High Protein Fried Chicken Tacos

These “not” fried chicken tacos swap deep fried chicken for baked or air fried frozen lightly breaded chicken breast bites. The crispy baked chicken is served on cheese crusted tortillas and garnished with pickle de gallo and lite ranch. Everything adds up to chicken tacos with 19g of protein and just 275 calories each.

Ingredients for Kinda Healthy Fried Chicken Tacos

You only need five ingredients but can make plenty of customizations in the garnish department to make these tacos your own.

• Frozen Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast – I like bites or chunks from Kirkland Signature and Just Bare (Costco), Perdue, Tyson, or Realgood Foods. But you can use filets, strips, or any other form of lightly breaded chicken breast since it’s chopped.
• Street Taco Flour Tortillas – Any size or type of tortilla works, but I think flour works better than corn with the other flavors.
• Shredded Cheese – A soft melting cheese like colby jack or pepper jack works best. Extra sharp cheddar makes an extra crispy crusted tortilla with a bit more flavor.
• Pickle de Gallo – That’s not a typo. Grillo’s makes a diced pickle, bell pepper, and garlic salsa that’s perfect for fried chicken tacos. You can make your own by chopping up the same ingredients.
• Lite Ranch – I like yogurt ranch from Toby’s (Whole Foods) or Bolthouse Farms (Kroger, HEB, etc.), but you can make an even lower calorie ranch with ingredients like blended cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (creamy jalapeño ranch).

Side note: This recipe is the latest in a series using frozen lightly breaded chicken to make as many high protein meals and snacks as possible. Check out my breakfast burritos, cottage cheese pesto pasta, and even the ever-so-similar Korean fried chicken tacos for more ideas.

Making Cheese Crusted Tortillas

These are super easy to make. Just throw tortillas in a nonstick pan and add cheese to the top. Once the cheese starts to melt and stick to the tortilla, flip them over and cook until the cheese transforms into a golden brown crust. It will take around 60-90 seconds once the tortillas are flipped.

Once the crust forms, you will be able to easily flip and move the tortillas around. See a side that needs more browning (like the front tortilla pictured above)? Don’t be afraid to spin it around to get even browning.

Tortilla size note: You will need more than 1/2 ounce of cheese per tortilla for standard size tortillas.

Garnishes and More Serving Ideas

I mentioned the pickle de gallo and ranch above. Other garnishes might include a drizzle of honey and chili crisp, shredded lettuce, sliced jalapeño, or a different sauce like buffalo or bbq. I used this same frozen chicken to make buffalo chicken wraps with a buffalo ranch slaw and crumbed gorgonzola inside.

A spot from our favorite Austin restaurants list, Torchy’s Tacos, has a taco called the “Trailer Park” that pairs fried chicken on a flour tortilla with lettuce, green chiles, pico, mixed cheese, and poblano sauce. And making it “Trashy” means adding queso.

I was tempted to make a spin on that, but I ultimately decided to keep it simple since the only healthy queso recipe I have is a cottage cheese queso con carne. I do, however, have a copycat recipe for Torchy’s Brushfire tacos you can make in an air fryer.

If you have a bright idea for other ways to serve, I’d love to hear about it. Drop it in a comment at the bottom of this post. There’s a full recipe card you can save to your device or print between here and the comment section.

I hope you enjoy this kinda healthy spin on fried chicken tacos. Recipe reviews really help me out if you do!