I’d blogged about a lot of Mexican recipes in my time. I love a good taco – I mean you’ll find the following taco recipes on this blog; pork and pineapple tacos, lime and chilli fish tacos, prawn and peach tacos and the simple veggie taco. So when I was searching through Pintrest for inspiration during my meal planning time, I was intrigued by all of the ‘oven-baked’ taco recipes.

What’s so good about an ‘oven-baked’ taco I hear you ask? Well, to me it is basically a pre-meat-filled taco with an increased ratio of cheese. That said cheese has been baked in the oven, melting over the meat and kinda helping your meat filling to stay inside – which is a big plus if you’re feeding children {or messy adults}.

And really, can you ever have too much cheese?

I like the idea that the individual still gets to personalise their taco with the remaining toppings, that are typically served ‘family style’. You can add in your shredded lettuce, slices of fresh tomato, a little homemade guacamole, sliced jalapeños and sour cream as you see fit.

 

OVEN-BAKED CHICKEN TACOS

1 tablespoon olive oil
400 grams of chicken thigh
1 red onion
2 tbsp of paprika
1 tbsp of onion powder
1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tbsp of coriander
1 tbsp of basil
1 tbsp of chilli
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 can of refried beans
2 cups of Mexican grated cheese
1 box of taco shells
Your favourite toppings: think shredded lettuce, slices of fresh tomato, a little homemade guacamole, sliced jalapeños and sour cream.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium frying pan. Toss the chicken in the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, coriander, basil and chilli. Add onion and chicken to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and fragrant.

Add diced tomatoes. Stir to combine fully. Reduce to simmer and allow to cook for 5-8 minutes. Quickly shred the chicken with two forks.

Place the taco shells in the baking dish, standing up. Spoon 1 tablespoon of beans into the bottom of each taco shell. Top with the chicken mixture, almost to the top of each shell. Sprinkle each shell generously with shredded cheese.

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cheese is fully melted and the edges of the shells are browned. Remove from the oven and top with your favourite items.

Have you ever whipped up a recipe from my blog? I would love for you to let me know…So I don’t feel as if I am just writing all this stuff down for nothing… If you choose to whip up one of my recipes , then I would love for you to share it on social media, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #goodfoodweek.