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30 Minute Honey Garlic Chicken.
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Sheet Pan Crispy Jalapeño Chicken Tacos. Roasted chicken with smoky chipotle chiles, chili powder, and salty soy sauce. Shred each piece and toss with the spicy sauce, then mix with cheese, stuff into corn tortillas, and oven-bake until each taco is crispy with melty cheese inside. Serve with a salty roasted garlic and jalapeño sesame verde sauce, then lots of avocado. These come together easily and are so delicious!
Taco Tuesday!! To be very upfront, I never practice Taco Tuesday. This is mainly because we’ll excitedly eat tacos on any given night. Sometimes multiple times a week. It’s no secret that everyone in the family adores taco night on any night.
With Cinco de Mayo coming up in less than a month, I’ve been hit with the taco bug. In the last few weeks I’ve created two of my favorite taco recipes to date. I plan to share one this week and then the other in another week or so. I’m very excited about both!
First up, we’ve got the tried-and-true Gerard Family classic taco, made with crispy chicken (though I normally use beef).
The story is that my dad used to make tacos on a weekly basis. His were filled with ground beef, then baked with cheddar cheese. They were thoroughly enjoyed straight out of the oven with no toppings other than maybe some shredded lettuce.
We all still love this taco. I make variations on it ALL THE TIME. But everyone agreed that this taco was very special and needed to be shared. The chicken was perfect, and the sauce really completed it.
Here are the details
Step 1: season and roast the chicken
Working on a sheet pan, toss the chicken with chipotle chiles, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. Then pour over some tamari and drizzle on some honey. I like to use honey when cooking with chipotle, I think it’s a nice balance to the spice.
Toss the chicken, then arrange it on one side of the sheet pan. On the other side, add a couple of garlic cloves, a jalapeño, and a few green onions. Roast everything until the chicken is cooked through and the jalapeño is charred.
Step 2: shred the chicken
Remove the chicken from the oven and pull the garlic, jalapeño, and green onions off the sheet pan. Now add those guys to a food processor. Or you can use a blender. Let them hang for a minute until you’re ready to make the sauce.
Now back to the chicken. Shred the chicken and toss it with the sauce on the pan.
Step 3: the crispy shells
Instead of using store-bought taco shells, I like to stuff corn tortillas with chicken and cheese and bake them until crispy.
This method is my favorite, and I use it every time I make tacos for my family. We love the crispy oven “fried” shells and melty cheese. It’s the best when some of the cheese melts out onto the pan and gets crispy too. Delicious!
Of course, you can use store-bought hard-shell tacos as well. When I’m in a time crunch, I often will too.
Step 4: make the garlic sesame verde sauce
Back at your food processor, blend the roasted garlic cloves, jalapeño, and green onions with salsa verde and tamari. If you want a less spicy sauce, de-seed the jalapeño before blending.
Blend the sauce and mix in the toasted sesame seeds.
Step 5: it’s time to eat
By now, the tacos should be done. Serve them while warm and crispy with lots of verde sauce, avocado, cilantro, and limes. I’ll sometimes add pickled onion as well and maybe a dollop of yogurt.
Mostly I just love these with the verde sauce and avocado. So yummy!
