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Weeknight-style Crispy Cider Braised White Chili Chicken Tacos. Slow-cooked with hard cider (or try using your favorite beer), spices, salsa verde, and hot sauce. Then mix with cheese, stuff into hard tortillas, and oven-bake. Each chicken taco is crunchy on the outside, and spicy, saucy, and cheesy inside. Serve with a creamy whipped honey garlic avocado crema on top. These come together easily and are so delicious. The perfect crispy taco that everyone will love!
When I go too long without making tacos the family begins to notice. And slowly the requests for tacos start to roll in. I know I speak about them all the time, but my dad’s tacos are the favorite of the bunch. So much so that we included them on our Home Chef menu.
What we love about them is the crispy hard shells and melty cheese. More often than not, people enjoy tacos in soft flour tortillas with no melty cheese. There’s nothing wrong with those, but we just love a crispy cheesy taco more than anything.
They’re SO YUMMY! To this day, they’re still one of our favorite dinners.
We also love to switch up taco night, and I switch it up often. I swap out flavors and meats, but I always keep the crispiness. It really is essential.
These tacos are braised in sweet, tangy cider, or sometimes I’ll use beer. There’s also plenty of spices, salsa verde, and even an avocado crema on top. I kept the recipe easy and simple and mixed everything all together at once on the stove.
Here are details
Step 1: make the chicken
For this recipe, I love to use skinless chicken thighs with chicken breasts mix. I find chicken thighs to be much more tender when braised versus chicken breasts. Mixing the two together is a nice balance.
Simmer the chicken with an onion and your favorite bottle of cider. I use a hard cider, but using a non-alcoholic cider works just about the same. Or use your favorite beer, pumpkin is especially nice this time of year.
Add your spices, I like using chili powder, chipotle, and smoked paprika. Then season well with salt. Simmer until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is deeply browned and shreds easily.
Step 2: mix in the remaining ingredients
Now add a can of diced-up green chiles, salsa verde, and a couple tablespoons of hot sauce.
If you prefer a less spicy taco, go ahead and skip using the hot sauce.
Step 3: shred the chicken and assemble
Grab two forks and shred the braised chicken. Then toss the shredded chicken in with the sauce.
Next, stuff the taco filling into a hard taco shell and top with cheese, I use a mix of cheddar and pepper jack.
If you can spare an extra few minutes, you can make homemade crispy shells. Instead of using store-bought taco shells, take corn tortillas and stuff them with the braised chicken and cheese. Then put them into the oven to bake until the tortillas are crispy.
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.
Step 4: the avocado crema
I know that making homemade crema is just another step, but it really is worth it. And it’s easier than running to the market to pick up sauce.
For this crema, you can add everything to a blender – the avocado, honey, garlic, lime, and salt. Then blend until whipped and creamy. If the crema is not thin enough, continue to add lime juice until it is right.
Top each taco with cilantro, green onions, and lime, and finish with a dollop of avocado.
Simple to make, but so yummy and fun for fall nights. My family loved these crunchy, crispy tacos! I think you will too!!
Looking for more simple weeknight recipes? Here are a few favorites:
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 Crispy Cider Braised White Chili 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!
Crispy Cider Braised White Chili Chicken Tacos
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 580 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs can also do a mix
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 can (4 ounce) diced green chilies
- 1 can or bottle (12 ounce) cider or beer
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 12 hard shell tacos (see notes for homemade)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar/pepper jack cheese
Salted Lime Avocado Crema
- 2 ripe avocados, chopped
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 clove garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- sea salt (to taste)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 425. In a large skillet with sides, add the olive oil, onion, and chicken, cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, chipotle chili powder, paprika, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Pour over the cider(or beer). Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.2. Mix in the green chiles, salsa verde, and hot sauce. Remove from the heat, shred the chicken using two forks.3. Line the taco shells up in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Stuff the chicken into each taco shell and top with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp.4. Meanwhile, make the Salted Lime Avocado Crema. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Season with salt.5. Serve the tacos topped with avocado, lettuce, green onion, crumbled feta, limes, and any other desired toppings.
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 tortilla flat, then layer evenly with cheese and chicken. 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.
Can this be done in a crockpot?
Yes, that should be fine! xT
Fyi I tried this in my crockpot and it was great! I basically threw all the chicken mixture ingredients together in crockpot and cooked on low for 4.5 hours. It turned out really yummy—even though I subbed the fresh onion for a bit of dried minced onion, I omitted the green chilies (didn’t think my kids would like), and didn’t have smoked paprika (subbed for 3/4 tsp regular paprika plus 1/4 tsp cumin). Thank you!!
