Bring Back Big Families

Dinner tonight. So much better than the frozen ones.

The Recipe (Makes 20 Taquitos)

Ingredients

• 2 cooked chicken breasts (cold rotisserie works great — shred it!)
• 1 block (8 oz) cream cheese
• ½ jar (about ½ cup) picante sauce (mild or whatever heat level your family likes)
• ½–1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican blend, or whatever’s in the fridge)
• 20 small flour tortillas (6-inch size works best)
• Cooking spray (for the tops)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment for easy cleanup.
2. Soften the cream cheese (microwave 20–30 seconds works).
3. Shred the chicken (use two forks or your hands).
4. In a large bowl, mix shredded chicken, softened cream cheese, picante sauce, and shredded cheese until well combined.
5. Spoon 2–3 tablespoons of mixture onto each tortilla, roll tightly, and place seam-side down on the baking sheet.
6. Lightly spray the tops with cooking oil (this helps them crisp up!).
7. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden and slightly crispy.
8. Serve hot with extra picante sauce for dipping.

The Story

My kids LOVE these, so they are 100% kid-approved. They’re fairly inexpensive to make, which is what makes them dad-approved. All of the ingredients are around $10 at Walmart.

Total time from start to finish is only about 30-40 minutes, so it’s definitely checking all of the boxes.

I honestly created this from my local Aldi not having the normal frozen ones we buy for a while. I don’t know why they didn’t have them, but I started thinking, I know I can make these. So I did.

I researched several other similar recipes for inspiration, and I kind of boiled it down to these essential ingredients. Of course, there’s a thousand different ways to change it up as you like it, but I like things simple. And this is as simple as it gets.

As far as healthy goes, I know the tortillas might be high in carbohydrates for some people, but the low carb/keto ones could be subbed in for a few extra dollars to make them slightly healthier.

That being said, they’re not unhealthy. All of the ingredients are fairly straightforward. They’re definitely a step up from frozen taquitos in terms of ingredients you can actually pronounce, and you control the portions.

Toss these into your meal rotation for a delicious, quick, cheap, family-approved Tex-Mex weeknight dish.