recently this recipe was noted in an article in the Chicago Sun-Times where the author noted that they were “some of the best taquitos I’ve ever had” I’ll take it!
Appetizers
Beef
Sandwiches and Burgers
Beverages
Breads
Breakfast and Brunch
Condiments
Desserts
Pizza and Pasta
Pork
Poultry
Salads and Dressings
Seafood
Side Dishes and Vegetables
Soups and Stews
Candy Penguin Cupcakes
Cinnamon Bun Caramel Corn
Single Serving Pie in a Jar
These are so delicious! Love them so much we wanted to share… we posted a link: http://ificould-ificould.blogspot.com/2011/05/baked-chicken-taquitos-quick-meal.html
Thanks for another great recipe!!!
Missy & Kimi
if I could…
I made these 2 days in a row. My husband and I love it! Thank you so much!
These are wonderful. My picky 16 year old daughter almost ate the whole batch! We eat chicken tacos often, so I have an easy way to make shredded chicken ahead. Add boneless, skinless chicken breasts to your crock pot. However many you have. add a can of diced tomatoes (with Chilis!), diced onion, garlic, and spices or taco seasoning to your liking. cook till shredable. I package it up in 2 cup servings and freeze. then you have chicken on hand for tacos – or these yummy taquitos. only need to add a few of the ingredients depending on how you seasoned your chicken.
I LOVE these!! I made them last week with chicken & am making black bean ones tonight. I used flour tortillas both times & it worked out great.
So good, so easy. A hit!
Made these tonight using your Taco Chicken (previously made & frozen). These were WONDERFUL! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
Made these tonight, and they were delicious! But you already knew that. The best part, that you probably don’t know, is that my toddler practically inhaled these! I wasn’t sure how she would handle the spices, but they were a huge hit. Thank you so much for all your awesome recipes.
I wondered if you could make bigger taquitos and drizzle some red sauce on them and shredded cheese and make enchiladas?! Mexican food sounds yummy for tonight!
Yep, that would be good!
I just made these last night and they were super easy and super yummy! I made them with flour tortillas and was impressed. I LOVE Mexican Food and these are a new favorite!
I ran across this recipe (thanks to Money Saving Mom) and I love your blog! These were delicious when we had them a few weeks ago. Also, I just realized I froze the remainder of them so they will be great for a quick and easy dinner tonight! Yum!
I made these for lunch today, I substituted green salsa for red salsa (not sure where to find green or what it tastes like) and they were quite good. Something different from my usual checken fingers and fries. The only comment I’d make is even though I went light on the cilantro (maybe one Tablespoon if that) it was still the flavour that stood out most and I am not a huge fan of cilantro so if like me you’re not a huge fan, you need barely any as it is a very flavourful herb and it tends to overpower the other ingreedients. Also I don’t like mine super crispy so I cooked them for 7 minutes which gave them just a nice light browning on the ends and the bottom and a bit of a crunch.
A recipe I’d make again though I might replace the cilantro with fresh parsley which I like more :)
[...] Baked Chicken Taquitos —————-(adapted from OurBestBites) [...]
I made these for dinner, along with yalls quick and easy black bean recipe and I made a side of the cilantro lime dressing, and it was a delicious dinner! :) We all enjoyed it! Thanks!
So nice to have a new Mexican dish to make! They were a tad spicy for me (I’m a mild/medium salsa kind of girl), but I’ll just cut out the chili powder next time, and they’ll be perfect for my “mild” taste buds! Will definitely be making these again (and with beef too)!
[...] Slightly adapted from Pink Parsley Catering, via Pennies on a Platter, Originally from Our Best Bites [...]
I made these last night and they were DELICIOUS! I’m kind of a spice-sissy, though, so I switched out the regular cream cheese for Philadelphia Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme and cut out the green salsa and chili powder. So good!!! I will definitely make them again – they’ve quickly become a family favorite!
