25 minute Chicken Tostadas with crispy baked tortilla shells topped with shredded chicken, black beans, avocado and crumbled cheese. One of our favorite easy healthy dinners!
Reader’s Review
Loved this recipe! I have never cooked my own tostada shells, but I will never buy them pre-made again! This recipe is easy, can be personalized to fit individual preferences, and will be on our frequent meal rotation! I actually prefer these tostadas to the tradition version! Thank you so much for sharing!
LaDonia Franke
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I love Mexican food, however I don’t love a bazillion messy bowls with different fixins to serve. That’s why I love making this easy chicken tostada recipe with homemade crispy tostada shells for a weeknight dinner!
Not to mention, making tostadas is a great way to use up leftover corn tortillas that are on the brink of going stale.
Use whatever chicken and beans you have on hand, add additional vegetables, top with your favorite salsa and cheese. The toppings are healthy because you have control over all ingredients and can add as many vegetables and as little cheese as you like.
Each chicken tostada is packed with 19 grams of protein and 11 grams fiber.
Ingredients for Chicken Tostadas
All ingredients are highly customizable and I recommend to use what you have on hand.
- Corn tortillas: 100% corn tortillas will be used to make your tostada shells. You can use store-bought tostada shells but be aware they contain artificial colors and hydrogenated oils.
- Shredded chicken: I used Instant Pot chicken breast. Grilled chicken breast works too. Store-bought rotisserie chicken is a good option when in a rush. Basically, any pan fried chicken or baked chicken breast works. You can always add extra spices like taco seasoning.
- Canned black beans: You can also use a can of refried black beans or refried pinto beans that is low in sodium, with minimum ingredients and possibly organic. Or make Instant Pot refried beans.
- Guacamole salsa: Made with avocado, tomato, red onion, fresh cilantro, lime and simple seasonings. By all means, use any guacamole or replace with pico de gallo.
- Feta cheese or Cotija cheese: Creamy cheese instead of sour cream really adds flavor to these chicken tostadas. Swap cheddar cheese, Colby Jack or a Mexican blend.
Variations and Toppings
Here are a few ideas for your chicken tostada recipe, so you can use ingredients and toppings you like and have on hand to enjoy them tonight.
- Meat: Instead of shredded chicken use Instant Pot pulled chicken, shredded beef or Instant Pot pulled pork.
- Vegetarian: Learn how to fry tofu until crispy and use in chicken tostadas instead of chicken.
- Additional leftover vegetables: Add any leftover vegetables chopped small including roasted cauliflower or baked asparagus.
- Fresh vegetables: Chopped or pickled jalapeno, pickled onions, iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce, green bell pepper or sweet bell pepper.
- BBQ chicken tostada: Use leftover bbq chicken or add healthy bbq sauce to your shredded chicken.
How to Make Tostada Shells
At the base of this chicken tostada recipe are tostada shells. You can find them in most grocery stores but here is a quick overview how to make tostada shells at home that are much more healthy than store-bought!
- Prep: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and arrange corn tortillas in a single layer.
- Season: Spray each corn tortilla with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt on both sides.
- Bake: Bake for 6 minutes per each side, flipping once. If you have convection oven, tostada shells will cook faster and even more golden brown.
How to Make Chicken Tostadas
- Tostada shells: Bake tostada shells using the recipe above or use store-bought tostada shells.
- Make easy guacamole: While tostada shells are baking, in a large bowl, combine tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, salt and lime juice. Stir and set aside.
- Assemble chicken tostadas: Top crispy corn tortillas with layers of refried beans, shredded chicken, guacamole and cheese.
Tips for Best Results
- The right tortillas: Use 100% corn tortillas and the thinner you can find the better! This ensures you end up with a crispy chicken tostada. I think you could use flour tortillas but I haven’t tried.
- Flip your tortillas: While they are baking in the oven, this will get them crispy on both sides.
- Don’t preassemble: If you are meal prepping, store each ingredient separately, otherwise you will end up with a soggy tortilla.
- Fresh ingredients: Really makes these chicken tostadas outstanding – fresh cilantro, lime and cheese that is not pre-grated.
Serving Ideas
Load up chicken tostadas with just enough toppings, then pick it up like a slice of pizza and take a bite. It’s also a great dinner to serve Chipotle style with:
- Rice: Make Instant Pot coconut rice or low carb cauliflower rice for extra hungry family members.
- Salsa: Mango salsa or pineapple salsa as a sweet topping.
