Easy Chicken Tacos
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With a simple spice rub, the chicken is cooked quickly on the stovetop! Serve with pico de gallo, avocado + lime wedges!
I think this will be my go-to weeknight meal for the next few weeks. No, wait, months probably.
Because, guys, we just brought home a little baby corgi brother for Butters. So to say my hands will be full with these two little buggers is clearly an understatement.
So enter the easiest weeknight chicken tacos ever.
With a simple spice rub – chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder – the chicken is seasoned just right, thrown on the skillet and cooked through completely before dicing them up into bite-size pieces.
Serve in warmed tortillas with desired toppings – pico de gallo (store-bought shortcut is just fine here!), diced avocado, cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice is my favorite combo right now!
Easy Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 12 mini flour tortillas, warmed
- 1 cup pico de gallo, homemade or store-bought
- 1 avocado, halved, peeled, seeded and diced
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Equipment
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Season chicken with chili powder mixture.
- Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces.
- Serve chicken in tortillas, topped with pico de gallo, avocado, cilantro and lime.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This recipe was fabulous and I loved how easy it was to prepare! I used butterfly chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs and cooked the breasts whole in my cast iron pan on the stove. I think they stay more moist that way instead of cutting the chicken before cooking I also made regular tacos with cheese, lettuce and tomato on a soft flour tortilla with fresh guacamole and mango pico de gallo from the produce section at the store. This will go in my regular rotation of recipes. Thank you Chungah, another fine recipe!
Wow my name Kassidy and I love this so much
Me like chicken taco
This reciepe is amazing!! My sister and I make this every week! The flavor of the spices was unlike anything we had ever eaten before. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS RECIPE!!!
I made these tacos for dinner and they were very good. I had a pack of thinly sliced chicken breast and cut them up and mixed the spices with them. Left for half hour in fridge. Followed recipe. Everybody liked them!
Trying now, looks delicious! Do you cover the chicken when cooking stovetop or not? Thank you!
I’m sorry if this says it on this website but… does anyone know how many people this serves??? I would rate it but I haven’t made it yet.
6 servings
These tacos are a weekday favorite! The chicken is so easy to make and tastes delicious with the rest of the ingredients.
Totally agree, Diya! These were wonderful and the seasoning made it lots better. We used breasts instead of thighs and it still worked super well! Glad we tried this! 🙂
This recipe has quickly become one of my go-to’s for dinner, I love the flavor of the marinade! Thank you for sharing
We made this for dinner tonight & just got done eating. This recipe is wonderful! I also cut the chicken before cooking like others have stated. This is going to be one of my go-to recipes now!
My family loved this quick and easy recipe. Even my 5- year old, who eats absolutely nothing, loved them! It will definitely be a “go to” on weeknights!
Being stuck home for almost 3 months due to the outbreak in NY, we have grown tired of making the same old food. I had boneless chicken and no idea what to do with it. I googled chicken recipe ideas and this came up.
Wasn’t planning on making tacos but I am so glad I did!! I used boneless chicken breasts and sliced them very thin and cooked them after letting them sit in the spice rub for a couple hours. I didn’t have fresh pico but salsa was good as well. My younger son even tried them and ate 2 tacos himself, which is highly unusual because he eats almost nothing new even though we try! These will be made again and again! Thank you!
Made this tonight on my Blackstone Griddle. It was so easy since I could cook it all at once. I took another reviewer’s idea and cut the chicken up before cooking it. Simple and delicious recipe. My son doesn’t like avocado so he added shredded cheese. My family loved it! This will be my new chicken taco recipe now. Thank you so much.
I don’t write reviews very often, but I felt like I needed to because these tacos were THAT good! I did use chicken breasts instead of thighs and my husband grilled the chicken and tortillas. My husband, kids, and I loved them. This will be our go to recipe from now on!
I know when I come across your recipes on Pinterest, that it’ll be good!
They were great. Will make again.
Super tasty! I will definitely make this again. I like your
tortilla shells they look way better than mine did!
This was a fabulous Saturday night taco and a few beers
Covid-19 date night! Thanks
Haven’t tried these yet but they look fantastic. My question is how do you warm your taco shells. I noticed the char marks on them which look great. In the oven or in a fry pan?
the best way to warm tortillas is to put them directly over your burner. I have a gas stove and I just pop those bad boys on for a couple seconds each side. Let the flame toast them so you get a nice little char
Wow! These tacos were “Damn Delicious”!! Not only do we live in So California where good Mexican food is prevalent, but my college-age boys are 1/2 Hispanic and very picky about their taco meat. I have bought similar pre-marinated taco meat at the Hispanic market that wasn’t very good. I could tell by reading the recipe and reviews that these were going to be good. I made them tonight and my sons gave them their seal of approval and gobbled up a double batch. I loved them too. I diced the chicken first and then coated them in the seasoning in a bowl and let it sit for about 20 mins. I think dicing the chicken first really allows all the pieces to be well-coated in seasoning. We ate them with corn tortillas that I lightly warm/lightly brown in an ungreased skillet with avaocado and homemade pico de gallo. Mmmm! This will now be my go-to taco recipe. Thank you!
Trying to figure out how to “char” tortillas on an electric stove, and noticed you said you don’t grease the skillet. Is there an advantage to not using oil to do this?
Amazingly good chicken tacos! I like to add some cilantro lime ranch dressing to the mix and I fry my tortillas in oil to get a bit of crunch, which is my personal preference. Thank you for the recipe!
So quick and easy! Love this recipe! My kids love it too! So thankful this website and these incredible recipes!
Omg! This chicken taco recipe is very very delicious! Definitely be making again!