I made these for dinner this evening. Oh man- are they delish! And I love the fact that my hands smell like lime and cilantro! Thanks for the recipe!
I eat these about once a week now.
:)
OH.MY.GOSH. These are AMAZING!!! Hubby couldn’t get enough..can’t wait to make another batch and freeze some!!
WOW THESE ARE INCREDIBLE!! I just made them tonight and my husband and I LOVED them. Will defnitely add this to the recipe box. Thanks for sharing this wonderful and easy recipe.
These sound great. I’m planning on making a double batch to take up to a cottage for a family get together.
Can I bring them up totally done, and just re-heat when I’m up there? Or is it better to roll them up, and not bake at all until just before serving?
Lucy, I’d recommend getting them all rolled up and ready to go, but baking right before serving. Enjoy!
Thanks Sara! I ended up doing the filling at home, and then rolling and baking them up at the cottage. A big hit! My husband loved them. Will be making them again soon, for sure!
These are delicious! I served them for a girl’s night party with the cilantro lime dressing and they were a total hit, everyone was begging for the recipe. It was great that I could make the filling and dressing ahead, and only had to fill, roll, and bake before the party. I’ve since made for dinner using leftover roasted/grilled/whatevered chicken. I have always used flour tortillas and tend to spice mine a lot heavier (more salsa, more hot sauce). Great one girls! Got me hooked on the site :)
These are fantastic. I have made them for everyone I know. I love love love the filling. I have tried them with flour tortillas, white corn tortillas (my favorite) and even put the filling in a enchilada casserole. Yummy.
My family and I enjoyed these immensely! Can’t believe I’m just now making them, seeing that I’m a Texas girl!
I tried these last night. They were so good and easy to make! I will definitely make them again. I served mine with sour cream and salsa on the side. Also, I served them with Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos, which I found on http://www.myrecipes.com
Yummy!
Another question, and someone may have asked this but gosh there are too many comments to read on this recipe! While this is yummy and I am planning to make this tonight for dinner I was just wondering if this was good with shrimp instead of chicken (just noticed shrimp are on sale in my neck of the woods this week). Aren’t shrimp and chicken often interchangable? Or am I making that up?
I honestly have no idea. I hate seafood (especially shrimp) so I’m the wrong person to ask! lol
I have made these several times now – delicious! I use the uncooked tortillas that can be found near the canned biscuits at the grocery store. You just heat them up on a skillet and they taste like they came straight from your favorite Mexican restaurant. Plus, they are super soft so they don’t crack when you bake them.
[...] Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos – adapted from Our Best Bites [...]
I just made these using fat free cream cheese and they were DELICIOUS! My husband who REFUSES to eat “fat free” things didn’t notice because I didn’t tell him :) He told me how amazing they were! Thanks for a great recipe! It will definitely be a staple in our meal plans!
[...] Source: Our Best Bites [...]
We love these in our home! especially the flour tortillas. We also love to dip them in home made cilantro lime ranch! yumm!!
I just recently discovered your cookbook/website. LOVE IT!!! Just made these taquitos last night for dinner, complete with the Taco Chicken and Cilantro Lime Dressing and WOW were they good! Even my picky eater kids ate them up! Thanks for such a great new addition to our dinner menu!!
I’ve made these several times and they’re awesome!
Yum mm!!! I just finished making these… 30 min prep since I think I’m slow, but DELICIOUS!! what a treat. The cream cheese is a welcome change from a sour cream base. Go girls!
Claire, please read my comment below. I found that if you put the filling in a zip-top bag you can bang out a whole tray of these pretty quickly. Much faster than spooning it on the tortillas, and not as messy!
[...] Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos | Our Best Bites. [...]
I just needed to tell you that once you get the technique down for these, they really become a go-to recipe to stock the freezer! I wind up usually using ground turkey browned and seasoned with taco or southwest seasoning, but you can add pretty much anything to the basic recipe! I found that using flour tortilla seem to roll better for me than the corn ones, and come out just as crunchy when baked.
