These Baked Chicken Taquitos are stuffed with cream cheese, barbecue sauce, bacon bits, shredded chicken, and more cheese. They are crunchy, creamy, ooey gooey, and so easy to make.
This recipe for easy chicken taquitos is one of my favorite recipes with shredded rotisserie chicken, but you can also use leftover barbecue chicken, or make crockpot shredded chicken specifically for taquitos.
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Best Baked Chicken Taquitos
These BBQ Chicken and Cheese Taquitos are amazing because they can play so many different roles and they always seem to fit right in. Need an easy dinner? How about an after school snack or game day appetizer? No matter what, Baked Chicken Taquitos just seem to work. And, you aren’t going to hear any complaints!
You can doctor them up however you’d like, serving with more BBQ sauce, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, sour cream, or whatever other toppings you would like. We have even more suggestions for you below if you need some inspiration.
If you're looking for some more football tailgate recipes or crowd-pleasing chicken recipes, be sure to check out this fun list of favorite family appetizers.
Chicken and Cheese Taquitos Ingredients
- Cream Cheese - you want to make sure the cream cheese is softened, or room temperature so that it will mix well with the other filling ingredients.
- Ranch Dressing - any type will work.
- BBQ Sauce - use your favorite kind.
- Bacon Bits - You can purchase bacon bits, but making your own is super simple. Just slice any raw bacon into ½” pieces, then cook in a saute pan over medium heat until golden brown and crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked bacon bits to a paper towel to drain.
- Shredded Chicken - the simplest solution is to shred a rotisserie chicken. However, you can also cook your own BBQ chicken breasts or thighs in the oven or slow cooker and shred.
- Cheddar Cheese - use pre-shredded or shred your own. Any cheddar cheese will taste great, or substitute Pepper Jack for a little extra spice!
- Flour Tortillas - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, you can also try this with corn tortillas.
- Butter - melt the butter in the microwave or in a small pot over medium heat.
How to Make Baked Chicken Taquitos
- Make chicken mixture. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, bacon bits, shredded chicken and cheddar cheese. Mix with a spoon or spatula until well combined.
- Assemble taquitos. For each taquito, lay a tortilla flat on the counter and spoon about ⅓ cup of chicken filling, spreading it into a line across the tortilla from one side to the other. Roll up the taquito tightly around the chicken mixture and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet seam side down. Continue assembling all the taquitos, then brush with melted butter using a pastry brush.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes on one side, then flip the taquitos and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Serve. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings, such as bacon bits, ranch dressing, blue cheese crumbles, fresh cilantro and diced tomatoes. Enjoy!
Tips For Making Homemade Chicken Taquitos
- If you have difficulty rolling the tortillas without them breaking, you can soften them in the microwave first. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds on high.
- You can add other ingredients to the filling, such as corn, onions or other seasonings such as paprika, cayenne pepper or extra salt and pepper. You could even make it Hawaiian BBQ and add some finely diced pineapple to the mix.
- These reheat great, so don’t hesitate to make a full batch (or even double).
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Prep them the exact same way, but preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees F instead of your oven. Once the taquitos have been filled and rolled, place your taquitos in your preheated air fryer basket and spray lightly with cooking spray or avocado oil. Make sure they are not touching - you will likely need to do a few batches.
Cook in the air fryer for about 6-8 minutes, flip them over and mist with oil again, and cook for another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
For a simple garnish, I like to toss a little fresh chopped cilantro and blue cheese crumbles. You can also add diced tomatoes, bacon bits, sliced scallions or extra shredded cheese if you’d like.
These BBQ Chicken Taquitos also taste great served with any of the following ingredients drizzled over the top:
-Blue cheese dressing or crumbles
-Ranch dressing
-Hot sauce
-Barbecue sauce
-Guacamole
-Fresh Salsa
-Southwest Ranch
-Sour Cream
-A squeeze of lime juice
Yes! Frozen chicken taquitos reheat easily straight out of the freezer. To freeze your chicken taquitos, just transfer them to freezer bags and store for up to 2 months. When you can to enjoy them, you can pull them straight from the freezer and microwave or warm in a preheated oven.
Storing and Reheating
- Make Ahead: to make ahead, you can mix the chicken filling together up to 24 hours in advance. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge, then remove from the fridge about 30 minutes prior to rolling the next day.
- Storing: if you have leftover baked chicken taquitos, you can transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freezer: store taquitos in freezer bags in the freezer for up to 2 months. They can be reheated straight from the freezer.
- Reheat: the quickest way to reheat taquitos is in the microwave. Just microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time until warmed through. If you want the outside to crisp up a bit, you can also reheat in a 350-degree oven for about 5-10 minutes until warmed through.
BBQ Chicken and Cheese Taquitos Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup Ranch Dressing
- ¼ cup BBQ Sauce
- ½ cup Bacon Bits
- 3 cups Shredded Chicken rotisserie chicken works great
- 1 cup Cheddar Cheese shredded
- 24 small Flour Tortillas
- 2 Tablespoons Butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, ranch dressing, bbq sauce, bacon bits, shredded chicken and cheddar cheese. Mix with a spoon or spatula until well combined.
- For each taquito, lay a tortilla flat on the counter and spoon about ⅓ cup of chicken filling, spreading it into a line across the tortilla from one side to the other. Roll up the taquito tightly around the chicken mixture and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet seam side down.
- Continue assembling all the taquitos, then brush with melted butter using a pastry brush.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes on one side, then flip the taquitos and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Serve immediately with your favorite toppings, such as bacon bits, ranch dressing, blue cheese crumbles, fresh cilantro and diced tomatoes. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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These Baked BBQ Chicken Taquitos are crunchy, creamy, ooey gooey and so quick and easy to make. They are filled with cream cheese, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, bacon bits, cheddar cheese and a hefty dose of shredded chicken, then baked to perfection.
Nellie Tracy
These taquitos are delicious! Will be making these a lot this summer!
Jenn
These are totally going into regular rotation! Such a tasty and easy recipe!!