Y’all, I’m officially in love… with Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos! My new obsession began about two weeks ago. We never plan to eat at parties or the homes of our friends and family due to the special diets our kids and I have. Instead, we always pack a snack or meal in a cooler or lunch kit to go. This is our norm and on most days, we are perfectly content with whatever we have brought because we know our diagnoses and have accepted our fate. This day was one of the few exceptions.
Our family went to a friend’s birthday pool party in a town about an hour away from home. There was plenty of friends, fun, and food that day. Guests were served birthday cake, snacks and chicken taquitos. One of our teenage children, who was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 7, smelled the aroma and heard the crunch of what she used to know as a super tasty thing. Suddenly her homemade gluten free chocolate chip brownie wasn’t cutting her cravings. Nothing but a taquito would do.
Hoping to make our sad kid happy again by finding a quick fix in the grocery store, we frantically googled “gluten free taquitos” in the car all the way back to our town. We were sad to discover none were available for sale anywhere nearby. Undaunted, we researched products for days while our teen did as teens do and sulked about her sad, taquito free life.
The search yielded nothing but ideas on how to recreate an easy, safe, and super tasty version of chicken taquitos right in our own kitchen. Well, I’ve got to hand it to my husband, because he hit a homerun on his very first attempt to experiment with ingredients.
Enter, Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos!
Ingredients for Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos
- Cooked Chicken
- Homemade Spicy Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Cayenne Pepper
- Salsa (your favorite brand)
- Shredded Cheese
- 18-25 Corn Tortillas – 5 inches in diameter
- Canola Oil (or your favorite cooking or salad/condiment oil)
How to Make Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos
To start, you’ll need to finely chop or shred 3 cups of cooked chicken. We’ve used both homemade cooked chicken breasts and also a gluten free rotisserie chicken we picked up at Costco. By cooking homemade chicken, you can better control the salt content and other ingredients, but if you’re looking to shave off a ton of time and make this as convenient as possible, using a freshly cooked rotisserie chicken you picked up from your grocery store is definitely the way to go.
No matter which you choose, it will be tasty either way!
Next, you’ll need to measure out 1 teaspoon of each of the following seasonings: Chili Powder, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Paprika. Then add a ½ teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper. You can either mix them individually with the chicken, or mix the seasonings together prior to adding to the chicken. Premixing the seasonings will help ensure a more even distribution of the seasonings, but it is completely up to you to decide how you run your kitchen. No judgements here!
Thoroughly mix the seasonings with the chicken until the chicken is evenly coated.
Add 1 cup of your favorite salsa.
Mix the salsa thoroughly with the seasoned chicken.
Add 1 cup of shredded cheese. You can shred your own or if short on time, you can use pre-shredded cheese.
Mix the cheese thoroughly in the seasoned chicken with salsa mixture. This is an important step because the cheese will melt and help bind the chicken mixture to the tortilla and hold your taquitos together.
Once you’ve mixed all of your ingredients together, it will be time to prepare the tortillas for rolling.
Wrap two to three tortillas in a damp paper towel that you’ve wet with water and place in the microwave. Heat them for 15-30 seconds – just long enough to allow the warm steam to infuse the tortillas. *Steaming only two to three tortillas at a time will prevent them from becoming overly wet or from cooling too quickly before you’ve had a chance to fill and roll them.
Once the tortillas have been steamed, you’ll need to move quickly to work with them before they cool so you can prevent the corn tortillas from cracking.
It’s time to add the cheesy chicken mixture to the tortillas and roll them up. How little or how much of the cheesy chicken mixture you’d like to add to your tortilla is completely up to you. Two tablespoons even spread across half a tortilla is a good place to start.
If it appears as if there’s more filling than you’d prefer, you can always remove some prior to rolling and baking; if too little filling, you can always add some more.
Once you’ve rolled the filled tortillas, place them seam side down in rows on a foil lined sheet pan.
Brush the rolled taquitos in oil. I used a gluten free canola oil, but you can use olive oil or whatever cooking oil you prefer.
Bake the Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos in the oven at 350° for 20 minutes or until the tortillas have turned a golden color and have become lightly crispy in texture.
How and When to Serve Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos
How:
Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos are perfect all on their own, but if you’d like a little something extra, they can be served with any of the following:
- Cilantro and a Squeeze of Lime Juice
- Chile con Queso
- Guacamole
- Pico de Gallo
- Refried Beans
- Salsa
- Easy Charro Beans
When:
Keep these Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos on hand to serve:
- As an after school snack for kids.
- When unexpected guests arrive.
- Paired with other easy snacks for game days or movie nights.
- As an appetizer at parties.
- Any time you have a sudden craving for Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos!
How to Store and Reheat Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos
These taquitos can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days and reheated in the oven at 350° for approximately 5-7 minutes or until thoroughly heated through and the tortilla becomes crispy again.
Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos that have been previously fully cooked and then frozen can be reheated in an oven at 425° for approximately 15-20 minutes until thoroughly heated through and the tortilla becomes crispy again.
If you enjoyed our Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos, then you’ll love some of our other favorite recipes!
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Utterly Deadly (Gluten Free) Southern Pecan Pie
Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cooked Chicken (Finely chopped or shredded.)
- 1 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper (Optional, adjust to your preference.)
- 1 cup Salsa
- 1 cup Shredded Cheese
- 18-25 Small Corn Tortillas (5 inches in diameter.)
- 1-3 tbsp Oil (Canola, Olive, or your preference.)
Instructions
Taquito Filling
- Finely chop or shred 3 cups of cooked chicken.
- Add 1 teaspoon of each of the following seasonings: Chili Powder, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Paprika.
- Add a ½ teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.
- Thoroughly mix the seasonings with the chicken until the chicken is evenly coated.
- Add 1 cup of your favorite salsa.
- Mix the salsa thoroughly with the seasoned chicken.
- Add 1 cup of shredded cheese.
- Mix the cheese thoroughly in the seasoned chicken with salsa mixture.
Tortilla Preparation
- Wrap two to three tortillas in a damp paper towel that you've wet with water and place in the microwave. Repeat after filling and rolling.
Fill and Roll
- Spread 2 tablespoons of the cheesy chicken filling across half of the tortilla and quickly roll up.
- Brush the rolled taquitos in oil.
Bake
- Bake the Tasty Gluten Free Chicken Taquitos in the oven at 350° for 20 minutes or until the tortillas have turned a golden color and have become lightly crispy in texture.
Serve
- Cool and serve alone or with salsa, guacamole, queso or other dipping sauces.
in the USA