As to freezing them, I only ever cook them frozen anymore. It keeps the filling from oozing out onto the pan too much. One more tip: scoop the filling into a zip-top bag, cut off the corner and you can “pipe” the filling onto the tortilla, which makes assembly much faster!
The only question: does anyone have any filling ideas to turn these into BREAKFAST taquitos?
Thanks again for a winning recipe!
I just did a search of OurBestBites and found the breakfast taquito recipe! Thanks!!!
These are so tasty! I make them all the time! Thank you so much for this little gem!
Holly @ naturallysweetrecipes.blogspot.com
These were SO good, I just bought your cookbook and I am having so much fun with the recipes. Thank you :)
When we made these, we sprinkled Parmesan cheese on them instead of the salt…super yummy!
[...] Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos Adapted from Pink Parsley, originally from Our Best Bites [...]
i live in the town where my husband grew up, which happens to be in mexico, and i’m always trying new mexican recipes. i tried this from your cookbook hoping it would reach my husbands expectations – he’s kind of a hard one to please, as far as food goes at least. he took one bite of these and yelled at me from the kitchen (i was across the house) “Meredith – these are awesome!” thanks for the crowd pleaser!!
Love these! A new family favorite! I blogged about them here. http://valleyofsunshine.blogspot.com/2011/09/best-taquitos-ever.html
[...] for Lola’s birth, along with the mango quinoa salad. Thanks Mommy!! I found the recipes on Our Best Bites & made them again when we had the missionaries over for dinner this [...]
I made these using left over turkey after Thanksgiving….yum-o!! Gonna make them again tonight using the Costco canned chicken, in a pinch so it should do!
[...] This is my favorite chicken recipe, hands down. Hope it's ok to post a link, I'm not affiliated at all, just love this recipe: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos | Our Best Bites [...]
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for several days, and finally got around to making these today! WHY did I wait so long. These are delish and super easy. 10times better than the ones in the freezer boxes. Thanks!
These were very yummy!! One of my fav’s!!
Mahalo!
[...] [...]
I am obsessed with these, as is my husband. They are soooo good. They have become a staple in the house. I make fauxtisserie chicken and use it to make these; sometimes I freeze the chicken mix, defrost, then stuff the tortillas and bake.
I am eating them right now making yummy noises!
I made these for dinner the other night and 1 & 1/2′d the recipe thinking I would have enough for friends coming for lunch the next day. What a foolish thought that was! My young daughters ate more than their normal portions – as did my husband and I. There was enough for my husband’s lunch the next day, but that was it! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
[...] of Sara over at Our Best Bites comes the winning recipe of the day: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos. Previously, I have experienced taquitos in exactly two options: deep-fried (and pricey) at Mexican [...]
I made these again tonight with leftover turkey. Followed all directions, just substituted the chicken with all the left over turkey we had from Thanksgiving dinner. They were delicious! Just thought I’d let you know, so if you make a post about what to do with thanksgiving leftovers, you could include this one. :) Thanks!
I’m allergic to gluten, so I make these ahead of time when I come home from college, and then whenever I need a quick dinner back at school, I just pop them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes and I have a quick, healthy, freezer meal.
(A lot of people asked when they freeze them. I cook them until they’re ALMOST done and then freeze them in giant zip lock bags)
I made them today with a bunch of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, they turned out great! :)
Thanks again! I love these! …and pretty much everything on this website! :)
-Anita
oh haha, I guess Jaime and I had the same idea! :)
They turned out delicious with the turkey! :)
Just turned the rest of my leftover turkey into a double batch of taquitos for the freezer!! YUMMM, and way better than choking down leftover turkey for another 3 days :) Thanks for the awesome recipes!
[...] couple years ago, my friend Sara posted a recipe for some awesome creamy chicken taquitos which became a hit on her blog. I enjoyed making them, but sadly, I can’t figure out how to [...]