- Sauce: Drizzle tostadas with avocado cilantro dressing.
- Mexican inspired salad: Serve with Mexican kale salad or Mexican street corn salad.
How to Make Ahead and Store
Storing tostada shells: You can bake homemade tostada shells for up to 48 hours in advance. Store them in resealable Ziploc bag to keep shells crunchy.
Make ahead: You can shred chicken, chop vegetables, crumble cheese for up to 48 hours in advance and store them in airtight containers in refrigerator.
You can even prepare Greek yogurt guacamole and store it for up to 24 hours as it doesn’t brown as much as regular guacamole.
To prevent regular guacamole from browning, here are 2 foolproof methods of storing it. Either level guacamole in a bowl and tightly press piece of plastic on top. Or pour cold water on top, then drain and stir before serving with chicken tostadas.
More Mexican Recipes to Try
- Chicken burritos
- Veggie quesadillas
- Buffalo chicken tacos
- Ground chicken tacos
- Chicken quesadillas
- Baked tacos
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
Shrimp Ceviche Recipe
Shrimp Tacos
Tex Mex Chicken and Zucchini Recipe
Chicken Tostadas
Equipment
Video
Ingredients
For Chicken Tostadas:
- 8 corn tortillas, or store-bought tostada shells
- 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
- 14 ounces can low sodium black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1/2 cup feta or Cotija cheese, crumbled
- Cooking spray, I use Misto
For Guacamole Salsa:
Instructions
- To make homemade tostada shells: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Arrange tortillas in a single layer, spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt on both sides.
- Bake for 6 minutes per each side, means you have to flip one time.
- Prep toppings: While tostadas are baking, make easy guacamole salsa by combining tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, salt and lime juice. Get other ingredients ready.
- Assembly: To assemble tostadas, top each shell with guacamole salsa, beans, chicken and cheese.
Notes
- Store: You can bake homemade tostada shells for up to 48 hours in advance. Just store in resealable Ziploc bag to keep shells crunchy.
- Make ahead: You can shred chicken, chop/dice veggies, crumble cheese for up to 48 hours in advance and store in airtight containers. Prep guacamole up to 24 hours in advance.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is great! I like to use refried beans because they act as a glue for the other toppings. One other topping I added was a low-fat sour cream for a nice tang – or add a slash of fresh lime juice for a bright, fresh flavor.
If people wish to use a sous vide, cook for an hour at 150º, let sit for 10 minutes, drain any liquid and shred. You can add some flavor to the chicken first if you’d like by adding 1/4 c salsa to your sous vide bag, or rub a spice blend over the chicken first. I used boneless, skinless breasts.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Great idea about the glue! You are very welcome!
Great for card night
Absolutely!
Going to make these this weekend. They look so good!
Hope you like them!:)
Mine didn’t turn out as pretty BUT they were amazing and our family loved them!! Definitely adding to our weekly meals!!
Professional camera and Photoshop makes food prettier on a screen. Don’t feel bad. Glad you enjoyed my recipe, Nikki!
How much stuff do we put on the tostadas to make it match the calories if that makes sense?
Makes sense. I would divide mixture into 8 and then top. I honestly just eyeball until a shell can’t handle.
MAHALO!! MY MOST HEARTFELT THANKS FOR SHARING THESE HEALTHY EASY RECIPES FOR FREE! I HAVE A REALLY BAD BACK. DOC SAYS I AM OBESE AND NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT. THESE YUMMY AND EASY TO MAKE RECIPE ‘S ARE JUST RIGHT FOR ME!
Awe, you are so welcome! So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes! Please don’t be shy to leave me a comment with a star review once you make any recipe. Have a great week!
I LOVE this recipe! I am going to make this again and again! Delicious and satisfying!
Added note 1: I used a salt-grinder when salting the corn tortillas, which made the salt really “pop.” The only additional side I served at dinner was a rather bland plate of watermelon slices. The salt from the tortilla shells really saved the watermelon!
I recently started using the “fooducate” app, and I published this recipe. I hope it’s okay that I made it public. I cited “ifoodreal” in the recipe title and noted “Taken from ifoodreal.com” in the notes. If you want me to make this recipe private (so that only I can see it on the app), just let me know. Thank you!
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Love watermelon!
So good
This was easy to make and SO good! Leftovers lasted a few days and were just as tasty 🙂
Delicious! I don’t like avocado as a rule but this was really good!
This was a hit with my whole family! Definitely going into our weekly rotation.