Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos
Currently, I have about 2,300 pins on Pinterest and between recipes and DIY projects, I’ve probably tried about 100 of them. That’s a lot of inspiration… probably enough to last me a lifetime (not that I’m going to stop pinning any time soon ;)). One of my first ever pins was this recipe for Taquitos by Sweet Pea’s Kitchen and HANDS DOWN these are my favorite thing I’ve tried from Pinterest (Jon agrees!).
We’ve made them 3 or 4 different times and last time we even doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers for lunch. That means we had taquitos 4 days in a row and Jon and I STILL wished we had more… they’re that good. This is one of those recipes that I plan to keep in my recipe box forever.
These taquitos are incredibly versatile – good for dinner, lunch, or even appetizers! What’s not to love about a warm, creamy, cheesy, chicken filling wrapped in a crispy tortilla? They’re also a great way to use up leftover chicken or if you want to make it super simple, buy a precooked rotisserie chicken from your grocery store.
On to the recipe… (I won’t judge you if you double it!)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (F) and line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
In a large mixing bowl, add your room temperature (important!) cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic, green onion, and salt and pepper.
Tip: In order to avoid chunks of cream cheese, I use the back of a wooden spoon to spread the cream cheese around the bowl before adding the rest of the ingredients – See picture below:
Tip: The last time I made these, I thought I had bought a jar of salsa but I didn’t (oops!) so I used diced tomatoes instead and added extra seasoning. I couldn’t taste a noticeable difference so if you don’t have salsa, this will work in a pinch!
Mix it all together then add your shredded chicken and shredded cheese.
Next, take a few of your tortillas (3-4) and microwave them for 10 seconds. This will make them more flexible and easier to roll up. Take one at a time and place about two tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the third of the tortilla that is closest to you.
Roll the tortilla up tightly and repeat the process with all remaining tortillas.
Tip: Jon and I found low-carb tortillas that were only 80 calories each. If you can find something similar, this is a great recipe to use them in since they get baked and will be crispy so you can’t notice a texture difference from ‘real’ tortillas.
Another Tip: Try not to place the chicken mixture too close to the edges of the tortilla because the mixture will expand during baking and will ooze out.
Once you’ve finished rolling up your tortillas, place them on your baking sheet. Now, spray them with cooking spray (olive oil, canola, etc) and sprinkle with ground black pepper and sea salt.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned and the cheese is bubbly.
Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos
Inspired by Sweet Pea’s Kitchen
Makes 8-10 taquitos
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked & shredded chicken
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 8-10 8″ (low carb) tortillas
- 3oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup salsa
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoons garlic powder or 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons chopped green onion
- salt & pepper to taste
What to Do
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F) and line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic, green onion, and salt and pepper.
- Mix it all together then add the shredded chicken and shredded cheese.
- Next, take a few of your tortillas (3-4) and microwave them for 10 seconds. This will make them more flexible and easier to roll up.
- Take one at a time and place about two tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the third of the tortilla that is closest to you.
- Roll the tortilla up tightly and repeat the process with all remaining tortillas.
- Once you’ve finished rolling up all of the tortillas, place them on your baking sheet.
- Spray them with cooking spray (olive oil, canola, etc) and sprinkle with ground black pepper and sea salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned and the cheese is bubbly.
Oh my gosh, Leah! That sounds amazing! I am literally addicted to mexican food but I never make it for myself! This sounds incredible and looks so easy! Thanks for sharing! xx
Thanks, Casey. I can’t stress enough how much I recommend this recipe – They’re just THAT good! 😉
Awww yea 🙂 New camera at work? LOVE the first photo! And absolutely amazing-sounding recipe. UGH! Why am I a vegetarian? I used to LOVE Trader Joe’s frozen taquitos, but making them sounds…um, really fun and delicious. I want!
Haha, believe it or not, all of these pix are still from my iPhone! I think I just got a lucky shot with the first picture.
Your strength as a vegetarian amazes me haha. But you could always substitute beans or tofu, right? I bet beans would actually be really good… kind of like a taquito quesadilla hybrid haha.
Ok! Now I am officially hungry! Looks yummy!
Leslie
Haha, thanks Leslie! They taste as good as they look!
Leah this looks delicious! even if my family is not mexican, my grandma loves mexican food so I’ve had a lot of it and yours looks good and easy to prepare, I will try this! 🙂 (I prepared my version of “fajitas” I think I will post it very soon (easy to prepare too)) 🙂
Ooo, I can’t wait to see your fajitas! This may not be authentic Mexican but it does the trick if you have a craving!
Oh. My. God. Salivating right now. And I’m not even hungry.
Haha, I’m truly flattered! Please let me know if you give these babies a try. 🙂
I also have a huge reading list of recipes that I want to try!! I think i actually have a recipe from Annie’s eats for baked chicken taquitos that I’ve been meaning to try forever! But I will try yours instead 🙂 Looks so delicious!!
I hear ya! It feels like my inspiration list is 47 miles long (not that that’s a bad thing)! Hopefully you get a chance to try these sooner rather than later but if not, no worries, the recipe isn’t going anywhere. 🙂
The tortillas look and sound yummy! Love the cream cheese and chicken filling, thanks for finding it on Pinterest and sharing it Leah! 🙂
Thanks Jasline. I love how easy Pinterest has made finding recipes. It’s fun to try new ones – I get really excited over ones like this that I know I will be making repeatedly!
Same here…wish I had them ready! We’ll be having these soon! Thanks,Leah.
Glad to hear it! Let me know how they turn out. I hope you love them as much as I do!
Leah, this looks beyond super delicious! I think I could eat these 4 days in a row too : )
Haha, kind of crazy isn’t it? I really thought we’d be sick of them – kind of like overdosing on taquitos – but nope, we still wanted more! Let me know if you run into the same dilemma 😉
I could definitely eat this for dinner! Yum!
They also refridgerator and/or freeze well too incase you want leftovers! I’m thinking about making some and cutting them into bite size pieces for a party appetizer too.
I’m in awe that these are baked AND low carb!!
I know, right?! And the cream cheese is fat-free! 🙂
Baked taquitos are a great idea! (Especially for people like me who love taquitos but have a slight deep-frying phobia…)
Hi Allison – thanks for stopping by. 🙂 I completely agree… There are so making perks to these being baked (healthier, safer, less mess, you can walk away while they’re cooking, etc).
hummmmm I’II try to make this recipe.
It may take a little time to assemble the taquitos but they’re worth it! Let me know how they turn out. 🙂
I’ve seen Sweet Pea’s recipe and have been meaning to try it. This makes me want to even more! Taquitos are so yummy, and I love that here they’re baked.
Baked AND I used fat-free cream cheese AND low-carb tortillas! They are an unbeatable combination. I would definitely recommend them. I might try them with some leftover Thanksgiving turkey too!