Chicken Street Tacos

These Chicken Street Tacos are inspired by the taco stands on the streets of Los Angeles! I've watched their process (and eaten quite a few tacos) to perfect this at-home version. Now these have made their way into our weeknight meal rotation. This recipe calls for my Marinated Chicken for Tacos & More, but it's also great with my Chicken Al Pastor, so head to those pages for the recipe!

The marinated chicken is freezer friendly, meaning you can prep a big batch of it when you have some time, and pull it out of the freezer for a quick meal when you don't! You can choose to either freeze the raw chicken in the marinade to cook when you plan to eat it, or freeze the cooked chicken for an even easier meal. Obviously, you can also make a single batch of this juicy chicken fresh just for this recipe! I tend to freeze this chicken already cooked, and that's what was used for the batch in the photos (though I hope to reshoot it with a fresh batch sometime in the future).

About Street Tacos

"Street tacos" refer to a style of taco that is typically served from roadside stands or (less commonly) food trucks. They are common in Mexico, and in the southern California area and other US border towns. Classic Mexican street tacos will contain finely chopped marinated meat and small, double stacked soft corn tortillas. The typical toppings available for street tacos are chopped fresh cilantro, white onion, and lime wedges for squeezing. A few varieties of salsa are also available at most stands. What makes street tacos one of my favorite foods is the simplicity, amazing flavor of the meat, and the fresh ingredients. 

This post is a recipe for chicken street tacos. The chicken thighs for these tacos are marinated in a mixture of lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper. Another common street taco meat is carne asada, which is made from skirt steak or flank steak. The marinade ingredients are typically similar to this chicken marinade, but may also contain orange juice. I don't have a recipe for carne asada tacos on the site at the moment, but my tri tip street taco recipe is very similar and that's what I make when I'm craving steak tacos. 

Try these with cheese!

The recipe for my Cheesy Chicken Street Tacos walks you through how to prep these with gooey grilled cheese. The process is based on how they make them at my favorite LA taco stand! I like to mix and match a few with cheese and a few without.

FAQ

What makes a street taco a street taco?

"Street tacos" refer to a style of taco that is typically served from roadside stands. They are common in Mexico, and in the Los Angeles area and other US border towns. A classic street taco will contain finely chopped marinated meat and small, double stacked corn tortillas. The typical toppings available for street tacos are chopped cilantro, white onion, and lime wedges for squeezing. A few varieties of salsa are also available at most stands.

What are chicken street tacos?

Chicken street tacos are tacos containing finely chopped marinated chicken, typically made with thigh meat and grilled. They are usually served on double stacked corn tortillas, and topped with cilantro, white onion, and lime juice.

Are chicken street tacos healthy?

While these chicken tacos certainly aren't health food, they aren't the worst option out there either. The boneless chicken thighs used in this recipe are pretty lean, and these tacos aren't loaded up with high calorie toppings like cheese and sour cream.

If you want to make these a little healthier, you can cut back on the amount of oil in the marinade or consider using just one corn tortilla per taco rather than two.You could try subbing in chicken breasts, but I haven't tested that modificaiton myself.

Key Tips - Chicken Street Tacos

Prepare the chicken in bulk and freeze it for easy meals later!

• My favorite way to prepare these delicious tacos is prepping the meat in bulk over a weekend and freezing the cooked meat for easy weeknight meals. I usually toss a big batch in my smoker, where I can make quite a few pounds at once, and they get a bit of that smoky bold flavor. Another option is to freeze the raw chicken in the marinade, and cook it before preparing the tacos. Head over to the Marinated Chicken for Tacos or Chicken Al Pastor recipes for the full details.

Don't skip the toppings, but it doesn't need much else.

• The onion, cilantro, and lime may not seem like much, but they really help to balance out the flavor. Even the little squeeze of lime juice on top at the end really adds a lot, so don't skip the lime wedges!
• I like to serve these tacos with a bit of avocado salsa and/or jalapeño hot sauce. Some other delcious options are salsa verde, fresh pico de gallo, and fresh jalapeño. Red onions can be a great sub for white onion, but I don't reocmmend using yellow onion if you can avoid it.

Use street taco size tortillas if you can find them.

• Street taco tortillas are very small corn tortillas, they're even smaller than the "small" size tortillas at most grocery stores. Look for ones that say "street taco" sized, or "taqueria style". I use these Taqueria Style Mini Corn Tortillas. Using smaller tortillas really does make a difference, so it may be worth making a trip to a mexican grocery store if you can't find them at your usual store.
• If I'm using flour tortillas, I typically go for these Flour Street Taco Tortillas.

Corn tortillas should be doubled up!

• Corn tortillas are typically thinner than flour tortillas, and street tacos are almost always served on a pair of corn tortillas. When you warm up the tortillas, keep the pair stacked together the whole time.

Heating up the tortillas makes a huge difference, especially for the corn ones. Don't skip this step!

• The method in this recipe is similar to what they do at my favorite taco stand, and it makes a huge difference. Give a pair of corn tortillas a super quick dip in stock or water, then let them cook in a pan briefly as instructed in the recipe.

This dish is naturally Dairy-Free.

Make it Gluten-Free:

• Serve on corn tortillas rather than flour (this is the recommended option anyway!)

A Note On Serving Sizes

Serving sizes are a very personal thing, making it very difficult for me to select a serving size that suits everyone. This recipe makes 8-10 tacos (pictures show 12 oz of cooked chicken, about 1 lb of raw chicken, divided across 8 tacos).

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Send me pictures of your creations -- it'll make my day! Message @CraftyCookbook on Instagram, email me ([email protected]), or tag me in a post! Please note, tagged posts are only visible to me if your account is public. Did you make any interesting changes or substitutions for this recipe? Tell me about them in the comment section below!