Sheet Pan Chicken Tacos
I recently read a quote on a friend’s Instagram stories that stuck with me:
Being a parent is like jumping out a plane with a bunch of people who don’t know how to open their own chutes. So, you fly around doing it for them…
Then you hit the ground, but you don’t die, you get up and cook dinner.
It’s actually insane if you think about it. As parents, all day long, we pull off the craziest stunts for our family and then, yes, go home and make dinner. How stupid is that? I loved cooking before I had Scarlett, but I didn’t do it every day. I also definitely didn’t produce meals at the end of the day during a busy week of deadlines and travel. As a full-time magazine editor, most of my dinners were had either at cocktail parties, formal parties or at my desk. So having to make dinner day in and day out was a ridiculous grind to realize as a new parent, and, now 13 years later, it still boggles my mind how endless it is. Even though I wake up every single, dang day of my life knowing it’s coming, I’m still sometimes not prepared for dinner. On the days that needing a meal for dinner hits me from my blindside, I now make this recipe.
You can roast a chicken, pick-up a rotisserie chicken from the store or use leftovers, just get some chicken and the rest is easy. It’s a riff on a Chicken Tinga Slow Cooker recipe I saw, and the simple sauce you make gives the meat so much robust flavour. I also like baking the tacos. They’re so crispy and the resulting quesadilla-like melt actually makes them easier to eat. I serve them with a side salad, and everyone gobbles them up like cake. If you’re going to get right back up after the the beating down that comes from your relentless day, then make something that you can comfortably tackle. And, remember, if your day hasn’t killed you, then dinner definitely shouldn’t. It can just make you stronger. Although you knew that, right? As a parent, you are now the toughest version of you and, now, you truly are everyone’s super hero.
Sheet Pan Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- juice of half a lime
- 4 cups shredded chicken
- 1 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
- 8 medium corn and whole wheat tortilla I use tortilla that are a mix of corn and whole wheat but if you don't have that choice, use whole wheat as corn will crack while baking.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 and prepare a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- In a large skillet, warm your oil over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook until softened.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add the chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika and stir to coat the onion.
- Add the tomato paste, lime juice and 1/4 cup of water and stir until it comes together as a sauce.
- Stir in the chicken and cheese and coat with the sauce.
- Fill a tortilla with the chicken mixture and fold it over to form a taco. Place it on the baking sheet and continue until you've used all the filling.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until tortilla are gold brown and cheese has melted. Serve with taco sauce, salsa as well as any of yoru favorite taco sides like sour cream and guacamole.
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Hey, thanks for stopping by!
We're Ceri and Laura, a couple of magazine-editors-turned-food-bloggers. Also, we're mothers obsessed with delicious, healthy, family food. We're constantly thinking of ways to make your time (and our own!) in the kitchen easier and more productive, but still nostalgic for the days when dinner was cereal eaten over the kitchen sink.
6 Comments
Tia Martschuk
January 18, 15:17Uhh.. where is the chicken in the ingredients?
Laura
January 31, 11:56It’s down in the middle now. It was somehow not coming up in the line edit of the recipe. So sorry.
Jocelyne
January 20, 17:56Hi, this looks great! I might be losing it but I don’t actually see chicken in the recipe…How many cups on average do you use? Or is it just a full rotisserie chicken ? Thamks!
Laura
January 31, 12:05You’re not losing it! Although I may be. It wasn’t coming up in the line edit of the recipe. I had to re-add it. So sorry.
maria Luisa
March 24, 05:22how many tacos?
Laura
May 06, 15:04Hi Maria, you can make about 8 providing you’re using medium tortilla. I find the sizes can be a bit different between brands but if you don’t over stuff them, you should get 8. I hope this is more helpful. Thank you for your question.