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These Spicy Chicken Tacos are a great recipe for a taco night or easy weeknight family dinners. Chicken Breasts are marinated in an easy Spicy Chipotle Marinade, quickly grilled to perfection and topped with a cooling and creamy avocado crema.
There’s always room for a spicy taco recipe in your arsenal. We make different kinds of tacos every Taco Tuesday, and the go-to protein for our family is chicken. Sometimes we smoke a whole chicken on the weekend to use the shredded meat throughout the week, and sometimes we use grilled chicken breasts and want a fun spicy kick.
Chicken breasts are perfect for when you don’t have time to roast a whole chicken. They’re easy and quick to marinade and they grill up in just a few minutes if you follow our preparation tip.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Spicy Chicken Tacos
To best achieve spicy tacos we marinate raw chicken breasts in a hot chipotle sauce and then balance that heat with a rich avocado crema sauce.
To simplify this recipe just use any leftover chicken you may have from other dishes.
- Chicken – We use boneless skinless chicken breast and grill them. Alternatively you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs as well, with the same marinade, and without the need to pound them out.
- Marinade – Chipotle in adobo, extra virgin olive oil, garlic clove, kosher salt, lime juice.
- Seasoning – This is optional but after the marinade (and before grilling) you can add a nice chicken seasoning to add even more flavor.
- Tortillas – We always opt for soft corn tortillas and warm them up before eating. But you can also use hard taco shells or flour tortillas. It really comes down to your preference.
- Taco Toppings – Our go-to taco toppings include: red onions, fresh cilantro, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, or diced red onions
- Avocado Crema – Ripe avocado is important, Mexican crema (or sour cream), shallots, more garlic, more lime juice, and kosher salt. Substitute Note – You can also sub the cream with whole fat Greek Yogurt (but it may taste a wee bit more tart).
Preparation
Like I mentioned, you can go the whole roaster and shred it. You can also use thighs. But for these, we’re going with boneless skinless breasts.
Chicken breasts marinate easily, but before marinating you need to thin out the chicken breast using a mallet. Thinking the breasts will make the chicken more uniform and cook more evenly in any cooking device, especially on a grill.
As you can see in the photo below one side of any chicken breast is thick. Start by pounding the thicker side first to make it as even as possible with the thinner side.
Pound the thicker side by slightly angling your mallet toward the outer edge of the chicken, or away from the thinner side. This slowly allows the chicken to stretch out as well as flatten.
After you pound out the left side. Note it’s an even thickness throughout.
TIP: Prior to grilling be sure that your avocado crema and toppings are also done.
Marinade for Spicy Chicken Tacos
To spice it up I’m adding chipotle peppers (smoked jalapeños) to the marinade, because I love that smoky flavor. But if you don’t have chipotle you can easily substitute your favorite hot sauce. Alternatively you can add some dry spices (like red pepper flakes, dried chipotle, chili powder, cayenne pepper).
BUT just a warning, if you add dry spices use much less as they are more potent (like 1 teaspoon of your spicy dry seasoning vs. 2 tablespoons of the liquid chipotle in adobo).
- Combine the marinade ingredients into a one-gallon freezer size baggie or any airtight container. Add the raw chicken breasts and seal.
- Place the bag the fridge for a minimum of 30 mins (up to 24 hours). We recommend 2 hours.
- Note: you want your chicken to be pounded out evenly before adding to the marinade. Thinner chicken allows for more surface area for the marinade to sink in.
Seasoning
After two hours of marinating, remove the chicken from the marinade. Don’t rinse the marinade from the chicken, leave it on there and then season chicken breast with our chicken seasoning or your favorite chicken seasoning.
Grilling
- About 30 minutes before you are going to grill your chicken prepare your grill for direct grilling targeting 500 degrees Fahrenheit using lump charcoal.
- Place the seasoned chicken on the grill grates over direct heat. Grill for 5 minutes and then flip. Continue to grill for additional 4 – 5 minutes or until the chicken breast is cooked to the proper internal temperature (165 degrees F) as read with a good instant read thermometer like the Thermoworks Thermapen One.
- Once they’re done, pull them from the grill and allow them to rest 10 minutes. Shred your chicken and you’re ready to make your spicy chicken tacos!
Related Article – Learn the secrets of the perfect chicken temperature.
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Chef’s Tip: Warm tortillas add a texture and flavor element. While the chicken is resting, grill the corn tortillas for 30 seconds per side.
Avocado Crema
This Avocado Crema is meant to cool down any spiciness from the spicy chicken taco marinade, and to give these tacos a great creamy topping.
What’s a crema?
It’s a thick, slightly sour, Mexican-style sour cream. Think of it as somewhere between sour cream and crème fraîche. You can find it in most grocery stores in the cooler near specialty foods.
Otherwise, you can go with sour cream (or even plain Greek yogurt) if it’s easier.
- Place your crema (or sour cream) in the food processor with shallots, garlic clove, lime, salt, and a half an avocado, and pulse to combine. Then add to a small bowl.
- It’s best to prep this early so everything is ready when the chicken is done
*Note: If you go with sour cream know that it won’t be as thick of a consistency as crema, and tastes a bit sourer. But it’s a good enough substitute.
Build Spicy Tacos
It’s best to set this up family style or if you are scaling up for a party as a buffet.
Add the shredded spicy chicken to the tortilla. Then add some of the avocado, and any of your toppings. Finish with the avocado crema and then top it with fresh cilantro.
Side Ideas for Spicy Chicken Tacos
It doesn’t get more classic for spicy chicken tacos then warm black beans and Spanish rice, or refried beans. If you are looking at making as burrito bowls, then skip the soft tacos and build the bowl with equal parts beans and rice. Then add the spicy shredded chicken, toppings, crema, and then the fresh cilantro.
More Favorite Taco Recipes:
- Carne Asada Skirt Steak Tacos
- Reverse Seared Ribeye Steak Tacos
- Smoked Pulled Pork Tacos
- Easy and Healthy Grilled Fish Tacos
- Smoked Brisket Tacos
- Chipotle Honey Grilled Chicken
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
If you like this recipe we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.
Grilled Spicy Chicken Tacos with Avocado Crema
Equipment
- 1 Mallet
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded out for consistency , (see notes)
- 8 corn tortillas
Marinade
- 2 whole chipotles in adobo sauce,, (use 2 of the peppers from the can and finely dice them)
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce,, (from the chipotles in adobo)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ lime, juiced
Avocado Crema
- ½ cup Mexican crema (or sour cream)
- ½ avocado
- 1 tablespoon shallots, diced
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ lime, juiced
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Optional Taco Toppings
- diced onions
- cilantro
- diced tomatoes
- lime quarters
- Cotija cheese
- more avocado (because there’s never enough avocado)
Instructions
For the Chipotle Marinade
- Combine the marinade ingredients into a large sealable plastic bag. Add the pounded chicken breasts. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours. After 2 hours remove the chicken from the marinade, and discard the remaining marinade.
Making the Avocado Crema
- Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until everything is combined. Can be made in advance and should last in the fridge for five days.
Grilling Chicken Breasts
- About 30 minutes before you are going to grill your chicken prepare your grill for direct grilling targeting 500 degrees Fahrenheit using lump charcoal.
- Place the chicken breasts on the grill grates over direct heat. Grill for 5 minutes and then flip. Continue to grill for additional 4 – 5 minutes or until the chicken breast is cooked to the proper internal temperature (165 degrees F) as read with a good instant read thermometer like the Thermoworks Thermapen One.
- Once they’re done, pull them from the grill and allow them to rest up to 10 minutes. Shred your chicken in preparation for the spicy chicken tacos.
Making the Tacos
- Place a couple tablespoons of the shredded chicken on a corn tortilla and top with the crema. Add your favorite toppings like Cotija cheese, cilantro, onions, or tomatoes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe.It looks really yummy.I will definitely be going to make this one.I love cooking and especially love to make chicken recipes.Spicy Grilled Chicken looks really simple and colorful.
Thanks
https://mytellthebell.com
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for the feedback ๐
One thing I would like to see is macro information on your wonderful recipes.
Mark, thanks for reaching out and yes, we are going to start adding nutritional information into the posts this year!! Stay tuned.
Yes, I’m so in your camp of make it spicy and cool it down with crema! These sound tasty enough to make a burrito bowl I need more then taco portions!
I just had mushroom tacos for dinner last night, and now I want to try a vegan version of your recipe with mushrooms or jackfruit. That marinade sounds so delicious!
Oh yum, that sounds fun! We also love mushrooms as well, especially shitake!
Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight?!? These look so tasty, easy, and perfect for a weeknight. Thanks, Mary!
These look SO yummy Mary!!! I haven’t had a taco night in a while and you’ve definitely convinced me that we need one soon! Thanks for this yummy recipe!