Baked Chicken Street Corn Tacos
Baked Chicken Street Corn Tacos- Rotisserie chicken, homemade elote dip, and plenty of cheese are stuffed into a crispy baked flour tortilla.
January 21, 2022 by Nicole Collins
I have a new obsession!
It’s been a while since I’ve latched on to something new. It feels like it was about time.
Ready to know what my new obsession is?
Baked tacos!
That may sound super basic and not nearly as exciting as you were expecting. But, let me tell you…baked tacos are where it’s at. I’ve been making them on repeat for myself in so many different varieties, and I just can’t stop.
My memory is not great these days; so when I get a new recipe idea, I text it to myself. Then as I create the recipe and knock it off my list, I go back and delete the text so that I don’t create the same recipe twice.
Which I accidentally kind of just did with last week’s onion dip. But that’s not the point…
The point is that my text log with myself basically has some kind of baked taco idea on every couple of lines. So though today is the first on an ever growing list of this newfound method of making the ultimate taco, it is certainly not going to be the last.
So today, we’re making Baked Chicken Street Corn Tacos!
These tacos as so freaking easy and they’re so freaking delicious. We’re taking store bought rotisserie chicken, homemade elote dip, and plenty of cheese then stuffing it all in a flour tortilla to bake until perfectly golden and crisp. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect plan?
Let’s start with the chicken. Like I said, we’re going to let the grocery store help us out a little bit by doing all the heavy lifting for us. You can use dark meat, light meat, or a combo of both for these tacos…whichever you prefer. But to add a little extra pizazz to the chicken, we’re going to shred it then toss it in a skillet with some olive oil and a couple spices like chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin to help infuse a little extra flavor into the chicken. We don’t want to dry the chicken out by cooking it, so it’s going to be a super fast 4-5 minutes that we’ll heat the chicken with the spices, and that’s it for the chicken.
For the street corn dip, we’re going to take all of the flavors and key ingredients from traditional elote, and mix it into a chunky dip. So we need some corn, some mayo and sour cream, some lime juice, a little cilantro plus some dry spices, a touch of minced jalapeno, and some crumbly cotija cheese. Mix it all together in a bowl. Then half of the mix is being stuffed right inside the tacos, and the other half can be served on the side for some extra dunking and dipping. Now if you can’t find cotija cheese, that’s ok! Crumbled feta is a close substitute and works beautifully in these tacos too.
To assemble, we’ll layer in some pepperjack cheese, our seasoned chicken, and a scoop of our street corn dip. Fold the tortillas in half to get that taco shape, and give them a spritz of olive oil to help them get golden and crispy while they bake. Now, these tacos are pretty stuffed. So to help them stay closed while they’re in the oven, I like to give them a gentle press for a couple of seconds to help that top flap stay put. I also like to fold the tortilla in half and then unfold it before I stuff it to 1. give me a guide of where to stop with the filling since you can see the halfway mark and 2. help with that taco staying shut thanks to the natural crease.
These only take about 10 minutes in the oven to bake. And then, it’s time to chow down! To serve, you can put that extra corn dip right on top of the taco or you could snack on it kind of like a side dish. It’s totally your choice. And all tacos are amazing dunked in sour cream, so you could totally offer sour cream as a dipping option too.
These tacos are just so amazing. They’re bursting at the seams, literally, with flavor and texture. The chicken is soft and supple. The corn dip adds little pops of freshness to each bite while also adding a creamy component. The cheese is stretchy and gooey. And, that taco shell on the outside is the absolute perfect level of crispiness with a little chew still left to it. And if the flavors and textures weren’t enough for you, since these all bake together on a sheet pan, you can knock as many of these out at one time as you need without any extra effort. They even reheat well if re-toasted in the oven.
It really doesn’t get much better!
Ok, everyone! This is definitely not the last of the baked taco phenomenon as far as I concerned. What flavor profile do you want to see next?
I hope you enjoy! And, let’s eat!
Baked Chicken Street Corn Tacos
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
For the Street Corn Dip:
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp sour cream
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp chili powder
1 tbsp lime juice
2 ½ cups corn, thawed if frozen
2 tbsp jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, minced
1 tbsp cilantro, minced
1/3 cup crumbled cotija cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
For the Tacos:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ cups rotisserie chicken, diced
¼ + 1/8 tsp chili powder
¼ + 1/8 tsp garlic powder
¼ + 1/8 tsp cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups shredded pepperjack cheese
8 6-inch flour tortillas
olive oil cooking spray
Directions:
Make the street corn dip: To a mixing bowl, add mayonnaise, sour cream, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp chili powder, and lime juice. Mix well until fully combined. Add corn, jalapeno, cilantro, cotija, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix gently until fully combined.
Season the chicken: Heat olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, ¼ + 1/8 tsp each garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin plus a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat the chicken in the spices. Cook for 3-4 mins to help the chicken absorb the spices. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Spread ¼ cup cheese over the top half of each tortilla. Top with chicken, evenly divided between the tortillas. Top the chicken with about half of the street corn dip, evenly divided between tortillas. Set remaining street corn dip aside. Fold tortillas in half to close the taco, and press gently to help keep the shells closed. Spritz the top of the tortillas with olive oil cooking spray. Bake for 8-10 mins until the tortillas are crisp and start to turn golden brown.
Serve tacos with remaining street corn dip. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*I like to use corn on the cob for this recipe, especially when corn is in season. Start by roasting the corn still in the husk at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove the husk, and cut the corn kernels off of the cob. Let the corn cool before mixing into the dip. When corn is not in season, thawed frozen corn works great too!
*If you can't find cotija cheese, you can substitute with crumbled feta.
