Healthy 30 minute Ground Chicken Tacos are perfect for busy weeknights! A low sodium sauce packed with southwest spices keeps meat moist, while veggies add flavor and all in just one skillet.
Our family is not picky when it comes to making taco meat healthy fish tacos, carne asada tacos or ground turkey tacos; you name it, we’ve made so many healthy taco recipes!
Table of contents
These ground chicken tacos are the easiest taco recipe I have ever made for healthy dinner ideas! To make the taco meat healthy, I used only 1 lb of ground chicken breast, loaded it with over 1 lb of veggies and made it all in one humongous size skillet.
Taco Tuesday was a real thing in only a half hour and now this ground chicken recipe is my favorite, only to be rivaled by taco skillet or Instant Pot chicken tacos!
Why Make Chicken Tacos?
- One skillet: No need to prepare toppings separately, they all cook together in one pan.
- Quick: This ground chicken recipe is ready in only 30 minutes!
- Healthy: Ground chicken is a great source of protein, lower in fat and contains less cholesterol than beef. Bell peppers are high in vitamin C, and radishes are a great source of calcium and potassium.
- Flavorful: Taco seasoning and smoked paprika combine with tomato sauce for a flavorful ground chicken recipe that stays moist!
- Balanced: This one skillet meal contains lean protein and nutrient rich vegetables, wrapped in a corn tortilla for a wholesome Mexican chicken taco recipe!
- Gluten free and dairy free: This ground chicken recipe is a great choice for families with dietary restrictions, it’s even bean and legume free.
Ingredients for Mexican Ground Chicken Recipe
- Ground chicken: Look for a brand that is not filled with mostly ‘fillers’, please read the ingredient label! Choose from ground chicken (made with both white and dark meat) or ground chicken breast (all white meat). Either can be used in this ground chicken recipe as well as in ground chicken stuffed peppers.
- Onion, garlic and bell pepper: Aromatics plus peppers add so much flavor to this Mexican chicken taco recipe! These same ingredients are proven winners with chicken, try baked chicken with peppers + onions + mushrooms + cheese, so good!
- Chicken taco seasoning: Homemade taco seasoning and smoked paprika are all you need for this flavorful ground chicken recipe.
- Low sodium tomato sauce: Let’s be honest – chicken can be dry, especially chicken breast. Not in my ground chicken tacos, though, with this flavorful Tex Mex sauce!
- Corn: Canned, fresh or frozen corn for more “veggie factor”, sweetness and extra crunch.
- Radishes: Strengthen the “veggie factor” and probably “sauciness”, too. I picked up a bunch of a milder radish variety at the farmers market, I can’t remember the name though. You can use less or let everyone add at the table. Radishes add extra crunch and peppery zest to the taco meat.
- Cilantro: Add right at the end for a fresh complex citrusy flavor.
- Salt: To bring out the taste of all the ingredients in ground chicken recipe.
- For serving: Corn tortillas, lime and any other favorite taco meat toppings.
Need another idea of what to make with ground chicken? Try ground chicken burgers or even swap the turkey for chicken in Instant Pot taco soup! In fact you can use ground chicken interchangeably for ground turkey in any of these ground turkey recipes.
How to Make Chicken Tacos
- Start by sautéing the vegetables: First the garlic and onion, then bell peppers. This allows their taste to be absorbed by later ingredients in this ground chicken recipe.
- Add ground chicken and flavourful spices: Frying spices in oil is a quick way to deepen their flavour. Ground chicken taco meat cooks really fast – just make sure to break it into pieces with spatula.
- Add tomato sauce and corn: Sauce will “marry” taco meat filling together and add “sauciness” factor.
- Last add radishes, cilantro and salt: Radishes at the end will retain crunch and zest, cilantro adds a fresh taste and salt strengthens all other flavors!
- For serving: Corn tortillas, lime and other taco meat toppings! See below for many options on how to take this ground chicken recipe to next level.
How to Keep Chicken Taco Meat Warm
Welcome to my food blogger’s life – cooking dinner at lunch time Monday – Friday. 🙂
For serving cooked tacos later, I placed taco filling in small slow cooker and turned on “keep warm”. The only fixins I had to prepare were limes, crumbled feta cheese and Greek yogurt.
This is a great option for both busy weeknights or game day parties!
d
Optional Add-In’s and Variations
- Other vegetables: Skip radishes or use shredded jicama or turnip instead. Cauliflower rice is an obvious choice!
- Other proteins: Use ground turkey if you do not have ground chicken. I often make this ground turkey taco recipe. Ground beef or pork could be used, but will need to be drained (extra step).
- Peppers: Feel free to add some heat with jalapeno or poblano peppers!
- Additional seasonings: Cumin or try minced chipotle pepper in adobe, it makes vegetarian chili so smoky and would taste amazing added to taco meat.
- Beans: Cooked black beans could be added with the sauce to add additional protein.
- Sauce: I like the simple ingredients of a plain tomato sauce with Mexican chicken taco recipe, some readers have used picante taco sauce instead with great results.
- Fresh herbs: Not a fan of cilantro, use parsley or skip altogether and add a pinch of ground coriander with other spices.
