These Freezer Friendly Chicken Taquitos are my one of my new favorite go-to weekday lunches or dinners when I need a something quick for myself or only have a few minutes to get dinner on the table for my family. I meal-prep about 26-32 of them and serve a few for dinner that night and then freeze the rest.
Freezer Friendly Chicken Taquitos Recipe
I like these taquitos because they’re baked and not fried. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fried crispy taco or taquito, but my metabolism does not allow for that, so these crispy baked taquitos do the trick!
I’m not going to lie to you and say these are fast to meal prep. While they don’t take forever, they do take about 45-60 minutes to make after you’ve already cooked and shredded the chicken. But they do make between 26-32 taquitos and they’re easy to freeze for a fast meal on another day, so it’s doing all the work upfront for several meals.
The full, printable recipe is below, but I’m going to go over the ingredients and how to meal prep these taquitos along with some tips and tricks.
Ingredients for Freezer Friendly Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients:
- Chicken breasts
- Butter
- Water
- Lime juice
- Cream cheese
- Cheddar cheese
- Cilantro
- Salsa verde
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- White corn tortillas
- Coconut oil cooking spray
- Serve with: medium salsa, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream
Recommended Kitchen Equipment:
How to Make Freezer Friendly Chicken Taquitos
To make the chicken, I cook about 1.5 lbs of thinly cut chicken breasts for about 3 hours on low with 1 TB butter, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and cover it with water in my slow cooker. Once it’s done cooking (reaches internal temperate of 165 degrees F), I remove it from the slow cooker to a cutting board and let it sit for 10 minutes so it retains it’s juices, then I immediately shred it. I shred it immediately after those 10 minutes because it’s a lot easier to shred warm chicken than cold chicken.
I generally do this either in the morning or the night before I plan to make my taquitos because I’m a busy mom and this is how it works for me. If you need to split your meal prep into two days, it’s ok!
Once I’ve shredded the chicken and the cheese and minced the cilantro, I’m ready to mix everything.
I generally put the shredded chicken in the mixing bowl first, juice the lime right on top of it, then add my seasonings – the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
Next, I add the warm cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, minced cilantro, and salsa verde and mix everything together with my hands.
I normally keep my tortillas in the refrigerator, but I do NOT refrigerate my tortillas before I make these chicken taquitos. Refrigerating them makes them crack and break more easily when rolling.
Note which side to roll on the outside when putting the filling into the tortillas. Most tortillas will have a smoother side and a rougher side. Try to keep the smooth side on the outside.
The rougher side tends to crack and break apart more while waiting to bake or when baking, which is fine and still tastes great, but it’s just harder to freeze because it doesn’t fit into the freezer bag as nicely or breaks apart more easily when in the freezer.
Here’s the rougher side:
And the smoother side:
To prep the tortillas for rolling, I microwave four at a time between some very damp paper towels for 30 seconds.
And then to meal prep the taquitos, I microwave the four tortillas, fill and roll them one at a time and place them on a baking sheet. Then microwave four more, fill them and roll them one at a time, etc., etc., and continue until I’m out of filling.
When I’m rolling these, I don’t measure each one, but I measured it out for a couple taquitos so I could write this blog post and I put about 3 tablespoons of filling into each taquito.
This recipe makes between 26-32 taquitos.
Once all taquitos are filled, rolled, and placed on the baking sheet, spray each one with a bit of coconut oil cooking spray so they crisp up while they bake.
And then bake for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees F. I like mine a little more well done and so I keep them in for the full 2o minutes, but all ovens are different, so definitely check yours after 15 minutes.
I really like these reusable freezer storage bags – I currently have 8 of them and none of them have torn, ripped, or grown mold in the year since I’ve started using them.
You can store 16-18 taquitos in one of these reusable freezer storage bags.
To reheat, simply place your taquitos on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 375.
I like to serve mine with red salsa or guacamole and sour cream because even though I’ve perfected this recipe to make these taquitos as moist as possible, they still need a little more and some salsa or guacamole in every bite is perfect!
Here’s the full printable recipe:
Freezer Friendly Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- 4 cups shredded chicken
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup minced cilantro
- 1 lime, juiced (about ⅓ cup)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- 26-32 white corn tortillas
- coconut cooking spray
Instructions
- Add the shredded chicken to a large mixing bowl and juice the lime right on top of it. Then add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper seasonings.
- Next, add the room-temperature cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, minced cilantro, and salsa verde and mix everything together.
- To prep the tortillas for rolling, microwave four at a time between very damp paper towels for 30 seconds.
- Immediately after microwaving the four tortillas, fill and roll them one at a time and place them on a baking sheet.
- Repeat by microwaving four more tortillas, filling them and rolling them one at a time, and placing them onto the baking sheet until chicken filling is used up.
- Spray rolled chicken taquitos with coconut cooking spray so they crisp while baking.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees F.
- Serve with red salsa or guacamole and sour cream.
- If freezing, reheat by simply placing taquitos on a baking sheet and baking for 10 minutes at 375 degrees F.
Notes
Do not refrigerate tortillas ahead of time
Remember to roll the tortilla with the rough side on the inside so it doesn't break apart or crack as easily.
16-18 taquitos fit perfectly into a reusable freezer bag.
If freezing, reheat by simply placing taquitos on a baking sheet and baking for 10 minutes at 375 degrees F.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 145Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 138mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 8g
All information presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on saltycanary.com is provided as a courtesy, is an estimate only, and should only be used as a general guideline.
Looking for other freezer friendly meals you can meal prep for quick breakfasts, lunches, and dinners? Look no further than right here:
