When I am hungry for something delicious and homemade at lunch time I turn to my freezer for my pre-made Crispy Homemade Chicken Taquitos with cream cheese, Cilantro and Pepper Jack cheese. Creamy and satisfying are the words I would use to describe these. In fact this freezer chicken taquitos recipe is so good I find myself wanting to eat like 10 of them at once. My body says I am full after about 4 but my mind wants more. That’s just how good these are.
Have you tried the Taquitos from the store? I do not like them at all. They have the taste of cardboard and the only way I can choke them down is with sour cream. I don’t know what it inside of them, but they taste nothing like homemade so I am guessing they are full of weird ingredients. Making your own freezer chicken taquitos can be more work but the taste and knowing what is in them is worth it. Once you make this recipe you will never want to go back to store bought ones again!
I make this chicken taquitos recipe as part of my freezer meals. I just make them up as I would directed below, but before I bake them I flash freeze them instead. This way I can pull out just a few and 15 minutes later I am ready to savor a perfect lunch. We have eaten this recipe for dinner too. Hope you try this recipe out and let me know what you think!
Chicken Taquitos with Cream Cheese, Cilantro and Pepper-Jack recipe
Ingredients:
3 Cups roasted shredded chicken breast (or roast beef is great too)
8 oz. Cream Cheese
4 Tablespoons chopped Cilantro
2 Tablespoons Lime juice
1 (6 oz.) can Green Chilis (or ½ cup green salsa verde if you have that on hand)
3/4 teaspoon Cumin
1 ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 ½ Cups shredded Pepper-jack cheese
small corn or flour tortillas (approximately 30 depending on how full you stuff them!)
fine sea salt
cooking spray
Method:
Melt your cream cheese until it’s soft and melty. Add all spices, cilantro, lime juice, green chilis, chicken and cheese to a large bowl. Mix until well blended.
Heat your tortillas so they are soft and won’t break as much when you roll them. Add a little bit (about 2 tablespoons) of chicken mixture to each tortilla, roll and place seam side down on parchment or foil lined cookie sheet. Spray with a little olive oil spray and sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.
To freeze: As you roll your chicken Taquitos, place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet without touching. Then place cookie sheet in freezer. When taquitos are frozen remove them from the cookie sheet and add them all to a freezer safe gallon sized bag. Label and add back to freezer. When you are ready to eat just take a few or a lot of the taquitos, place on a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy.
Like I mentioned before you can use corn or flour tortillas – they are both equally good. And I use whatever tortillas I have around.
I love making 50 freezer meals in a day all at once so I don’t have to cook every day of the year. It’s a real time saver. If you are new to freezer meals see this post here.
Here is the printable version of this recipe if you would like:
Crispy Homemade Chicken Taquitos with Cilantro and Pepper-Jack Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups roasted shredded chicken breast or roast beef is great too
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 4 tbsp chopped Cilantro
- 2 tbsp Lime juice
- 4 oz Green Chilis, canned ½ cup green salsa verde if you have that on hand
- 3/4 tsp Cumin
- 1-1/2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1-1/2 cups shredded Pepper-jack cheese
- 30 small corn or flour tortillas
- fine sea salt
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Melt your cream cheese until it’s soft and melty. Add all spices, cilantro, lime juice, green chilis, chicken and cheese to a large bowl. Mix until well blended.
- Heat your tortillas so they are soft and won’t break as much when you roll them. Add a little bit (about 2 tablespoons) of chicken mixture to each tortilla, roll and place seam side down on parchment or foil lined cookie sheet. Spray with a little olive oil spray and sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.
- To freeze: As you roll your chicken Taquitos, place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet without touching. Then place cookie sheet in freezer. When Taquitos are frozen remove them from the cookie sheet and add them all to a freezer safe gallon sized bag. Label and add back to freezer. When you are ready to eat just take a few or a lot of the taquitos, place on a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy.
Nutrition
Loved this recipe?
Make sure to follow on Instagram @happymoneysaver and on Pinterest @happymoneysaver for more money savin' recipes!
I really hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
WANNA SEE MORE RECIPES?
- Creamy Chicken Taquitos With Cilantro & PepperJack Cheese
- Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Adobo Chicken with Pineapple
- Easy Burrito Pie
- Chicken Enchiladas (Freezer Meal)
- Teriyaki Beef and Broccoli Freezer Meal
–> See all of my freezer meal recipes here.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Joylynn says
Total fail. Warmed my freshly bought 6″ white corn tortillas up in the microwave in groups of 5 and every SINGLE one ended up splitting either before baking or after.
Could you add a tip to the recipe to keep this from happening? So frustrating! I now have to go back to the grocery store and get ingredients to make a casserole out of the mess.
There’s got to be a better way to keep this from happening.
Suzanne says
It’s not the recipe that’s the problem, it’s the type of tortillas you bought.
Sarah says
I’m so glad to have found your blog! Made these exactly as directed, used 8″ whole wheat tortillas and got 18 (though the last two were kind of wimpy so next time I will aim for 15). They were SO good. Thank you! We had them with pinto beans and a hearty salad. Definitely a keeper in our house. I appreciate you sharing your hard work and can’t wait to try other recipes.
