These crispy Mini Chicken Taquitos, packed with a creamy, juicy, tangy chicken and cheese filling are the PERFECT holiday appetizer!
These mini chicken taquitos are guaranteed to be a crowd favorite! Serve it with Mexican horchata (or vegan horchata for a dairy-free alternative) for a creamy, refreshing drink
I love making mini starter recipes for holiday entertaining. It’s always a great idea to have finger foods that your guests can enjoy easily, without making a mess. Like these easy sausage rolls, stuffed chicken wings, chicken bouchees (chicken puffs), cheddar cheese cookies (savory cookies), fried cheese balls, fish empanadas (fish patties) etc. that routinely feature in my holiday spreads!
Taking some of my favorite comfort foods, and making them mini-sized is a sure fire way to make your party spread popular with your guests!
That’s why I love making these Mini Chicken Taquitos! I haven’t met anyone who didn’t love a crispy, scrumptious taquito, and these are mini versions of all the goodness of a taquito, perfect for holiday entertaining.
Mini tortillas (mini street taco tortillas or the small tortillas), stuffed with a creamy, tangy chicken and cheese filling and then fried to perfection. What’s not to love?
How to make Mini Chicken Taquitos
I made these chicken taquitos with chicken tenderloins because the meat shreds beautifully and isn’t as dry as shredded chicken breast.
But you’re welcome to use chicken breast or thighs if that’s what you have on hand. With chicken breast and thighs, you may have to cook the meat a bit longer to be able to shred the meat.
The chicken is cooked in lemon and lime juice with plenty of flavor and butter, and then the shredded chicken is mixed with Cacique Crema Mexicana Agria, Manchego cheese and jalapeno, and then wrapped in mini street taco tortillas and fried.
The result is an incredibly creamy, cheesy, juicy, tangy chicken filling, encased in a beautifully crispy tortilla! Then a little sprinkling of cotija cheese will take these mini chicken taquitos to another level – the creamy, salty cheese crumbles perfectly complement the crispy, savory filling.
When you’re making these mini chicken taquitos, try not to be too generous with the filling. You need to be able to tightly roll up the tortillas, and with these mini street taco tortillas (4 inch), you have to be careful not to overfill them.
Secure the rolled up tortillas with toothpicks, to make sure they don’t unroll while being fried. I used two toothpicks and skewered the taquitos, with the toothpicks crossing each other as you can see in the pictures.
The toothpicks can be removed easily after the mini chicken taquitos have been fried.
To keep the chicken taquitos warm and crispy until you’re ready to serve, place the taquitos (in a single layer if possible) on a wire rack which in turn is placed on a baking sheet, and keep in a warm oven.
If they do lose their crispiness, simply heat them up again in the oven at 350 – 400°F for a few minutes to make them nice and crispy again.
These mini chicken taquitos are seriously addictive! 🙂 I love making regular chicken taquitos for us to snack on at home, but this mini version is a great holiday appetizer that’s also super easy to make!
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Check out these spooky Halloween chorizo pies made with Cacique as well!
Recipe
Mini Chicken Taquitos
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
Citrus Chicken
- 3 lbs of chicken tenders
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt plus more to taste
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
Chicken Filling
- Shredded citrus chicken recipe above
- ¼ cup Cacique® Crema Mexicana Agria
- 2 large jalapenos chopped deseeded
- 5 oz Cacique® Manchego shredded or crumbled
- Salt to taste
Taquitos
- 30 4.5 inch mini tortillas mini street taco tortillas
- 60 toothpicks
- Oil to deep fry
- Chopped cilantro to serve
- Crumbled Cacique® Cotija
Instructions:
Citrus Chicken
- Place all the ingredients for the citrus chicken in a medium-sized pot. Cook on low heat, with the lid on, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The liquid should come to a slow simmer, and the chicken should be mostly cooked.
- Uncover and cook the chicken for a further 20 minutes, on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Allow the chicken to cool down slightly in the remaining liquid.
- Shred the chicken in the liquid. Mix to combine.
- Transfer the shredded chicken to another bowl, leaving behind any excess liquid.
Chicken Filling
- Place the Cacique® Crema Mexicana Agria, shredded Cacique® Manchego and jalapenos in the same bowl as the citrus chicken. Mix to combine. Taste and season with salt.
- Set aside the mix until needed.
Taquitos
- Place about 1 – 2 tbsp of the filling in the middle of a mini tortilla. Roll up the tortilla tightly. Secure the rolled up tortillas with two toothpicks (as shown in pictures). Repeat with all the filling and tortillas.
- Heat up about 3 – 4 inches of oil in a medium (or large) pot. When the oil is hot (about 360°F), carefully lower 1 – 2 taquitos into the hot oil. Deep fry the taquitos for about 1 – 2 minutes until they turn golden brown. Remove from the oil, and place on a paper towel lined baking tray to drain excess oil.
- Alternatively, you can shallow fry the taquitos in a pan with about 1 inch of oil. Shallow fry both sides of the taquitos for 1 – 2 minutes, per each side, until they turn a golden brown. Remove from the oil and place the taquitos on paper towels to drain excess oil.
- Repeat until all the mini taquitos are crispy and golden. Remove the toothpicks. Place fried taquitos in a warm oven, to keep them crispy and warm until you’re ready to serve.
- When ready to serve, place the taquitos on a serving platter, and sprinkle chopped cilantro and Crumbled Cacique® Cotija on top.
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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