Baked Taquitos (Chicken or Beef) Recipe

A while ago I decided I needed to figure out how to bake taquitos because I'm not much of a frier, and we love Mexican food and needed an alternative to tacos. I also realized that taquitos are a great kid food for Sam because they are easy to hold and eat. I thought if I could keep the rolled up taquitos together somehow on my cookie sheet, I could bake them after spraying them with cooking spray. Then I came up with the idea of using aluminum foil strips to twist around the taquitos to hold them, and my recipe came about. Taquito night is one of my favorite dinners at home.

Baked Taquitos (Chicken or Beef) Recipe

For chicken filling:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper

Butterfly the raw chicken breasts so they are not so thick and tenderize them using a fork to prick them. Heat a non-stick skillet, sprayed with cooking spray, to High heat and cook chicken for about 7 minutes per side or until browned and fully cooked. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes or so, then use a fork and shred/chunk the chicken. Put chicken aside.

For beef filling:

3/4 lb extra lean ground beef
1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
Salt and pepper

Brown the ground beef over High heat. Season with garlic powder (optional) and then salt and pepper to taste. Drain off any fat. Cool the ground beef and put aside.

To make taquitos:

10 corn tortillas
Aluminum foil cut into ten 1/2" x 8" strips
Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large non-stick skillet (do not spray) to Med. Low/Low heat. Put 3 or so tortillas on it to warm up so they can be rolled without breaking apart. Check them every minute or so and turn them over when they start to get soft. When soft, take a tortilla and put filling onto one end of it (2 tbsp beef or a small bunch of shredded chicken - eyeball it to make meat last for 10 taquitos). Note: if the tortilla breaks apart while rolling, that means it was not soft/warm enough to use. Roll filling up in tortilla and wrap a strip of aluminum foil around the middle of it and twist it to secure.


Place taquitos on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Every 4 taquitos, spray the tops with the cooking spray. When all of the taquitos are on the cookie sheet and sprayed, put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. When done, remove the tin foil strips before serving. Serve with guacamole, refried beans, and salsa to dip in. Makes 10 taquitos.