Hey Megan,
Wonderful!! So glad to hear that this dish turned out well for you, thanks for giving it a try and sharing your notes:) xx
Wow! Big cider fan so had to try this. What great flavor and texture! We loved these and will be making again. Definitely some good spice but avo crema and cheese in the tacos really helped balance it out. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
This was perfection! I didn’t have a cast iron pan so used an All Clad non stick so it took a little longer to cook down and caramelize. I used beer and the instructions for soft corn tortillas. It will be on repeat in our house. Thank you for another awesome recipe!
Thank you! So glad to hear you’re enjoying this recipe! xT
Absolutely delicious. This is one of our new favorites. The layered flavors of the apple cider, chipotle, and the avocado crema gave these tacos an amazing depth of flavor. We will be making these again!
I appreciated the comments about the consistency of the sauce. I pulled the chicken out of the sauce once it was cooked, shredded it, and set it aside. I added the salsa verde, green chiles, and hot sauce to the sauce in the skillet (w/o the chicken) and simmered until the consistency had reduced down significantly. I don’t think this step added much time – maybe 5-8 minutes. Then I turned off the heat, added the chicken back, and mixed it with the sauce to get the chicken well coated in sauce. That worked well – the tacos kept their crispiness.
Hi Sarah! Thank you! So glad to hear you’re enjoying this recipe! xT
Wow wow wow! This was not only super easy and came together in under 30 minutes but it was so flavorful – I will definitely be adding this to the regular rotation! I didn’t have the canned green chilies so swapped in a combo of pickled jalapeños, fresh jalapeño (seeded & chopped) and some extra salsa verde.
Thank you! So glad to hear you’re enjoying this recipe! xT
Would it be possible to use pre cooked shredded rotisserie chicken for this?
Yes!! xT
What would you recommend as a substitute for beer or cider (I can’t have either due to dietary issues)?
Hi there! I would probably just use some chicken broth! xT
Hello! In the recipe above (and on Instagram) you call for crispy taco shells. However, in the Insta video it looks like you use soft corn tortillas. Is one better?
This was absolutely amazing!! But the instructions did not help.. our first go was mush. We ended up cooking the chicken down for 45-60mins and added flour to thicken it up. Then added it to the corn tortillas with cheese and popped it in the air fryer for 5 mins. It was phenomenal!!!
Thank you so much! Hope you have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
Nice recipe – good, basic. I happened to love “nestling” the tacos into the rice/meat base.
Also, using a cast iron pan, my rice got nice and crispy on the bottom – almost paella-like!
Highly recommend using fresh tortillas and baking them in the oven. Taste so much better than the “pre-made Ortega-type” corn tortillas. Added depth.
My one question – that others have noted: I think the name of this dish is misleading. I LOVE your White Chicken Chili made in a crockpot, but this is different than that. Good… but different.
Thank you for the feedback David! xT
The flavor of the chicken was amazing! But I also found the instructions incredibly poor. There was no temp to set the oven to. When I put the shredded chicken back into the sauce (you definitely want the saucey goodness!), it made the whole thing too liquidy in the taco shell. Our corn tortillas just disintegrated under the saucey chicken and cheese. There was absolutely nothing crispy about this. It was complete mush. After cooking for over an hour, we ended up throwing the whole sheet pan away and going to our local taco spot 🙁
I used a slotted spoon to transfer the items over into the taco but still ran into the same issue you did. Once most of the liquid had been absorbed, I flipped them onto another sheet pan and put them back into the oven so they could crisp up under a low broil. Perfection! Next time though I will probably put a cooling rack on top of the sheet pan when I bake the corn tortilla tacos so that way it will be a much faster bake.
Same thing for us! My husband ended up cooking down the chicken for probably 45 minutes and adding flour to it to thicken it up. We made it again the next day and put the tacos in the air fryer and it turned out so much better!
So frustrating, same thing happened, the meat was incredible until the tacos and everything became mush in the oven! What a waste of time and money!!
*Please correct this recipe, something is not right, there is noway you can follow this recipe as is and have it turn our crispy!
Oh no!! I am SO sorry about that!! Thank you for letting me know! xT
This is delicious! Layers of flavor and the braised chicken was easier to make than I thought it would be. Also, the family loved the avocado crema with the salted lime taste. Will be adding this to my taco options! Thank you!!
Hey Jill, Thank you so much! Hope you have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
Incredible flavor! This was a hit that our entire family enjoyed, which is a big feat. I used Oktoberfest beer and skipped the hot sauce, but such a low-key and easy dish to make.
Thank you so much! Hope you have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
Why is it called white chili chicken tacos when it’s not actually white chili. Or chili. It’s just Chicken Tacos. I was excited to see what this was but was very misleading.
A very good recipe but the instructions were surprisingly poor, not telling you to shred the chicken and then put it back into the sauce, a very import step.
I think she meant to have you shred the chicken in the skillet. That’s why she left out the step of putting the shredded chicken back into the skillet.