this post is sponsored by the california avocado commission. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.
Are you guys even ready? These California Avocado Chicken Taquitos are quite possibly our favorite thing to come out of the BH Test Kitchen thus far. Our friends at the California Avocado Commission provided the delicious California Avocados for these avocado chicken taquitos and we are SO glad they did. On top of it all (literally), we made a fresh avocado salsa verde that does not quit. This recipe makes ten taquitos and serves 2-4 people depending on how hungry you are. Also, it’s real hard not to eat these in massive quantities because they are that. Darn. Good. You’ve been warned.
Our California Avocado Chicken Taquitos are also PALEO. They go above and beyond when it comes to the three F’s: fresh, flavorful, and filling. Not to mention, these avocado chicken taquitos are good for you. We’ll also teach you how to make The Best Grain Free Tortillas (which are cassava-based—learn more in What is Cassava?).
The filling of our paleo California Avocado Chicken Taquitos is basically like guacamole and the most flavorful chicken you’ve ever had. They’re topped with fresh avocado salsa verde aka a whole lotta delicious. All that delicious is in large part because we’re going through How to Toast Your Own Spices for the salsa. It opens up the flavor big time and brings on the freshness. To cook these babies, we’re deep-frying in ghee. We’re big-time ghee fans and you can learn why by checking out Ghee vs. Butter: Which is Better?—once you try it, we’re sure you’ll hop on board.
Now…these glorious paleo avocado chicken taquitos don’t happen in a flash. This recipe IS pretty involved (and totally worth it), especially if you’re making The Best Grain Free Tortillas too. We recommend making those a day ahead of time if you’re down for the journey.
Pay close attention to our videos! They’re pretty clutch for teaching you how to approach this recipe in the most efficient way. Don’t have the time/energy for every single step? That’s okay too—we’ll provide some substitutions and shortcuts along the way in case you need ‘em.
Ingredients
- The Best Grain Free Tortillas: We suggest you use the cassava-based tortillas we put together (learn more about cassava in What is Cassava?), but you could sub 10 premade tortillas instead. If you’re not paleo, feel free to use 6” flour tortillas. If you are making our The Best Grain Free Tortillas, make them a day ahead of time to ease up your cooking process.
- Ghee! We love it. And we’re teaching you more about it in Ghee vs. Butter.
- California Avocados: Shout out to the California Avocado Commission! You’ll use these in both your taquito filling and fresh avocado salsa verde.
- Cilantro
- Shallot
- Lime Juice
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken: We used 1 breast and 1 thigh, but any type will do.
- Garlic Clove
- Rice Vinegar
- Salt
spice blend for chicken
- Salt
- Ground Ancho Chile: We realize this spice is a little unconventional. It’s what makes the chicken spice blend so great. But if you need to replace this one with regular Chili Powder, that’s totally fine!
- Smoked Paprika
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Coriander Seed
- Dried Oregano
- Ground Chipotle: Again, less conventional and super delicious. This is another one you can sub for regular Chili Powder if you need to.
- Ground Clove
spices for fresh avocado salsa verde
*We’d LOVE for you to learn How to Toast Your Own Spices to open up the flavor in this recipe, but if you don’t have whole spices, not to worry—you can skip the toasting part and add the same amount of ground spices.
- Whole Coriander Seeds
- Whole Cumin Seeds
- Whole Fennel Seeds
Equipment
Knives Skillet Cutting Board Food Processor
The Process
STEP ONE
We’ll start by making the spice blend for the chicken.
Combine ¼ teaspoon Salt, ⅛ teaspoon Ground Clove, ¼ teaspoon Smoked Paprika, ¼ teaspoon Ground Ancho Chile (sub regular chili powder if need be), ⅛ teaspoon Ground Chipotle (sub regular chili powder if need be), ¼ teaspoon Ground Cumin, ¼ teaspoon Ground Coriander Seed, and ¼ teaspoon Dried Oregano into a small bowl. Mix it up.
STEP TWO
Let’s prep and cook that chicken! Start by mincing 1 Garlic Clove and dicing 1 ¼ pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken. Next, you’ll get 1 tablespoon Ghee hot in a (preferably cast iron) pan. If you’re wondering why we use (and adore) ghee, check out Ghee vs. Butter for more details.
