Fried Chicken Tacos Perfect for Your Next Taco Tuesday

These pan-fried chicken tacos will be your next taco Tuesday favorite! An easy chicken marinade, corn tortillas, red onion, and cheese make this simple recipe both easy to make and delicious!

Another favorite family-friendly recipe, these fried chicken tacos are a hit on Taco Tuesday! These are probably the easiest tacos ever to make! Simple and easy but loaded with flavor, these will be your new favorite as well.

How to Make Pan-Fried Chicken Tacos

If you have seen some of my recipes before, you may know that I love fried tacos. The deep-fried tacos that I make are delicious, but a lot of work. Sometimes I need a much simpler taco recipe, and when I want easy and quick, I make this pan-fried corn tortillas with chicken and onions. 

Easy Chicken Taco Marinade 

One of my favorite parts about this dish is the super easy chicken taco marinade.  Just three ingredients, tossed in a bag and ready to go! 

All you need to make this chicken marinade is:

• Cilantro
• Lime Juice
• Seasoning of Choice – I use Tajin because it is the best.

All you need to do is put your raw chicken in a bag, add in all of your ingredients, and let it sit in the fridge. You can marinate your chicken anywhere from 1-24 hours! I like to let the chicken taco marinade sit as long as possible so it really soaks up the flavor and makes for some super tender chicken for your tacos. 

Cast Iron Chicken Tacos

Once you have marinated your chicken, it is time to cook it! I highly recommend cooking your chicken in a cast iron pan. Honestly, I pretty much use my cast iron pan as often as possible. 

There is something so great about cast iron chicken tacos. The flavor from the pan itself just really helps elevate the dish. 

When cooking your chicken for the fried chicken tacos, add the chicken to a hot cast iron skillet and discard the excess marinade. 

Once you cook the actual chicken, then you can pan-try the corn tortillas in your cast iron pan as well. If you don’t have a cast-iron pan, then I recommend using ceramic cookware. 

When your chicken is cooked, set it aside to cool and dice it up while you make the rest of your chicken tacos. 

How to make chicken tacos

While your marinated taco chicken cools down some, you can start heating up your corn tortillas. While you are free to use flour tortillas if you prefer, I highly recommend using corn tortillas. They hold up well to the pan-frying process and they give your fried chicken tacos an amazing flavor.

You may need to add a small splash of oil to your cast iron pan, and when it is nice and hot, drop in your corn tortilla. Flip when it starts to get a little brown on one side. 

Once you flip it, it is time to add in your chicken, diced red onion, and Cotija cheese. Let it cook a little bit and then “close” the chicken taco. 

Let it get nice and hot, flipping from side to side to make sure it is cooked all around. 

Now you are ready to enjoy it! Serve with some sour cream, guacamole, corn salsa, or whatever you prefer!