Easy Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Take your taco night to new heights with these Creamy Chicken Taquitos—a fun and easy-to-make twist on a Mexican favorite.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
These Chicken Baked Taquitos are so easy to make, even on busy nights, and they taste amazing! They’re a great option for when you want comfort food made fast.
Our original Taquitos recipe is featured in The Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook. However, the older my kids get, the busier our evenings get too. On those days, we need the very quickest meals.
We adapted the original to precook the shredded chicken—on busy nights I just have to combine it with the cheese sauce and bake the taquitos.
The time savings in this method helps us get this tasty meal on our schedule more often! I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
Why Make Taquitos in an Instant Pot?
Once you make the filling in the Instant Pot, then you have the option to finish the taquitos in the oven or with an air fryer. Or you can just roll them up and eat them right away.
(For the record, I definitely prefer the flavor and texture when you crisp them up.)
This dish is super easy—pressure cook shredded chicken ahead of time, then when you’re ready for dinner, toss the cooked chicken together with the dried spice blend and the cream cheese. Then, just roll them up in a tortilla and bake until browned.
Note: Even though this portion of the recipe doesn’t use the pressure cook function, I still like to make it in my Instant Pot. I like the deep pot for keeping the mess contained, and it reaches a saute temperature much more quickly than my stovetop.
However, you can certainly prepare the filling in a pot on the stove if you prefer.
What to Serve with Baked Chicken Taquitos?
We love to serve these taquitos with Homemade Refried Beans and one of our favorite Mexican Rices like Cilantro Lime Rice or Green Chile and Lime Rice.
When we’re in a hurry, we’ll often serve these taquitos just with a side of fruit and baby carrots.
MORE IN OUR INSTANT POT SHREDDED CHICKEN SERIES:
This is another post in our Shredded Chicken series where you make a Big Batch of Shredded Chicken and then use that chicken to make meals throughout the week, including:
- Chicken Pasta Bake
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Chicken and Rice Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Chicken Philly Cheesesteak (coming soon!)
- Green Goddess Salad (or Wraps) (coming soon!)
- Pulled Buffalo Chicken Melts (coming soon!)
We’ll update this list with links as we publish more batch-cooked shredded chicken meals.
Want more information about making this recipe—ingredient info, substitutions, and tips? You can now find all of that under the recipe card.
Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Ingredients
- Nonstick spray
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup mild salsa verde
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups shredded chicken we used the batched cooked, could also use rotisserie or canned
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese cut into small cubes
- 10 small (6-inch) or 8 medium (8-inch) flour tortillas
- 1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
- 2 green onions white and green parts, chopped
- Favorite taco toppings like guacamole, lettuce, diced tomatoes, or sour cream, optional, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Line a baking sheet or 9×13 pan with aluminum foil and lightly coat the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Select Saute. While heating, add the chicken broth, salsa verde, chili powder, onion powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and lime juice to the cooking pot and stir until mixed.
- When hot, add the shredded chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has cooked off, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese and stir until melted and evenly distributed, about 2-3 minutes.
- Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas. Top with cheese, cilantro, and green onions. Tightly roll the tortilla around the filling and place each taquito, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle a little cheese on the tops of the tortillas as well. (If you use too much cheese, it’ll melt together and the taquitos won’t crisp up, so they’ll be more like enchiladas.).
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tortillas are crisp and golden brown on the ends. If desired, flip seam-side up halfway through the cook time.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately, topped with your favorite taco toppings. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
INGREDIENT NOTES
Don’t be intimidated at the number of ingredients—they come together fast to create a delicious and flavorful filling.
- Shredded chicken: You can use canned chicken, rotisserie chicken, or precooked chicken breasts with no change to the cook time.
- Salsa verde: Brands differ quite a bit in their spice levels. (I’ve found the Herdez Mild Salsa Verde to be more spicy than the mild in other brands.) Make sure to choose a brand you like.
- Chicken broth: We use reduced-sodium broth in our recipes.
- Spices: We call for a homemade spice blend, but if you have a store-bought blend you like, you can definitely substitute 2 to 3 tablespoons of that blend instead.
- Lime juice: You can omit this in a pinch, but it does add a bright flavor that helps balance out the rich cream ingredients.
- Cream cheese: You can use the lower-fat cream cheese, but the sauce will be a little thinner and less rich.
- Flour tortillas: If you’re making these as an appetizer, use the smaller street taco size tortillas. I like the larger 8-inch tortillas for my family.
- Cheddar cheese: I’ve found that freshly grated cheese melts better than the preshredded cheese. Use what works best for you.
- Optional toppings: Serve each taquito with your favorite taco toppings.
How to Make Chicken Taquito Filling in Your Instant Pot
Preheat the oven and prepare a baking sheet with foil. In the Instant Pot, combine the shredded chicken broth, salsa verde, and seasonings. Then, add cream cheese and stir until smooth.
Spoon the chicken mixture onto tortillas, top with Cheddar cheese, cilantro, and green onions. Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.
Tip: Cold tortillas are tricky to roll! To make it easier, place the tortillas in the microwave at 50% power. Microwave in 30 second intervals until the tortillas are flexible.
Be careful how full you fill the tortillas. If you’re not careful, it’s easy for the tortillas to be so full they’re hard to roll. If you’re using 8-inch or larger tortillas, you want the filled tortilla to be about 1 to 1½ inches thick when rolled.
If you want the cheese to be golden brown, you can put it on at the beginning of the browning time and bake for 10-15 minutes. If you want the cheese to be melty and gooey, I recommend browning the taquitos for 5-10 minutes, then topping with the cheese and coating until melty. Both ways are delicious—it just depends if you like the crispy tortillas or the melty cheese more.)
Serve the taquitos topped with guacamole, pico de gallo, lettuce, diced tomatoes, or your other favorite taco toppings. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions about Making Taquitos
Our family prefers flour tortillas, but corn tortillas work too.
If you have them on-hand, cooked shredded pork or shredded beef would be excellent substitutes.
I prefer to roll only as many taquitos as I think I’ll serve. Once filled and reheated, the taquito will never be as crispy as when originally baked.
However, if you’re not super picky about crispness, you can absolutely roll and reheat these taquitos.
Absolutely! In this case its probably even more important to brown them up in the oven. Otherwise the tortillas may be a bit soft.
MORE Instant Pot Taco Recipes
Looking for other amazing Instant Pot recipes to spice up Taco Tuesday? We’ve got you covered:
- Beef Birria Tacos
- Ground Beef Tacos
- Pork Carnitas Tacos
- Chipotle Lime Fish Tacos
- Easy Chicken Tacos
- Pulled Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa by InstaFresh Meals
- Instant Pot Steak Tacos by The Dizzy Cook
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