Add your garlic into the pan and give it a few seconds to cook before adding chicken. Add your chicken, grab your spice blend, and sift it all over. Give everything a toss so the chicken is evenly covered in the spice blend and cook a couple of minutes until no longer pink.
When your chicken is close to fully cooked, add 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar. Give it a toss and cook until the moisture is absorbed, then set the whole thing aside to cool.
STEP THREE
Let’s get things toastin’ and roastin’. For this step, check out How to Toast Your Own Spices.
On a small baking sheet, place ¼ teaspoon Whole Coriander Seed, ¼ teaspoon Whole Cumin Seed, and ⅛ teaspoon Whole Fennel Seed with a little space in between each spice. Toast at 350 degrees for just 4-5 minutes.
Now grab your jalapeños! Get the fire going on your stove and place 2 Jalapeño Peppers directly on the grate. You want to get some color going, but be sure to turn them frequently with tongs so the skin chars evenly. When your peppers are completely roasted (the skin will be all black and bubbling), turn off heat and let them cool.
If you have an electric stove, pump the oven heat up to 400 degrees after toasting your spices. Place your jalapeño peppers on a tray with parchment paper and put them in the oven. Check on them after 15 minutes and turn them over. Then wait another 15 minutes and assess the color. When finished, skin will be black and bubbling away. Be sure to set them aside to cool!
STEP FOUR
Now that you’ve got all your components, it’s time to prep your filling and fresh avocado salsa verde! Set up two bowls so you can keep things separate as you prep.
Dice 2 California Avocados. To do it right, check out Avocado Basics: How to Cut, Peel, and Prep an Avocado. You’ll be using ½ an avocado for the salsa, so put that in a small bowl first. The rest of the avocado goes into the filling bowl.
Next, peel 2 Shallots. You want to finely dice one of them for your filling (add it to the large bowl) and roughly chop the other for your salsa (in the small bowl it goes).
Grab your 2 Roasted Jalapeño Peppers, a tiny bowl of oil, and a paper towel. Use the paper towel to rub the charred, black skin off your peppers. When your jalapeños are bare, dip your fingers in a little oil before the next step—it’ll help prevent that spicy finger feeling you get when dealing with hot peppers! Remove the stems from your peppers and cut them lengthwise to remove the seeds. When you’re all set, roughly chop and add to your salsa bowl.
Next, roughly chop ¼ cup Cilantro for salsa and finely chop another ¼ cup Cilantro for the filling. Into the bowls they go. PHEW! Prep done.
STEP FIVE
Let’s get this fresh avocado salsa verde up and running!
Grab your food processor and add all the ingredients in your salsa prep bowl along with ½ cup Water, 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar, 2 tablespoons Lime Juice, your Toasted Spices from step three, and ½ teaspoon Salt.
Blend it all up, stop to scrape the sides of the food processor, and blend it all again. Isn’t that gorgeous? Go ahead and set it aside for now.
STEP SIX
To finish up your filling, grab the large bowl of prepped filling ingredients, add 3 tablespoons Lime Juice, Salt to taste, and give it a mix. Add chicken and mix again!
STEP SEVEN
Warming tortillas makes them soft and pliable so they don’t tear when you’re ready to roll the taquitos. If you’re using flour tortillas or just finished making The Best Grain Free Tortillas, they’ll already be soft and you can skip this step.
If not, heat a cast iron pan and grab a sheet of aluminum foil. You’ll place each tortilla on the pan for a few seconds, flip it and leave for another few seconds, then pull off and place in the foil. When you’ve got them all done, wrap the foil around them to keep them warm.
STEP EIGHT
Almost finished! It’s time to assemble and cook your California Avocado Chicken Taquitos. Add ¼ cup Filling to each tortilla. Roll it up and seal with a toothpick so it stays together in the frying stage. Repeat for all ten taquitos.
Heat 3 tablespoons Ghee in a small or medium pan over medium heat (and find out more details on why we love ghee in Ghee vs. Butter). Make sure that ghee is real hot! Cook five taquitos at a time.
To do so, place them seam side down to start. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute and turn. Then another 30 seconds to a minute, turn again, and give them another 30 seconds to a minute, and turn one more time—essentially cooking three sides. Remove from heat and set on a plate, then cook the other five taquitos the same way.
