These Grilled Chicken Street Tacos are an instant dinner classic. One of my personal favorite recipes they are easy to prep, quick to cook, and absolutely delicious. With this juicy grilled chicken taco marinade you will be wishing every night was taco night!
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Grilled Chicken Tacos
This is one of those meals it is hard not to love. It is easy, delicious and everyone loves it.
And while I call these Grilled Chicken Street Tacos you can use the grilled chicken taco filling for just about anything you can brainstorm!
The meal comes together easy enough with a marinade made up of lime juice, olive oil, salt, cumin, chili powder, and cilantro. This marinade only makes the chicken more yummy the longer it sits.
The chicken is then grilled. After a quick rest the chicken is then diced up and ready for serving. Easy right!?
ingredients
- Boneless Chicken Thighs – One of the keys to this recipe is using chicken thighs, they are going to give you the exact texture and juiciness you are looking for when making chicken tacos. Because of the higher fat content in dark meat they will give you what are looking for over if you were to use chicken breasts. If you still want to use chicken breast (because I know someone will inevitably ask) you can. I will warn you that you will really want to watch the temperature while cooking and pulling them off right when they hit 165ºF. If they get overcooked you might have a hard time cutting them up into pieces, it will likely just shred instead as well as being a bit more dried out.
- Lime Juice – I am always a fan of using fresh squeezed lime juice in recipes, for this recipe you will need 2 or 3 limes depending on their size.
- Olive Oil – As for the marinade I love using olive oil for the flavor, but if you would rather substitute a different oil like vegetable that would work here.
- Kosher Salt – I prefer cooking with kosher salt because of its structure it dissolves into the food best. If you are looking for a substitute I would recommend using a fine sea salt.
- Cumin – To help give it that taco flavor
- Chili Powder – Also to help with the taco flavor. Just to note you can use typical chili powder here or try using chipotle chili powder for a twist!
- Cilantro – Add some fresh cilantro to the marinade but also keep some for adding to your tacos at the end
For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.
pro tip
Warm your tortillas while your chicken is resting.
instructions
You will begin by making the marinade. Mix together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, cumin, chili powder, and cilantro. Add the chicken thighs. Let marinate at least 1 hour or up to overnight, the longer the rest the more flavorful the chicken will come out.
When you are ready to cook heat your grill to medium-high heat. Once the grill is nice and hot transfer the chicken to the grill, dripping off any excess marinade first. Cook 4 minutes.
Flip over the chicken, cook another 4 minutes.
Flip again and cook another 3 to 5 minutes until the chicken reads at least 165º F on a meat thermometer. While 165ºF is the minimum temperature for chicken, chicken thighs are usually best around 175º F so that is when I recommend pulling them off the grill.
Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and cover. Let rest for 5 minutes.
After the chicken has rested transfer to a cutting board and chop into bite sized pieces. Serve with warm tortillas and add your favorite toppings.
Street style tacos typically get served on corn tortillas and garnished with simple toppings like diced onion, cilantro, pico de gallo, and lime wedges. These tacos would also be amazing with Fresh Restaurant Style Salsa, Ranchero Sauce, or even a side of Cottage Cheese Queso!
tips, tricks and questions
This chicken doesn’t have to be limited to street tacos, it is equally has good in crunchy tacos, burritos, quesadillas, grain bowls, salads, or nacho toppings!
What is the difference between street tacos and regular?
There are a couple things that make them different. Usually street tacos are smaller in size and served on a corn tortilla. Street tacos also follow the more traditional Mexican serving of only using meat, onion, salsa and cilantro. Where as ‘regular’ tacos in the United States will be served with lettuce, cheese, cheese, sour cream, ect…
Warming the Tortillas
With corn tortillas is is necessary to warm them before using them. For this recipe in particular I like to warm mine quickly on the grill once I pull the chicken off because it is already hot and on, it also allows me to warm up many at a time. Keep the grill at medium-high heat. Carefully add 4-6 tortillas to the grill depending o your grill size. They will only need to cook 30 to 60 seconds each side, sometimes I even keep the cover open while I warm them because they cook so fast. So flip after the first 30 to 60 seconds, cook again for 30 to 60 seconds and remove. You will want to then keep the tortillas warm so if you have a tortillas warmer use that, otherwise just keep them tightly wrapped in a clean kitchen towel. If you don’t want to grill the tortillas follow the instruction on the tortilla bag.
Cheese on Street Tacos
If you do want to use cheese on your street tacos I recommend getting cotija cheese or queso fresco. These are both mild milk cheeses that can be crumbled on top of your taco.
If you like this Grilled Chicken Street Taco Recipe you might also like:
Grilled Chicken Street Tacos
These Grilled Chicken Street Tacos could be the prefect meal. Chicken thighs marinated in an easy zezty sauce, grilled to perfection on the grill, and chopped for serving street tacos style (but not limited to that, try it in a quesadilla or burrito too)!
Ingredients
- 1.5-2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup lime juice (2 to 3 fresh limes)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or sea salt)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/4 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Mix together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, cumin, chili powder, and cilantro. Add the chicken thighs. Let marinate at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
- To cook heat grill to medium-high heat. Transfer the chicken to the grill, dripping off any excess marinade first. Cook 4 minutes.
- Flip over the chicken, cook another 4 minutes.
- Flip again and cook another 3 to 5 minutes until the chicken reads at least 165º F on a meat thermometer but thighs are usually best around 175º F.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and cover. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and chop into bite sized pieces. Serve with warm tortillas and add your favorite toppings.
Notes
Street style tacos typically get served on corn tortillas and garnished with simple toppings like diced onion, cilantro, pico de gallo, and lime wedges.
This chicken doesn't have to be limited to street tacos, it is equally has good in crunchy tacos, burritos, quesadillas, grain bowls, salads, or nacho toppings!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1/2 pound chickenAmount Per Serving: Calories: 687Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 30gCholesterol: 415mgSodium: 957mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 83g
Nutritional data is automated, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.
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I had some chicken thighs on hand and some corn tortillas in the freezer (but nothing else) and still turned out delicious. I used some marinated onions and some pineapple I had in the fridge and it was so good! Will definitely be on rotation in our house — the kids enjoyed the tortilla fun.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, I am so happy you and the family enjoyed it!
This has become a regular in our house — the chicken is so flavorful and works great with whatever random stuff you have on hand for taco toppings (homemade zuchinni pickles? marinated red onions? all good!)