Chicken and Green Chili Taquitos

You can make a snack, a lunch OR a dinner out of these chicken and green chili taquito. They fry up in your air fryer instead of in a pan of oil, so you can feel better about your snack, lunch or dinner too!

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Chicken and green chili taquitos on a white plate with a green checkered napkin and a bottle of beer.

What is a Taquito?

Simply put, a taquito is a little rolled taco. A small corn tortilla is wrapped around a filling and deep-fried before being topped with condiments like salsa, guacamole or sour cream. It can also be called a tacos dorados, a rolled taco or a flauta (although flautas are usually made with flour tortillas while taquitos are made with corn tortillas). I call it adorable and these Chicken and Green Chili Taquitos make a great snack or meal.

Ingredients on a wooden table - shredded chicken, corn tortillas, green salsa, spices and cheese.

What Ingredients are in a Taquito?

A taquito can have any variety of fillings – beef, chicken, pork, beans or cheese – but whatever filling you choose, you don’t need much. You should be able to easily pop the end of a taquito into your mouth, so less filling makes it easier to roll and easier to eat. For these super simple chicken and green chili taquitos, you just need some cooked chicken, a jar of green salsa (or you could make your own tomatillo salsa), a few spices and some cheese.

Chicken taquitos filling mixed in a bowl with tortillas and cheese near by.

How to Make a Chicken Taquito

The first step to making this recipe is to start with cooked chicken. You might have some leftover chicken that you could use, or you could cook your chicken in a number of ways. One of the easiest ways is to poach the chicken. Bring a pot of water to a boil. (You can make it even better if you bring a pot of water with a bay leaf and some fresh thyme to a boil.) Season the water with salt and pop in your chicken breast. Let the water come back to the boil and then let it simmer for two minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the chicken sit for 20 minutes. Then you can remove the chicken breast, which will be super moist, and shred it for the recipe. You can also air-fry the chicken breast easily at 400ºF for about 12 minutes. Then, just mix your chicken with the salsa and spices and your filling is ready to go.

Chicken and green chili taquitos being built on a wooden cutting board.

Roll it Up!

Remember, less is more when making taquitos. Place a little filling and a little cheese just one side of center of a corn tortilla and roll it up like a cigarette. Fix the tortilla closed with a toothpick or two. The toothpicks in the photo above are more like short 4-inch skewers and are much sturdier and better able to keep the taquito closed. 

Tortillas rolled around a filling and closed with a toothpick sitting on an air fryer basket.

How to Air Fry Taquitos

Air-frying taquitos is a great alternative to deep-frying. It’s much easier and quicker to do and there is far less clean up involved. While it does use WAY less oil than deep-frying, you do still need to spray the food with oil. I like to use a pump spray bottle for an even coating on all sides. Then, air-fry at 400ºF for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the taquitos halfway through. Once they are nicely browned and cooked, you can remove the skewers and plate them up.

A hand picking up a taquito from a white plate with a green checkered napkin and a bottle of beer.

What to Serve with Taquitos

Taquitos make a great snack or appetizer, but I find that three on a plate makes a great light dinner too, perhaps with some rice and beans on the side. Serve them on a bed of shredded lettuce, drizzle some salsa and avocado crema on top and sprinkle with queso fresco.

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Chicken and Green Chili Taquitos

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (about 3 cups)
  • 5 tablespoons salsa verde
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • salt to taste
  • 10 small corn tortillas
  • 1 ½ cups grated Monterey Jack pepper Jack or Cheddar cheese
  • Toothpicks
  • Vegetable oil
  • Salsa fresca [LINK]
  • Queso fresco or cotija cheese
Avocado Crema
  • ½ clove garlic
  • 1 avocado
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons warm water
  • salt

Instructions

  1. Combine the shredded chicken, salsa and spices in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Wrap the corn tortillas in a clean kitchen towel and place in the microwave for 30 seconds to make them pliable. Keep the tortillas wrapped up while you work with others.
  3. Make four taquitos at a time. Place four tortillas on your work surface and place a row of the chicken along the bottom third of the tortilla. Cover the chicken with the grated cheese.
  4. Roll the tortillas up around the filling tightly and keep the taquitos closed with a toothpick or two. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
  5. Brush or spray the outside of the taquitos with oil and place them in the air fryer basket. Air-fry at 400ºF for 12 minutes, rolling the taquitos over halfway through the cooking process.
  6. While the taquitos are cooking, make the avocado crema by combining all the ingredients in a mini chopper or food processor (or a bowl). Blend until smooth and season to taste with salt.
  7. Remove the toothpicks from the taquitos and serve with the salsa fresca, avocado crema and queso fresco crumbled on top.
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Comments (4)Post a Reply

  1. Fantastic! Not at all hard to make and my whole family loved it. I’m doing a repeat of it this weekend as the grandkids will be coming for dinner. Thanks!

  2. 2 stars
    This recipe is bland and truly not worth the work. The 2 stars are for the avocado crème. Otherwise- don’t bother.

    1. So sorry you didn’t like the flavor, Haylie. This recipe really depends on the ingredients you buy. All the flavor is coming from the salsa verde and then enhanced with a few extra spices. I would suggest a different brand of salsa verde, but it doesn’t sound like you’ll be trying this again. 😉

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