Quick and easy leftover chicken tacos made with leftover roast chicken! Perfect for a quick Monday night dinner using your Sunday roast leftovers.
This is a delicious and flavourful taco recipe, and best of all it's on the table in under 20 minutes! You might also like my leftover roast beef stroganoff if you have any leftover roast beef to use up!
I nearly always have leftover chicken in my fridge (we really like roast chicken in this house!), and this is the recipe that gets made most often with the roast chicken leftovers!
Easily customizable to suit different tastes, corn tortillas are stuffed with tasty taco chicken, with add ons such as sour cream, chili sauce, sliced red onion, black beans, avocado, coriander, pico de gallo, fresh lime juice, and grated cheese!
The kids mix and match their favorite toppings based on what they like (they aren't fans of black beans or avocados!), but the adults generally pile everything available into their taco shells (well I do anyway)!
👩🍳 Love your leftovers and make this leftover creamy turkey curry!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
Here's why this is my favourite chicken taco recipe!
- Delicious recipe that uses up leftover roast chicken.
- Quick and easy for busy nights.
- Customizable to suit individual tastes.
- Loads of different topping and add-on ideas.
- Easily doubled to feed a crowd.
- Fun dinner idea the entire family will love.
🛒 Ingredient notes
- Cooked Chicken - leftover roast chicken or supermarket rotisserie chicken, chopped into pieces or shredded.
- Olive Oil - for cooking the garlic.
- Garlic - 1 garlic clove, chopped finely to add flavour to the cooked chicken. You could use garlic powder instead.
- Tomato Paste (Tomato Puree) - provides the base of the taco seasoning.
- Taco Seasoning - I make my own homemade taco seasoning using cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, chili powder, salt, and pepper, but feel free to use a store-bought taco seasoning packet.
- Corn Taco Shells - or use soft flour torillas instead.
- Favourite Taco Toppings - shredded lettuce, sliced, red onion, avocado, coriander (cilantro), lime juice, tomatoes, and grated cheese (I like to use cheddar for extra flavour).
🔪 How to make leftover roast chicken tacos
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the garlic for two minutes.
Two: Add the tomato paste and taco spices. Stir to combine then pour in 60 ml of boiling water (you could also use chicken broth/ chicken stock) and mix in with a wooden spoon.
Three: Add the cooked chicken and cook on a medium high heat for two or three minutes.
Four: Place the taco shells in a baking dish then spoon the chicken into the taco shells, top with the grated cheese, and oven bake (or grill) for five minutes until the cheese has melted.
Five: Add toppings of choice and serve.
💭 Expert tips
- Hard corn tortilla shells can be quite brittle so be careful when taking them out of the packet. Use soft flour tortillas instead if you like.
- Prep all of the topping ingredients the night before (apart from the avocado), to save time on the day and makes this a truly speedy meal.
🍴 What to serve with chicken tacos
Serve on taco Tuesday with these delicious topping ideas;
- Shredded lettuce
- Grated cheese
- Avocado
- Red onion
- Coriander
- Tomatoes
- Chili sauce
- Lime
- Sour cream
- Salsa
- Red peppers
- Guacamole
- Refried beans
- Mexican cheese
To turn the meal into a proper taco night feast, I like to serve the tacos with spicy rice or turmeric rice, salad, and garlic bread.
📖 Variations
- Instead of using leftover chicken, you could also use leftover roast beef, pulled pork, or roast turkey.
- Make fresh meat tacos with ground beef or turkey mince.
- Fish tacos are also really tasty!
- Like your food spicy? Add a chopped red chilli with the garlic.
- Make fresh chicken tacos with either 2 large chicken breasts or 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs. Cut into small pieces and cook with the garlic.
🥡 Storage
To Store: Leftover chicken tacos are best eaten fresh. Cooked chicken cannot be reheated more than once.
To Freeze: The assembled tacos are not suitable for home freezing but cooked chicken can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before starting the recipe.
❓ Frequently asked questions
Yes, it adds a lovely spicy smoky flavour to chicken.
The chicken in fajitas is usually mixed with grilled peppers and onions, which are cut into strips. In tacos, the vegetables are chopped or sliced and kept raw as a topping.
😋 More delicious chicken recipes
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Recipe
Easy Leftover Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Garlic Clove peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Puree
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper
- 60 ml Boiling Water you can also use chicken stock)
- 400 g Cooked Chicken diced or shredded
- 8 Hard Corn Taco Shells or soft flour tortillas
- 150 g Cheddar Cheese grated
Topping Ideas
- 1 Red Onion thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoon Coriander chopped
- 1 Avocado halved, stone removed and chopped
- 12 Cherry Tomatoes halved
- 1 Lime quartered
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°c (160 fan/ Gas Mark 4/ 350F).
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the garlic for two minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and taco spices. Stir to combine then pour in 60 ml of boiling water (you could also use chicken broth / chicken stock) and mix in with a wooden spoon.
- Add the cooked chicken and cook on a medium high heat for two or three minutes.
- Place the taco shells in a baking dish then spoon the chicken into the taco shells, top with the grated cheese, and oven bake (or grill) for five minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Add toppings of choice and serve.
Notes
- Hard corn tortilla shells can be quite brittle so be careful when taking them out of the packet. Use soft flour tortillas instead if you like.
- Prep all of the topping ingredients the night before (apart from the avocado), to save time on the day and makes this a truly speedy meal
- Instead of using leftover chicken, you could also use leftover roast beef, pulled pork, or roast turkey.
- Make fresh meat tacos with ground beef or turkey mince.
- Fish tacos are also really tasty!
- Like your food spicy? Add a chopped red chili with the garlic.
- Make fresh chicken tacos with either 2 large chicken breasts or 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs. Cut into small pieces and cook with the garlic
Natalie
I love this idea. Looks amazing. My boys would love this I'm sure. I'm adding your recipe on my list to try. Thanks.
Toni
This is so good! My family really loved it! Our new favorite for taco nights!
saif
I didn't expect we can make a delicious taco using a leftover roasted chicken. Thanks for sharing this recipe
Kechi
What a beautiful way to use leftover roast chicken. These tacos look so fresh and delicious!
Rachel
This is brilliant, I never know what to do with the leftovers and I love tacos! Yum!
Stacey Crawford
My family gets super excited when tacos are on the menu and this recipe is perfect for turning leftover chicken into a tasty taco fiesta.