Tips for Best Results
- Low sodium canned tomato sauce and homemade taco seasoning makes more healthy chicken tacos.
- Low carb: Skip tortillas and serve over lettuce, similar to low carb enchiladas.
- Warm tortillas: If you have gas stove, warm up tortilla right on the burner to char the edges. Or make a crispy tostada shell if you have air fryer!
- Timesaver: Use your food processor to chop pepper and onion, just be careful to not puree them!
FAQs
I love both! It really just comes down to personal preference. Both ground turkey and ground chicken are healthy choices for taco meat.
That is the magic of this ground chicken recipe! By using a flavorful sauce with the ground meat, it keeps it so moist.
Best is a non-stick ceramic skillet. If you have a regular stainless steel skillet, you will just need to use more oil. Cast iron skillets might be able to be used, just keep an eye on things as once they get hot, cast iron starts to cook ingredients even more quickly.
Sure! I prefer to use my homemade taco seasoning for any healthy taco recipe, but any taco seasoning should work.
I suppose you could make your own ground chicken with a meat grinder or use diced chicken breast and saute that with the vegetables, or you could just make grilled chicken tacos. Another option would be to use leftover shredded chicken and just stir it in with sauce.
How to Serve Ground Chicken Taco Recipe?
These are the toppings you can use for Mexican chicken taco recipe, some are ambitious. 🙂
- Creamy and tangy: Greek yogurt (healthier) or sour cream.
- Shredded cheese: Freshly grated to avoid any caking agents.
- Mexican favorites: Diced avocado or creamy guacamole, or salsa guacamole.
- Salsa: Your favorite brand or homemade pico de gallo (ambitious).
- Salad: (More work but also delicious) Mexican kale salad, Mexican bean salad or fresh greens with avocado cilantro dressing.
We used Food for Life organic corn tortillas which fell apart on a first bite for kids, and on a second one for adults. Healthy taco salad it was, delicious nonetheless. Or transform this into ground chicken recipe taco bowl with cilantro coconut brown rice.
How to Store Mexican Ground Chicken Recipe?
To make ahead and cook later, you can chop garlic, onion and bell pepper and refrigerate for up to 3 days. You can also slice radishes. That is when meal prep containers with 2 sections come in handy. 🙂 Then just cook when ready. makes a weeknight healthy dinner a breeze.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Since filling is saucy and radishes are sturdy, there is not much to get soggy in this chicken taco filling. Reheat on a skillet with a splash of water on low heat. That’s it!
These ground chicken tacos by far is my fastest and easiest taco recipe. Browse through all my healthy taco recipes and decide for yourself. 🙂
More Mexican Recipes
- Buffalo chicken tacos
- Shrimp tacos
- Pressure cooker taco soup
- Easy chicken quesadillas
- White chicken chili
- Taco pasta with pumpkin
And may I suggest homemade kombucha to go with tacos? Any time of the year!
Ground Chicken Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 large bell peppers finely chopped
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 lb ground chicken I used breast
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup low sodium tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups frozen corn thawed or 1 can (drained)
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 bunch radishes sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- Organic corn tortillas
- Lime cheese and Greek yogurt, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add garlic and onion, sauté for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add bell pepper and sauté for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chicken, taco seasoning, smoked paprika and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking chicken into pieces.
- Decrease heat to low, add tomato sauce and corn, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Add cilantro, radishes and salt; stir.
- Serve hot over corn tortillas with lime, crumbled feta or shredded Monterey Jack cheese and Greek yogurt.
Make ahead: Chop garlic, onion and bell pepper and refrigerate for up to 3 days. You can also slice radishes. That is when meal prep containers with 2 sections come in handy. 🙂 Then just cook when ready. akes a weeknight healthy dinner a breeze.
Refrigerate leftovers: Store for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Since filling is saucy and radishes are sturdy, there is not much to get soggy in this chicken taco filling. Reheat on a skillet with a splash of water on low heat. That's it!
Video
Notes
- For serving cooked tacos later, I placed taco filling in small slow cooker and turned on “keep warm”.
- Low sodium canned tomato sauce and homemade taco seasoning makes more healthy chicken tacos.
- Low carb: Skip tortillas and serve over lettuce, similar to low carb enchiladas.
- Warm tortillas: If you have gas stove, warm up tortilla right on the burner to char the edges. Or make a crispy tostada shell if you have air fryer!
- Other vegetables: Skip radishes or use shredded jicama or turnip instead. Cauliflower rice is an obvious choice!
- Other proteins: Use ground turkey if you do not have ground chicken. Ground beef or pork could be used, but will need to be drained (extra step).
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes without permission. Nutritional info is approximate.
Husband and really enjoyed this recipe, packed full of veggies and lots of flavor!
So glad you enjoyed it!
How would I freeze this meal to make later in a IP?
This might be harder to do considering the veggies in it, but our ground turkey tacos recipe is freezer meal/Instant Pot friendly and you could sub ground chicken if you would like to.
I won’t make the regular tacos again after trying this recipe! I used ground chicken and just the Old Elpaso taco seasoning because I had on hand. Topped with avocado and Greek yogurt, it was delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Yum! Thanks for leaving a review.