This Chicken Walking Tacos Recipe makes a delicious family dinner that is ready in 10 minutes! Put a fun twist on taco night with shredded salsa chicken and your favorite taco toppings served over crunchy chips right in the bag! Your family will ask for these tacos in a bag every week!
I was sent this Chicken Walking Taco recipe and Sun Chips to create this post.
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The Best Walking Tacos Recipe
This tasty recipe for walking tacos is quick and easy, and features all the same flavors you love from Taco Tuesday. But to make them portable (these are sometimes called Campfire tacos) they are served in a bag of chips!
No Fritos and chili here, this version has all those traditional taco flavors you crave! The salsa-shredded chicken is easy to make and takes just 10 minutes. It's flavorful and pairs perfectly with the chips and other toppings.
It's a great easy dinner to serve when you don't have time to sit down around the table. You can grab it and run out the door to activities or serve it at a party!
Related post: Fast Chicken Tacos
Setting out the toppings lets each person layer up their chips any way they want (like my Sheet Pan Nachos!). This Walking Taco with chicken recipe is ALWAYS a crowd-pleaser!
Serve it with my simple Black Bean Salad and a Skinny Margarita for a delicious meal!
Ingredient Notes
The tacos
Starting with store-bought rotisserie chicken ensures that this recipe is as fast as possible. (But you can bake or shred your own chicken if you have the time).
The taco seasoning and salsa give the chicken tons of flavor. Or you can substitute with the salsa chicken from my Taco Cups (with beer), SO good!
I prefer the Cheddar Sun Chips, but you can use any flavor you think would pair well with the flavors of the chicken. Or use tortilla chips.
Walking Taco Toppings
While I'm serving my Walking Taco bags with cheddar cheese and cilantro, you can serve it with any of the toppings you usually put on tacos or nachos. Black beans, jalapenos, green onions, whatever you want!
How to Make Walking Tacos
1. Make the Salsa Shredded Chicken
To a saucepan, add the shredded chicken, water, taco seasoning pouch and salsa. Stir and heat over medium and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
2. Serve over chips
While I set out my meal family-style, you can just as easily have everyone create their own taco in a bag right in the kitchen to make clean up quicker.
3. Add toppings
To serve this Chicken Walking Tacos recipe, cut the long side of a bag of chips open. Let each family member build their own walking taco bags by adding whatever toppings they would like.
Toppings include traditional taco toppings like cheese, sour cream, avocado, and cilantro.
Walking Taco Ideas and Tips
- You can use ground beef, seasoned with taco seasoning, instead of chicken for this Walking Taco recipe.
- Use just about any kind of chips to make this recipe. Fritos are great (and the original). Doritos and, of course, tortilla chips are delicious.
- If you can't find individual bags of chips, just put chips in a bowl and the toppings on top of it.
- Make these vegetarian by leaving out the chicken and serving it with black beans or another plant-based protein instead.
- Make the chicken ahead of time to make dinner time even faster!
- Make the chicken in a crockpot if you want to serve these for a party. It will help keep the meat at the perfect temperature and still let everyone make their own.
Walking Taco Sign
Need easy-to-share instructions for how to make Walking Tacos? Just download and print my Walking Taco Sign.
Frame it and set it on the food table or tape it to the wall to keep things easy.
Click to download the Walking Taco Sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
The amount of meat you will need will depend on how many people you are trying to serve. For your family, make the same amount of chicken or beef you would for a regular taco night. For a party, you may want to make more.
Side dish recipes that you would typically serve with tacos or enchiladas, will pair well with this recipe. Black or refried beans, rice, a salad, etc.
To eat a walking taco simply break up the chips in the bag with your hands, top it with your favorite toppings, then eat with a fork! It's a great vacation dinner idea especially if you are camping, etc.
Store all the parts of the Walking Tacos separately to ensure that nothing gets soggy. Keep the prepared chicken in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
While the traditional Walking Taco recipe included Fritos and chili, over the years the recipe has been modified to include more taco flavors.
This is the best recipe I've tried thanks to the salsa chicken! Make these Walking Chicken Tacos this week!
More easy dinner ideas
- Baked Chipotle Lime Chicken
- Tortilla Soup
- Manwich Style Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Fajita Soup in the Slow Cooker
- Swiss Enchiladas
- Homemade Taco Seasoning
- Green Chile Pork Chops
Walking Taco Recipe with Chicken
Ingredients
For the Salsa Chicken
- 4 cups chicken rotisserie is best
- 1.25 oz taco seasoning (1 packet)
- 1 cup water
- 15 oz chunky salsa (1 jar)
For the Walking Taco Bags
- Chips Individual Sized Bags
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- 1 cup cilantro
Instructions
- Combine store-bought rotisserie chicken, water, salsa and taco seasoning in a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
- Cut open the long side of an individual bag of chips.
- Add toppings to the bag and serve with a fork.
Notes
- Add any other taco toppings that your family enjoys like jalapenos, black beans, taco sauce, radish, sour cream, guacamole, etc.
- You can use ground beef, seasoned with taco seasoning, instead of chicken for this Walking Taco recipe.
- Use just about any kind of chips to make this recipe. Fritos are great (and the original). Doritos and, of course, tortilla chips are delicious.
- If you can't find individual bags of chips, just add chips to a bowl and then add the toppings.
- Make these vegetarian by leaving out the chicken and serving it with black beans or another plant-based protein instead.
- Make the chicken ahead of time to make dinner time even faster! Store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Brittany says
whoa. these look so good! definitely trying soon.
Carrie // cue the confetti says
These are great! I want to try them and I really want to eat some SunChips now.
Sharon Garofalow says
Yes, I wanted Sunchips every day for a week after this recipe. The Garden Salsa was a surprise hit for me. LOVE it!