OK I am the one who asked if you could make these with shrimp. I finally did it and they were so yummy! The only change I made to substitute the tiny (what we call) gumbo shrimp. OK now that I look at the actual ingredient list- I didnt have green onions so I didnt put that in, but that would have made them better. So if you can get your hands on some fresh Louisiana shrimp, give it a try! Actually mine were not fresh they were frozen. :)
Made these tonight for something different after Christmas. Everybody L.O.V.E.D. them – even the picky teenage daughter. :) Tried them with white corn tortillas but will use flour tortillas next time. The corn rolled great when warm but cracked as soon as they cooled. Thanks for such an easy, yummy recipe.
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you really know what you’re speaking approximately! Bookmarked. Please also discuss with my web site =). We could have a hyperlink alternate agreement between us
This is one of my very favorites. I slow bake the taco chicken recipe all day so it’s fall apart tender and dip them in your guac recipe! To die for!
[...] from Pennies on a Platter, who adapted it from Our Best Bites Like this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]
Made these last night, and found out while preparing them that I had run out of chili powder so I used Chipotle chili powder- it’s all I had, and they were heavenly! Everyone raved about them. Thanks for sharing!
Have to comment because these saved my life tonight. My night became something from “Dinner Disasters.” (Is there such thing? Should be.) It involved massive amounts of dough, an absent husband, a screaming baby . . . then I remembered I had a bunch of these in the freezer. Popped them in the oven, made a quick salad and dipping sauce, and there you go, miracle dinner my kids LOVED. It was good enough to ignore the fact the smoke alarm woke up the baby and my kids subsequently sang, “Fire Burning” variations all through the meal. (Nothing was burning, my smoke alarm just doesn’t like it when I open the oven. Another story.) So, yes, thanks!
If anyone ever reads this comment looking for tips, when they come from the freezer they don’t turn out looking all lovely like pictured. I don’t care, but just in case you do. Also, this is obvious, but a while back I cooked some from the freezer and forgot to put the seam sides down. Tostadas!
Hey! I made these last night and they were DELISH… but I couldn’t get them to stay closed. I tried using toothpicks but I ended up having to settle with them looking terrible. Any thoughts on how I can make them stay round without breaking??
When you use flour tortillas instead of corn, two things happen. First and most important, the caloric value of the food item jumps. So corn tortillas mean less calories. Second, when you use flour tortillas, it is no longer technically a taquito. It is something else completely.
I absolutely love Mexican food, but have never tried to make anything like this before. Definitely want to give this a try! :)
I found this recipe from ifIcould-ifIcould….they were so YUMMY!!! I loved them. Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely making them again—-and often. I’ve been looking around your blog and I’m a fan. I’ll definitely be trying more.
HI I just got done making this tonight and as a mistake I added 1 Tbsp Paprika thinking it was the chili powder. I noticed what I did and added the chili like normal and did everyting like normal. I cannot believe the awesome spice it gives the mixture and from now on I’m going to add Paprika everytime :D Love this dish and always will!
My hubby does not like sour cream… do you think I could use some cream of chicken soup instead to make it more moist? I know, I have made these before and they are delish made just as instructed, I just thought I would try to be nice this time. ha ha.
Sure, cream of chicken would work great!
Made these AGAIN tonight but used your cilantro lime vinagrette instead of the green salsa-SOOOO yummy.
Love it! Making them tonight! Also, just WHERE in the South do you live where they don’t have good Mexican? That sounds impossible!
[...] I served these little Taquitos with Spanish rice and some Velveeta cheese dip so it reminded me of a dish I used to have in Washington, DC. The creaminess of the filling is different than what I’m used to be it was extremely delicious. Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos (recipe slightly adapted from Our Best Bites) [...]
Quick question– are these freezer friendly the way the breakfast taquitos are? I want to make these and the black beans for a freezer food exchange. I loove looove looooove the breakfast taquitos–make them every conference sunday :)