Traeger Smoked Chipotle BBQ Chicken Tostadas

You’ll love this Kinda Healthy spin on smoked pulled chicken tostadas. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are smoked slowly with a chipotle bbq rub then braised in your favorite bbq sauce to finish. The chicken just falls apart and is perfect for tostadas, tacos, sliders and sandwiches, and all kinds of stuff.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I’ll walk you through the ingredients and all the steps for preparing the chicken and layered cheesy black bean tostadas below. If you’re in a hurry, there’s a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Making Chipotle BBQ Smoked Pulled Chicken

I’ve been on a smoked shredded chicken kick as of late, and this is probably my favorite version yet. The recipe starts with two pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs with a tablespoon of yellow mustard as a binder. Then the chicken is seasoned with a blend of chipotle chile powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, ground cumin, and black pepper. If you have a go-to spicy bbq rub, that works fine here.

Don’t have a smoker but still want bbq chicken tostadas? Use a Crockpot and add a bit of chipotle chile powder or a chipotle in adobo to my slow cooker bbq chicken recipe.

The chicken starts out on the smoker at 225ºF and can be smoked right on the grill grates, but I like to place the seasoned chicken in a pan on top of sliced red onion. This makes sure any of the rendered fat stays in play, and the jammy red onions in the finished dish are amazing.

This low and slow portion of the cooking process is just to pick up some great smoky flavor and get a bit of color on the chicken. With the Super Smoke function on a Traeger grill, one hour should do the trick.

It’s also worth mentioning, you’ll cook the chicken uncovered for another 30+ minutes once it’s sauced and shredded. This picks up a bit more wood-fired flavor and caramelizes some of the bbq sauce on the chicken.

I like to speed things up after the first hour by increasing the grill temperature, adding a braising liquid like bbq sauce in this case, and covering the pan. A little over an hour later the chicken should just fall apart when poked with a fork.

If you don’t want to stand over the grill shredding chicken, transfer the chicken thighs to a stand mixer bowl and hit it with the paddle attachment. Just be careful to avoid shredding too finely. We’re not after high school cafeteria pulled pork.

Making Chicken Tostadas on the Grill

I’m a big fan of baked tostadas, but most options you find in stores have apparently been used as piñatas before arriving on shelves. Good news, throwing corn tortillas on the grill at 350ºF for 20-30 minutes while the smoked shredded chicken and bbq sauce get to know one another makes perfectly baked tostadas. Pretty cool.

But what’s cooler than being cool? Layered tostadas.

That’s right. The chipotle bbq smoked chicken sits atop two crispy baked tortillas with refried black beans and cheese between them. Ultimate stability, improved flavor, and fiber to keep you full and your gut happy after eating a high protein meal like this.

Grill Size vs Tortillas

I used a Traeger Woodridge Elite and didn’t have enough room for all sixteen tortillas on the bottom grill rack. It’s a larger grill so I imagine most will be in a similar position. Tortillas on the top rack may need to go a bit longer, or you can move them around during the toasting process for even cooking.

A Cautionary Tale

Forgive me, for I have sinned and used pre-shredded Tillamook Mexican cheese. I’d like to say it’s because I recently went to Tillamook, Oregon and took the creamery tour, but it’s because I was being lazy.

The goal is also just stability and holding everything together instead of super melty cheese. You can’t even see it! That said, freshly grated cheese is always superior.

Once the layered tortillas are sorted (or not sorted if you would rather just go straight to work with singles), all that’s left is topping with the pulled chicken and serving.

Garnishes & More Ways to Serve the Smoked Chicken

In my photos of the recipe, you will see an island salsa from New Seasons Market made with mango, pineapple, red bell pepper, jalapeño, cilantro, red onion, papaya, and lemon juice.

Guacamole, corn salsa, and cabbage slaw all come to mind as worthy toppings for bbq chicken tostadas. You may also want to consider a creamy option (that’s still kinda healthy) like a jalapeño Greek yogurt sauce or jalapeño ranch cottage cheese dip.

For other ways to use this smoked pulled chicken, I’m always a fan of stuffed sweet potatoes. You could even smoke the sweet potatoes right on the grill. Other options might include bbq chicken wraps or mac and cheese. You can never go wrong with mac and cheese, and both of these would be great ways to use leftovers.

I could give recipe ideas all day, so I’ll stop there. If you have a question about the recipe or have a great idea for putting this smoked chicken to good use, I’d love to talk about it in the comments at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, feel free to print or save the recipe card below and get your grocery list together.

Oh, and don’t forget to come back and leave a review of the recipe once you discover how much you love these smoked chicken tostadas!