Looking for more simple weeknight recipes? Here are a few favorites:
Crockpot Chipotle Pot Roast Tacos
Crispy Cider Braised White Chili Chicken Tacos
Crispy Jalapeño Cream Cheese Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
Sheet Pan Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salty Lime Chips
Healthier Homemade Crunchwrap Supreme
Crispy Chipotle Chicken Tacos with Cilantro Lime Ranch
Crockpot Crispy Buffalo Chicken Tacos
Lastly, if you make these Sheet Pan Crispy Jalapeño Verde Chicken Tacos, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Sheet Pan Crispy Chicken Tacos with Roasted Jalapeño Sesame Verde
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 420 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds skinless chicken, breast or thighs
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 cup tamari/soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 8-12 corn tortillas, warmed
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
- avocado, cilantro, and limes for serving
Toasted Sesame Jalapeño Verde
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 green onions
- 1 jalapeño
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- 1 tablespoon tamari/soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. 2. On a baking sheet, toss the chicken with olive oil, onions, chipotle, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. Pour over the tamari and honey. Toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer. Add the garlic cloves, jalapeño, and green onions (for the salsa). Roast everything for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.3. Remove the garlic cloves, jalapeño, and green onions from the sheet pan and add to a food processor. Let cool. Shred the chicken and toss with the sauce on the sheet pan. 4. Line the taco shells up in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes. Stuff the chicken into each taco shell and top with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted.5. To make the sauce. Add the salsa verde and tamari to the food processor with the jalapeño. Blend until smooth. Stir in the sesame seeds. 6. Serve each taco with the sesame verde sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
For Easy Homemade Hard Shells: Warm 8-12 corn tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave, until pliable. On a baking sheet, rub the tortillas with olive oil. Lay each flat and then layer evenly with cheese and meat. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, gently pushing to adhere (see above photo). Transfer to the oven and bake for 5-8 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes more, or until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp.
Super easy and delicious recipe for a quick meal! Both me and my husband thoroughly enjoyed this recipe and I have already used it a couple times since! Having said that…if we aren’t in a mad rush I get him to grill the chicken for more flavor with a dry rub rather than the above recipe. However, the jalapeno with the salsa verde and getting the crunch on the corn tortilla’s is brilliant!
Hey Chloe,
Great idea!! I’m sure the grill adds so much more flavor to this recipe:) Thanks a lot for making it and your feedback! xT
Phenomenal, restaurant quality. I live in Germany and good/authentic Mexican food can be tough to find. This fit the bill! My only regret is not having more corn tortillas on hand to stuff.
Hey there,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, I appreciate you making it! xT
Made this recipe and loved it. The chicken was super moist and the toasted sesame jalapeño verde was wonderful. I do suggest lining your baking sheet with foil to make clean up a lot easier.
Hey Michele,
Thanks so much! Love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you:) Have a great week! xT
This was next level amazing! I had a jar of salsa verde I didn’t realize was bad until I opened it to blend with the other ingredients – I decided to use some sour cream I had to make a jalapeno crema situation and it turned out amazing. The chicken I made as directed, marinating overnight and it turned out fantastic.
The crisping of the tortilla in the oven worked so well too – adding this recipe to my rotation. Easy, delicious, great leftovers
Hey Anna,
Wonderful!! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear that it was enjoyed! x
The chicken itself was super flavorful and juicy. I don’t understand where I want wrong, but the tortillas were absolutely soaked even though I baked them before adding in the chicken. People had to use forks and knives because you couldn’t pick them up they were so soggy.
Hi Emily,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear you had issues with the tortillas. Did you use store bought corn tortillas? Were you trying to make the homemade hard shell version? Did you coat them in oil? Sounds like they just needed to be baked longer. Let me know if this helps! xx
So the sauce just burned on the bottom of the pan and everything on touching the sauce burned on the bottom also. Any ideas why?
Hi Andrea,
So sorry to hear this! Did you have your pan on the lowest rack? You could try using a baking dish next time to see if that works better for you! xT
This was very good but i don’t understand adding soy sauce to this flavor profile. I left that out of the chicken and the salsa verde and it was delicious without it!
Hey Alima,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for making this recipe and your comment! I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Xx
Hi! Could I somehow make the meat part in the crockpot?
Hey Laura,
Sure, you would have to add some liquid, I would do broth and maybe some salsa verde. Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
Hi! The directions are unclear as you direct to put jalapeño in the food processor in step 3 and then write to add jalapeño in the sauce in step 5. Do you need 2 jalapeños in this recipe?
Hi Ana,
The directions are correct:) You are adding the sauce ingredients to the food processor that the jalapeño is in in step 5. I hope this helps! xx
Hi Tieghan! Could these be made with ground turkey or chicken rather than chicken breast? Thank you!
Hey Hannah,
I wouldn’t use ground turkey or chicken on a sheet pan, but you could cook the meat in a skillet. You might also like these recipes:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chipotle-chicken-tacos/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chicken-tinga-enchiladas/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/ranch-chicken-tostadadillas/
I hope this helps! xT