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These chipotle chicken taquitos freeze beautifully and bake up crispy and delicious. Perfect to pull out for a quick lunch or weeknight dinner.
Sometimes all you need to do is change one little thing to take a recipe over the top.
There are lots of recipes for freezer taquitos out there. I tried a few and made them several times to have on hand for my husband and I for lunch. All of the recipes I tried called for a can of chopped green chiles. And they were good. Fine.
We liked them, but when I made the switch from green chiles to chipotles— revolutionary!
Chipotle Chicken Taquitos
The smokiness of the chipotles works perfectly here. One simple ingredient adds an unbelievable range of flavor. Chipotles are the star in my favorite fajita recipe, too.
If you haven’t cooked with chipotles before, you should know that they are pretty spicy. Start with one and adjust for your taste. I usually add two to ours. (Note: you’ll see in the video that I only add one. I tasted the mixture and ended up adding a second. The lesson here is always taste your mixture and adjust seasoning!)
Good cooks know how to make substitutions
Like most of my favorite kinds of recipes, this one is highly customizable.
Here are some ways you can play around with the basic recipe:
- Use leftover chicken or turkey.
- Buy a rotisserie chicken and pull the meat off.
- Don’t use poultry at all–how about pulled pork or shredded beef?
- Use whatever cheese you’ve got: Quesadilla cheese, cheddar, monterey jack, or a blend.
- We prefer a high chicken to cream cheese ratio…if you like yours more creamy, back off on the chicken (or add more cream cheese).
Click here for my other favorite things to stock my freezer with.
Watch how I make them:
Serve these up with your favorite toppings. We like sour cream, salsa, some shredded lettuce and avocado. (But sometimes we just mix up some simple guacamole and call it a day).
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 4-6 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 1-2 chipotles with adobo sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- small flour tortillas (6 inch) - about 30, but final number will depend on how you fill the taquitos
- Vegetable oil cooking spray (when baking)
Instructions
- Mix shredded chicken and cream cheese
- Chop chipotle peppers and add to chicken mixture with some of the sauce in the chipotle can (Pro tip: you can freeze the rest of the can in a ziploc bag to use in the future)
- Add seasonings and shredded cheese
- Mix well
- Taste mixture and adjust seasonings as needed
- Fill and roll tortillas, be careful not to overfill (use about 2 tablespoons of filling in each)
- Lay taquitos seam side down on baking sheet and flash freeze until firm
- Put taquitos in ziploc bags and freeze until ready to eat.
- To prepare:
- Place taquitos on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray
- Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy
- Serve with sour cream, salsa, avocado, or any other toppings you'd like
What I love about this recipe is that you can bake them straight from the freezer – no thawing needed! That’s really nice on a crazy day that didn’t go as planned.
YES! That is one of my favorite things about these too.