Cantina Chicken Tacos

How to Make Cantina Chicken Tacos

Here is our step-by-step guide to making these crowd-pleasing crispy chicken tacos. For detailed steps and ingredients, check out the full recipe below.

Prep the Ingredients

For these tacos, we chose ingredients that are available to purchase pre-prepped, but if you want to work on your knife skills, feel free to do the cutting yourself! For tips and instructions on how to shred your own rotisserie chicken, refer to the “Carving Your Rotisserie Chicken” section of our All About Rotisserie Chicken guide. Once you’ve carved your chicken, remove the skin and bones, then use two forks to shred the meat. Instead of using pre-shredded bagged cabbage, you can shred your own. Using a large, sharp chef’s knife, quarter a whole red cabbage, then cut out the core of one quarter. Very thinly slice the cabbage. You will probably only need one quarter of the cabbage for this recipe. Lastly, try our recipe for homemade Pico de Gallo. It’s simple: just dice a jalapeño, an onion, and a few tomatoes, then add chopped fresh cilantro, lime, and salt. Whether you learn some new techniques or choose to use the time-saving pre-cut ingredients, you’ll love all of the fresh, complex flavors in this recipe.

Heat the Chicken

We used shredded rotisserie chicken for its convenience, but you can use any cooked chicken or turkey instead. All you have to do is heat it up in butter with some Old El Paso™ Original Taco Seasoning Mix.

Fill the Taco Shells

Adding a base of shredded red cabbage to the heated taco shells provides a sturdy protective base that keeps the shell from becoming soggy once you add the buttery chicken and toppings. Try to top the cabbage with the chicken while it’s still hot and immediately top with the shredded cheese so the cheese will melt and the cabbage will soften slightly.

Add the Final Touches

Our Old El Paso™ Creamy Salsa Verde Sauce comes in an easy squeeze bottle, and topping with prepared fresh pico de gallo looks fancy but requires zero knife skills. Now you just need to dig in!

Sauce Variations

Our tomatillo-, jalapeño-, and avocado-based Old El Paso™ Creamy Salsa Verde Sauce is the perfect squeezable topping for these tacos, but our tip below explains how you can make your own creamy avocado sauce instead. If you like making your own sauces, you’ll love experimenting with some of our other favorite taco-topping sauces:

Homemade Medium Hot Sauce:  For this slightly-spicy sauce, grill Fresno peppers and puree them in a blender with vinegar, garlic, and salt.

Some Like It Hot Sauce: This tomato-based hot sauce uses a short-cut method of blending canned crushed tomatoes with fresh jalapeños, onion, garlic, cilantro, and cider vinegar for a simple sauce that’s a bit more tomato sauce than hot sauce.

Cilantro Pesto: This Tex-Mex version of pesto packs a little heat with jalapeños and uses fun replacements for standard pesto ingredients. With cilantro instead of basil, pepitas in place of pine nuts, and Manchego standing in for Parmesan, this flavorful pesto makes an excellent taco topper, or an excellent dip for tortilla chips.

Chipotle Barbecue Sauce:  Amp up plain old barbecue sauce with canned chipotle chiles in adobo and orange marmalade to balanced out the heat with a bit of sweetness.

Mango Habanero Hot Sauce: Ripe, sweet, fresh mangos and super hot habanero peppers join forces in this cooked and blended hot sauce that’s perfect on chicken, pork, and seafood tacos.

How to Store Cantina Chicken Tacos

Cantina chicken tacos are a delicious and easy-to-make dish, perfect for any occasion. But what do you do with the leftovers? You can store, refrigerate, and even make these fantastic tacos ahead of time, while ensuring they stay fresh and flavorful. Whether you're meal prepping for the week or saving leftovers from Taco Tuesday, follow these simple steps to keep your cantina chicken tacos tasting their best.

Separate Components: Have everyone assemble their tacos one at a time so you don’t end up with leftover filled tacos. Then divide the fillings and toppings before refrigerating. Don’t store filled tacos, since the assembled tacos can get soggy in the refrigerator.

Use Airtight Containers: Store the chicken and toppings in airtight containers to prevent them from absorbing any refrigerator odors and to retain their flavors. Place cabbage, chicken, cheese, and pico de gallo in separate containers. This way, they remain crisp and fresh.

More Easy Taco Recipes

Looking for more easy weeknight taco recipes? From a standard ground beef taco to a fun Bisquick™-based taco pie, these taco recipes are family favorites you’ll want to make again and again.

Easy Beef Tacos use just six ingredients and one skillet to get dinner on the table fast!

Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Tacos fit the bill when you are looking for something to prep ahead a little so you can help with homework or avoid the mad dash to assemble all the tacos at once.

Impossibly Easy Taco Pie is a Betty Crocker fan favorite. With just a few simple ingredients, you can fill your pie plate with a hearty dinner the whole family will love. Then just garnish with some pretty, fresh toppings and you’re good to go.