Easy Shredded Chicken Tacos

Colorful shredded chicken tacos on a marbled countertop.

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Easy shredded chicken tacos let you serve restaurant style food anytime you like. It’s a real deal Mexican meal your whole family will love. Tender white meat chicken prepared with homemade taco seasoning, and served with fresh cheese, cool lettuce, and your favorite salsa or sour cream.

Prep Time15

Cook Time6

Total Time6 15

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Pulled Chicken Tacos, Shredded Chicken Tacos

Servings:

Calories: 128kcal

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 corn tortillas
shredded cheese
shredded lettuce iceberg or butter lettuce work best
homemade taco seasoning recipe below
sour cream
salsa and other taco toppings you like
oil olive, vegetable, or canola

Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

SLOW COOKER

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker with 1 cup water or chicken broth.
Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken and into the surrounding liquid, as well.
Cover and cook for 6 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.
Remove chicken breasts from crock pot and place on cutting board. Leave the juices in the crock pot.
Remove chicken and shred on a cutting board with two forks (do not discard juices in crock pot)
Return meat to the slow cooker.

INSTANT POT

Place thawed chicken breasts in Instant Pot.
Cover with taco seasoning.
Add 1 cup chicken broth or water.
Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
Allow 10 minutes of natural release.
Remove chicken and shred on a cutting board with two forks.
Return meat to the Instant Pot.

TORTILLAS

Add oil to small frying pan (about 1/4 inch). Heat to medium-high.
Put the tortilla in the oil, it should sizzle and cook very quickly.
When it is golden or crispish, flip it over and fold in half. Then hold up the top half of the tortilla out of the oil.
After that side is golden, flip it up where the golden side is up out of the oil and the other side is cooking.
When that side is done, place and let drain on paper towels.

TO SERVE:

Once the meat and tortillas are ready, it’s time for the fun part. Use a fork or thongs to add chicken inside the taco shell, then fill with your favorite toppings in any order you choose. We like to set up an “assembly line” on our kitchen counter and let everyone build their own tacos. Cheese, lettuce, sour cream, salsa – whatever you like, however you like. Enjoy!

Notes

Easily shred your chicken by using dough hook on a mixer.
If you fry your tortillas, the best time to do it is while the chicken is cooking. They’ll be ready and waiting when the meat is done.
If you need to save some time, use store-bought flour tortillas or taco shells.
There are no hard-fast rules about the cheese, but some of my favorites for tacos are cheddar, Monterey jack, and cotija.
If cooking the chicken from frozen, add 5 minutes extra cooking time in the Instant Pot, and 60 minutes extra cooking time in the slow cooker.

To Freeze: Cook the chicken according to the recipe. Once it has cooled, transfer the chicken and juices to a gallon-sized freezer bag. Freeze for up to six months. When you’re ready to enjoy shredded chicken tacos, thaw overnight in the fridge and warm it up on low heat in a frying pan or crockpot. Or simply heat it from frozen (allow some extra heating time for this).

Nutrition