STEP NINE
Are you ready to EAT?! Serve your fresh avocado chicken taquitos over shredded lettuce. Remove all the toothpicks (no one wants to bite into one of those!), and top with fresh avocado salsa verde. If you want to add some diced onions or anything else, be our guest! And as always, enjoy.
To make this recipe its absolute best, be sure to check out The Best Grain Free Tortillas, Ghee vs. Butter: Which is better?, What is Cassava?, and How to Toast Your Own Spices!
California Avocado Chicken Taquitos
These California Avocado Chicken Taquitos with Fresh Avocado Salsa Verde are the most flavorful and good-for-you dinner you could ask for! (PS. They're paleo!)
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 10 The Best Grain Free Tortillas sub 10 premade paleo tortillas
- ¼ c Ghee divided
- 1½ California Avocados Chopped
- ¼ cup Cilantro Fine Chopped
- ¼ cup Shallot Fine Diced
- 3 tbsp Lime Juice
- 1¼ lb Chicken Boneless skinless, Diced (I use 1 breast and 1 thigh, any type will do)
- 1 Garlic Clove Minced
- 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- Salt to taste
Spice Blend
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ancho Chile Ground
- ¼ tsp Smoked Paprika
- ¼ tsp Cumin Ground
- ¼ tsp Coriander Seed Ground
- ¼ tsp Oregano Dried
- ⅛ tsp Chipotle Ground
- ⅛ tsp Clove Ground
Instructions
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Combine ingredients of the spice blend in a small bowl, stir together and set aside.
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Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with the 1 tbsp of ghee.
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When the pan is hot, add garlic to saute for a few seconds before adding the chicken and the spice blend. Stir and allow to cook a minute or two.
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When the chicken is beginning to appear mostly cooked add the rice vinegar and cook until there is no moisture left in the pan, stirring occasionally throughout. Remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.
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In a large mixing bowl add the chopped avocado, shallot, cilantro, lime juice, and some salt to taste. Mix together with a fork, lightly mashing the avocado if needed. Leave the mixture fairly chunky.
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Add the chicken to the avocado and mix until just fully incorporated.
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Heat a large enough pan for a tortilla over medium heat, then warm the tortillas one at a time. About 15 seconds per side should do, you just want them warm enough so that they roll without splitting open. Place them in some foil (or a tortilla warmer if you have one)to keep them warm.
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Once all tortillas are ready, lay them out and put roughly a ¼c of the avocado filling in each, roll them, trying to spread the filling to the ends without falling out, then toothpick them closed, place on a tray until all are filled.
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Heat a small to medium saute pan with 3T of ghee over medium heat, place the tacos into the pan seam side down, cook for roughly 30 seconds to a minute, then turn, cook another 30 seconds to a minute and turn again, cook for 30 seconds to a minute then remove to a plate. Repeat this process until all tacos are cooked. You may use the same pan with ghee, remove any larger bits of filling that may have fallen out before adding the next batch. Depending on the size of your pan this may take 2-4 rounds of frying.
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Once all taquitos are fried, serve them with our Avocado Salsa Verde and any other fixings you like, such as, shredded lettuce and diced onions.
Recipe Video
Fresh Avocado Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 2 Jalapeños Roasted, Peeled and Seeded
- ½ California Avocado Chopped
- ½ cup Water
- ¼ cup Shallots Diced
- ¼ cup Cilantro Whole Leaves
- 2 tbsp Lime Juice
- 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- ¼ tsp Cumin Seed Whole, Toasted
- ¼ tsp Coriander Seed Whole, Toasted
- ⅛ tsp Fennel Seed Whole, Toasted
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350. Toast cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds on a sheet pan in the oven for 4-5 minutes. They will be fragrant. Let cool slightly.
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If you have a gas stove, turn the heat on to medium-high and place jalapeños on to the grate. Turn often until they are completely blackened. Turn off flame and let cool.
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Once jalapeños are cooled, use a paper towel to wipe off the outer layer. Cut off the stem and remove seeds. Roughly chop the jalapeno.
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Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a uniform texture has come together, this may take a few pauses to scrape the sides down to achieve. Making the sauce in the food processor will leave it less than fully smooth with some bits of whole or just cracked spices, if you’d prefer a smooth salsa, combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and puree, again a pause or two to scrape the sides may be necessary.