Karrie says
So happy you liked them! Thanks!
eric says
You dont put the type of tortilla shell in the recipe, and you dont have the number of taquitos that this recipe makes. So i have no idea how many tortillas to buy or what kind. Would like to try but this is an incomplete recipe.
Tracy Iseminger says
Hi Eric, it does state you can use either corn or flour, it’s a matter of preference. I find if you use the smaller size you can make about 30 with this recipe, if you opt for bigger/longer taquitos, you can use larger tortillas and you will make about 15.
jamie says
My teen and all her girlfriends love these! Once every two months I make a triple batch to always have them in the freezer. SO much better than anything from the store and I can adjust the heat too!
Tracey C. says
You mentioned cream cheese as one of the things that doesn’t freeze well in your freezer tips. However, everyone seems to really love these! Does the cream cheese do that weird curdle thing after freezing or does it come out smooth? Can’t wait to try these!
Karrie says
Cream cheese by itself will change consistency if you were say wanting to use it for spreading on bagels after freezing. But often when you mix it with other ingredients such as casseroles or other things like this yes it does well! Baking it will melt it and make it all creamy and delicious!
Brandy says
These are amazing! My husband comes home for his lunch hour M-F most days but, I still like having quick things to reheat so he’s not eating cold sandwiches everyday but, I HATE buying preservative laden junk in a box.
These are SO good and he loves cilantro!
Nikkii says
I just made these…wow!! They are delicious!!
Heather says
I made these and threw them in the freezer. I did not bake them but would grab a couple for my work lunch. I zapped them in the microwave for about 2 mins in a zip lock bag so they did nto dry out and kinda steamed and they were so yummy. I bet bake is better but it was a nice grab and go lunch for work
Kareena Vance says
Is there a way to do this so it goes from freezer, to lunch bag, to microwave? My husband won’t be able to bake these while he’s gone. Or do I bake them at home, freeze them, then he reheats them?
Katherine says
I just made a batch of these. YUM! I found the white corn tortillas really fell apart, but the yellow were better – no idea why. I used Mission brand. To heat the tortillas, I soaked a paper towel with water, then squeezed out the extra moisture. I wrapped 2 tortillas at a time in the paper towel and microwaved for 15 seconds. When the tortillas were steamy they were easier to work with and didn’t tear.
Nancy says
I am new with freezing meals this recipe is actually the first one I am making. My question is how long can they stay in the freezer?
Karrie says
It’s best to use them up within 6 months, but they will freeze and stay edible for longer than that. They will just lose flavor and nutritional content after 6 months. Hope you have fun making freezer meals!
melissa says
Could you bake the chicken Tacquitos and then freeze them for a quick reheat in the microwave when hungry?
Heather says
check my comment below. I am sure it woudl work too. I microwaved them instead of baking worked
out out awesome
Gail says
I made the chicken taquitos and froze them for later, but I just had to taste the filling…..delicious! I also made the broccoli soup…..so very, very good! Thanks for the recipes!
Darcy says
If you freeze these, do you need to thaw them out before baking them?
Karrie says
No, just take them out frozen and add to cookie sheet to bake frozen.
Stacey says
I made these today. I am going to freeze them , so I can have something tasty on hand for the holidays. I put the filling in a Ziploc bag and cut the corner, it made filling the tortillas a breeze! Thank you for a great recipe!
Karrie says
You bet! Hope you enjoy!
heather says
These are great! I substituted my own pickled peppers for the salsa verde, and I dip the finished product in regular tomato salsa. (It’s good without the dipping but even better with)
I was uncertain about a few things – how many one recipe would make, is 2 Tbsp really enough for a 6″ tortilla, how is the best way to roll it, etc. But they proved to be pretty forgiving. One half batch was just about perfect for one bag of 10 flour tortillas. They didn’t crack at all, and held their shape perfectly when I test-baked a few (before freezing the rest), came out nice and crispy.
One tip I’d have for newbies — the filling does swell up in baking. I had filled my rolls pretty much to the ends, and so I ended up with a lot leaked out. So having an unfilled gap at the end is ideal.
Another tip — cut tortillas in half to make mini taquitos for the kids! I made some full size and some half. 🙂 And after the test batch I’m going to make a lot more, these are THAT yummy!
Kathy says
My hubby loves taquitos, but hates cream cheese or any soft cheese. Can I leave that out & just use the chicken and pepper jack with the other ingredients? I know he’d love these, but not the cream cheese.
Thanks.
Happy.MoneySaver says
You definitely can! If there is something that he prefers like sour cream that you could add in for the creamy element in the taquito, you could substitute that in. If not I think the chicken, cheese and cilantro would be just as yummy!
Rachel says
These are wonderful every time I make them!
April says
I’ve made these several times now, so yummy! This is by far the best freezer meal I’ve tried from this website.
Joy says
I pull them from the freezer, cover with enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake in the oven and voila! Quick enchiladas! My family loves them.
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yum! Great idea!