All I can say about these crispy baked chicken tacos with avocado dipping sauce is…. YUUUUUMMMM. The chicken inside these has a ton of flavor and combined with red onion and Oaxaca cheese, it makes a perfect filling for crispy tacos.
The chicken here is marinated in a mixture similar to carnitas marinade with a lot of orange and lime juice. I marinated mine for about 8 hours. This is one case where you probably don’t want to marinate overnight, because the high amount of citrus juice means the acid will tenderize the chicken and if left to long it can become mushy. 8 hours was perfect.
I used Oaxacan cheese for these, which is a Mexican cheese the melts really well and has a consistency similar to mozzarella. You could also use Monterey jack or mozzarella instead. The dipping sauce is basically a thinner version of guacamole and it is so good!
I used corn tortillas here and they were a great size. You could also use small taco sized flour ones if you prefer those. They are sprayed with a bit of cooking spray to help them crisp up and baked for about 15 minutes to get them nice and crispy. I’m so excited we have these leftover for lunch today! 🙂
Crispy Baked Chicken Tacos with Avocado Dip
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lime juice or two packets of true lime
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp salt
- pepper to taste
For the tacos:
- corn or flour tortillas
- 1 red onion sliced
- 2-3 cups grated cheese
- oil spray
For the sauce:
- 2 avocados
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 jalapeno seeded and stemmed
- 2 tbsp lime juice or 2 packets true lime
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- water to thin as needed
Instructions
For the chicken:
- Combine the thinly sliced chicken with all the marinade ingredients and mix well. Allow to marinate in the fridge for 4- hours.
- When ready to cook, heat a skillet on medium high and add 2 tbsp of oil. Add the chicken and cook over medium high, stirring occasionally and allowing it to brown, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat until ready to use.
For the sauce:
- Combine the ingredients in a small blender and mix until smooth. As water as needed to thin to dipping consistency and taste and add salt/lime juice etc as needed until it tastes good.
For the tacos:
- Heat oven to 425. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Lay out tortillas on both and spray both sides with cooking spray. Place into the oven for 2 minutes, just to soften the tortillas so you can fold them.
- Layer some cheese and meat on each and add the sliced onion. Fold over into a taco and spray the top again with cooking spray and sprinkle with some kosher salt. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, flipping over at about 10 minutes, until they are browned and lightly crispy. Serve right away with dip.