These simple yet flavorful chicken tacos are easy to make and filled with super juicy and delicious chicken! Perfect for weeknight meals and makes great leftovers!
If there’s a recipe that I make at least once a week, it’s definitely these easy chicken tacos!
Hands down, without a doubt, no lie, some version of this chicken taco recipe is on my plate every week. And that doesn’t even include leftovers!
I clearly have a chicken taco addiction. Or more like a juicy marinated chicken thighs addiction. And get ready, friend, because after you make this recipe, you will too! Here’s how you make THE BEST chicken tacos ever!
What cut of chicken do you recommend for the best chicken tacos?
For the juiciest chicken tacos that you can make easily and quickly at home, I highly recommend using chicken thighs. They have a good white meat to dark meat ratio, which makes them a little fattier than chicken breasts and way more moist and juicy.
To cut down on excess fat, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
Once you’ve got the right cut of meat, you’re about halfway done to having the most flavorful weeknight meal ever. The next step is going to require some patience, but the end result is totally worth it. You’re going to marinate the chicken for… 30 minutes! That’s it!
Chicken Taco Marinade
The marinade is made olive oil, white wine vinegar and dried spices that are common in most kitchens (onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder).
Once the marinade is mixed together, simply add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss them together to coat, cover the marinated chicken and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
How to make chicken tacos
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the marinated chicken thighs to the skillet with tongs and cook 5-7 minutes per side, until fully cooked through. Discard the used marinade.
- Transfer chicken to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. While chicken is resting, warm up the corn tortillas on a hot griddle or in the microwave.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and serve in warm tortillas with your favorite toppings.
The best toppings
I served these tacos with some pico de gallo and queso fresco, but you can basically use any salsa and cheese combination that you like. Here are a few more ideas for toppings if you’re looking for some inspiration.
- diced avocados or guacamole
- your favorite salsa (my fave is this toasted red chile salsa)
- sour cream, Mexican crema or chipotle sauce
- pickled jalapenos for all my spice lovers out there
- some queso like easy mexican queso dip! wouldn’t that be amazing on a taco?
Basically anything you want to put on a taco is fair game. I always end up overfilling my tacos with things because I want everything on them!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Let me know in the comments below and leave me a rating if you make this recipe!
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder*
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 limes, juiced (about 4 tablespoons)
For the tacos
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 24 corn tortillas
- pico de gallo or your favorite salsa (optional)
- queso fresco or your favorite cheese (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, baking dish or freezer bag, add all the ingredients for the marinade. Mix together to fully combine.
- Add chicken thighs to marinade and toss together to coat. Cover chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the marinated chicken to the skillet with tongs and cook 5-7 minutes per side, until fully cooked through. Discard the used marinade.
- Transfer chicken to cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. While chicken is resting, warm up the corn tortillas on a hot griddle or in the microwave.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and serve in warm tortillas with salsa and cheese.
Isabel’s Tips:
Nutrition Information
Trust me this is a recipe you must try!!! My college age son and his girlfriend and friends come home to visit and this is always on their wish list! Double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd there won’t be any leftovers and if they are it’s better than next day. TIP: make her pico de gallo recipe it is outrageously good! It is my son’s girlfriend’s favorite thing I make! Double that recipe also. Personally I think it’s better than Carlos or Kelly’s salsa. Eat on my friends eat on…
The best taco recipe and marinade ever!
Will it be the same time with chicken breast filets?
Hi! I’d recommend cooking chicken breast filets for about 2-3 minutes longer per side for this recipe.
I’ve searched all over for taco recipes and read about 50-60 of them. Your recipe though looks BEST! Can’t wait to make and thanks!
If someone gave this less than 5 stars it’s because they can’t read and screwed up the recipe! So good.
This is a winner, winner Chicken Taco dinner!! Easy and sooo good!
I love this chicken taco and enjoy making this recipe. Its really good! my family loves it as well and always make this once a month.
Super easy and delicious recipe! Especially with 2 toddlers and a newborn 🙂 I had all the ingredients in my kitchen. Topped it with Mexican sour cream, cilantro and salsa.
These were so speedy to make and very tasty! I will definitely make them again.
I love this recipe, thank you so much my first time making chicken tacos (I looovvveee them), and they came out gggrreeatttt!!! OMG! I was on a time limit with 4 yr old twins and I made this so fast even when I let it marinade. This is a go to.
Amazing!!! I loved it. I used real onions bc I couldn’t find my onion powder to use for the marinade. None the less, the meat was so juicy & so flavorful! I used your pico de gallo recipe in the highlighted link, truly blessed!! Everything was sooo amazing. My husband was hesitant about the chicken, he prefers beef, but I said no.. I’m using chicken bc I wanted chicken plus I’m the one cooking. If your questioning the meat choice, don’t!! Just trust Isabel. I’m so happy I found your site!
These chicken tacos were so flavorful after only marinading for 40 minutes. I topped them with cotija and I made pico de gallo and rice while the chicken was marinading. It was a perfect weeknight meal!
This tacos were delicious and most importantly super easy and quick to make, great for when you have a newborn at home and don’t have much time!
This tacos were delicious and most importantly super easy and quick to make, great for when you have a newborn at home and don’t have much time!
My boyfriend LOVED this recipe. He liked the chicken on its own, but really loved it when it was paired with the pico and queso fresco.
OH MY!! Isabel’s recipes don’t let me down- what a huge hit these easy chicken tacos were for dinner!!! Delicious- I forgot to buy limes, and I used the some lime juice in my fridge and it was still fabulous!! Just enough spice to make you happy:)
They were easy to make and packed with flavor. It was perfect for “Taco Tuesday”. I made fresh Pico de Gallo to go with it. My family loved it! Thank you!
This was so good and so easy to make! The lime juice and vinegar definitely kick up the chicken to another level. I made these tacos keto friendly by using a cheese shell instead of a corn tortilla. Can’t wait to make it again!