Chicken Street Tacos Recipe with juicy chicken breasts coated in flavorful chicken taco marinade, grilled and served in warm charred tortillas with your favorite toppings.
It’s a simple and flavorful dinner that’s perfect for busy weeknights!
Table of Contents
Try this chicken street tacos recipe covered in a smoky, spicy chicken taco marinade with a bit of citrus tang, made on the grill or in a cast iron skillet.
Tacos are delicious and effortless meals and there are so many ways to enjoy them! From Instant Pot shredded chicken tacos or ground chicken tacos, we could eat chicken tacos for dinner every night.
Ingredients for Chicken Street Tacos Recipe
Chicken street tacos recipe gets its flavor from the marinated chicken! Most of these spices you probably already have on hand in your spice rack plus other simple ingredients.
- Chicken breasts: Boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs will work.
- Oil: Olive oil works great, but you can use another oil if you like.
- Spice rub mix: Mexican inspired mix includes ground cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, oregano, freshly ground black pepper and salt. You can also use a homemade taco seasoning.
- Fresh garlic and a splash of lime juice: Fresh is key to really maximize flavor. You could use another citrus like orange juice.
- Tortillas: Chicken street tacos are traditionally served with corn tortillas but flour tortillas can hold more toppings.
- Toppings: Traditional Mexican chicken tacos are topped with onion, cilantro, and lime. But load them up with a drizzle of sour cream or any of your favorite taco toppings!
How to Make Chicken Street Tacos
Here is a quick overview how to make chicken street tacos. The hardest part is waiting for them to marinate! Then just grill and enjoy.
Prep: Slice the boneless skinless chicken breasts into thin cutlets. Then place the sliced chicken into a large bowl.
Season: To make chicken taco marinade, add cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, oregano, black pepper, salt, garlic, lime juice, and olive oil to the bowl.
Marinate: Mix everything together, then cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate for about 2-3 hours in the refrigerator.
Grill chicken: Now rub a cast iron skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Grill the chicken over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes.
Turn the chicken over: Then flip the chicken breasts over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. You want to make sure it is fully cooked through.
Use a meat thermometer to check chicken doneness. It should reach about 150 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted into the thickest part. And then as meat rests, it will get to optimal temperature.
Cut the chicken: Chop grilled chicken breasts into cubes and now you are ready to assemble your marinated chicken tacos!
Tips for Best Results
Here are a few tips for the best chicken street tacos recipe results!
- Char the tortillas: If you have a gas stovetop, use tongs to lightly char the outside of your flour tortillas or corn tortillas for extra flavor.
- Don’t skip the oil: The oil is important for keeping the chicken from sticking to the pan, as well as helping the spice mix and grilled chicken marinade to soak into the meat.
- Cut the chicken to an even thickness: When you slice the chicken breasts into cutlets, make sure the thickness of each is about the same for more even cooking and better distribution of spices.
- Let the meat rest: After it is done cooking, let the chicken juices settle back into the meat before chopping.
- Slow cook the chicken: After marinating, you can also cook chicken in the slow cooker instead of grilling.
Additional Topping Ideas
Red onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime may be classic, but here are some other ways to jazz up your chicken street tacos.
- Learn how to cut an avocado for perfect cubes.
- Sour cream drizzled on top.
- In season try fresh peach salsa.
- Shredded lettuce or shredded cabbage.
- Mexican cheese like cotija or queso fresco.
- Pickled jalapenos.
Serving Recommendations
To serve chicken tacos, fill up warm tortillas with juicy grilled chicken, cilantro, red onion, or optionally pico de gallo and guacamole!
For a complete fiesta, serve these chicken street tacos with these side dish options!
- Mexican street corn salad
- Instant Pot refried beans
- Mexican kale salad
- Healthy chicken tortilla soup
How to Store
Store: Store leftover grilled marinated chicken in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Perfect for weekday lunches or busy nights. Warm up the chicken on the stovetop in a pan just enough to keep it from getting dry. Then assemble your chicken tacos for a great meal!
Freeze: Place any leftover cooked chicken taco meat in a freezer bag. It will last for about 2 months. Use in red sauce enchiladas!
More FAQs
The difference between street tacos and regular tacos is that they are smaller. Meat is placed into a warm tortilla and then topped. Corn tortillas are traditional, and often two smaller ones are used. If you like a lot of toppings, though, flour tortillas tend to hold up better.
If you do not have a grill pan and the weather is not cooperating to grill outdoors, pour both chicken and marinade right into the skillet. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, flip and cook some more until juices run clear.
Yes, you can bake chicken for street tacos by following my cilantro lime chicken or chili lime chicken recipes.
You can tell when chicken is done by checking it with an internal thermometer and it reads 165 degrees F. Chicken juices will also run clear and the inside will no longer be pink.
More Taco Recipes to Try
- Buffalo chicken tacos
- Fish tacos recipe
- Ground beef tacos
- Carne asada tacos
- Shrimp tacos
- Ground turkey tacos
- Bang bang shrimp tacos
You may also love these healthy taco recipes!
Chicken Street Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp oregano dried
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
- 8 flour or corn tortillas for serving
Pico de gallo for serving - Guacamole for serving (optional)
- Red onion, sour cream, cilantro, lime for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Start off by slicing the boneless skinless chicken breast into thin cutlets. Then place the sliced chicken into a large bowl.
- Now add the cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, oregano, black pepper, salt, garlic, lime juice, and olive oil.
- Mix everything together, then cover it and let the chicken marinate for about 2-3 hours in the fridge.
- Now rub a cast iron skillet with a little bit of olive oil (just to coat). Grill the chicken at medium-high heat on both sides for about 3-4 minutes.
- Then cut the cooked chicken into cubes and serve with warm flour tortillas. Tip: If you have a gas stovetop, use tongs to lightly char the outside of your tortilla for extra flavor.
- Now load up your chicken tacos with your favorite toppings. We love to add red onion, cilantro, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream. But you can add whatever you like.
Notes
- Store: Store leftover chicken in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Place any leftover cooked chicken in a freezer bag for 2 months.
- Reheat: Warm up the chicken on the stovetop in a pan just enough to keep it from getting dry.
- Char the tortillas: If you have a gas stovetop, use tongs to lightly char the outside of your tortillas for extra flavor.
- Don’t skip the oil: The oil is important for keeping the chicken from sticking to the pan, as well as helping the spice mix and marinade to soak into the meat.
- Cut the chicken to an even thickness: Make sure the thickness of each chicken breast is about the same for more even cooking and better distribution of spices.
Delicious! I made this exactly as written except I grilled it. I served it with a slaw salad and avocado mash (from Ina Garten) and my kids added cheese and salsa. I made this alongside roasted salmon tacos for those that don’t like chicken. I will definitely make it again. Simple and yummy.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Diane!
FANTASTIC!!!!!
Yeah! So glad you love them!
The marinade is amazing! Added a chipotle pepper to the mix YUM.
That chipotle pepper sounds like it added a delicious flavor! Thanks for the rating and review!
I just made the recipe. It was delicious!! I shredded my chicken breasts. I used lettuce, red onion, cilantro and salsa. I used small organic tortillas, which made them like street tacos. We had pinto beans and tortilla chips. Thank you for sharing.
Yum! Sounds like it was delicious dinner.
These turned out great! We used less cumin and less smoked paprika than the recipe calls for but the chicken was still so so flavorful I didn’t miss them. We Will make this again!
So glad you liked them Janelle!
Loved the seasoning on these easy chicken tacos! Fantastic!
So glad to hear!