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The best fried chicken tacos – delicious easy fried chicken tacos with a cooling tomatillo avocado salsa!
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I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
Panko Fried Chicken Tacos
Fried chicken tacos – chicken breaded in panko breadcrumbs and pan fried to golden perfection topped with avocado tomatillo salsa, cabbage, jalapeños, and lime!
These tacos are easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner, great for a dinner party, and make easy and delicious meal prep for a busy week’s worth of lunches!
You can also swap out this fried chicken for a keto-approved pan fried chicken breast without breading like we feature in our Easy Chicken Salad Sandwiches Recipe and use almond flour tortillas if you’d like to make these easy tacos keto-approved!
If your family loves this dinner, be sure to check out our Easy Green Chile Sauce Recipe, Easy Fried Tortilla Chips and Cheesy Green Chile and Pepper Dip, and our Cheesy Chicken Taquito and Bean Casserole Recipes!
These fried chicken tacos pair perfectly with my Avocado Tomatillo Salsa – it is tangy, bright, cooling, and full of roasted tomatillo and onion flavor.
It is easy to make, and tastes even better if made a day ahead – plus all you need is a baking sheet and a blender to get a perfect roasted vegetable, tomatillo, and rich avocado flavor!
For a sweeter fried chicken taco with a spicy fruit kick, try my pineapple mango salsa! It is bright, colorful, and the fruit flavors pair perfectly with chicken.
Keto Fried Chicken Tacos
If you’re dying to try these chicken tacos and hesitant for the carb count, no worries!
I am sharing how to make these delicious chicken tacos – with extra crunchy fried chicken – perfectly keto!
To make crunchy fried chicken, we’re using pork rinds instead of flour and panko breadcrumbs to fry the chicken.
For the recipe below, we will omit the buttermilk, flour, and panko – and instead use only the egg bath and a 4oz bag of pork rinds.
Blend or run pork rinds through a food processor for a couple seconds (they break down quickly) until the consistency of crunchy breadcrumbs.
To wrap your tacos, you can use almond flour tortillas, lettuce wraps, egg thins, cheese wraps, or make or buy your own keto tortillas.
To Make These Tacos You’ll Need:
To make these tacos, you won’t need a ton of tools – but you will need a lot of bowls to set up a dredging station.
-2 large bowls
-5-6 small bowls – for dredging and mixing spices
-large pan, preferably with deep sides, for pan frying
-cooking thermometer
-tongs, or frying spider
-plate with paper towels, for drying fried chicken
How To Make Fried Chicken Tacos
To make these fried chicken tacos, we are marinating the chicken to maximize flavor – and then dredging to get a perfect golden brown and crispy crunch.
Pan frying can seem a little intimidating, but it is really easy to dredge chicken (dredging means dipping an ingredient in a series of liquids and solids for baking or frying) and pan fry.
What Order To Dredge Chicken
Dredging chicken is a standard technique in cooking – it helps breading stick to chicken and gives it a delicious crispy crunch when fried.
To dredge chicken, it is important to keep the right order to make sure everything sticks well.
Milk
First, dip chicken in buttermilk. This helps tenderize the chicken, and makes it easier for flour to stick to.
Flour
Next, dip chicken in flour. The flour will help give a rich breaded flavor and give your chicken a thicker batter for more crunch.
Egg
Next, dip chicken in egg bath. Eggs are sticky, and help prep the dredged chicken stick to breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs
Finally, dip in breadcrumbs. Since breadcrumbs are the driest they need to go last. Breadcrumbs will give lots of crispy crunch to your chicken – panko gives a lighter, crispier crunch than other breadcrumbs when pan fried.
What to Serve With Fried Chicken Tacos
These chicken tacos are great for a fun taco dinner – we love taco night in our house! Try these other tex-mex recipes
I am rounding up some of my favorite dishes to serve with these delicious fried chicken tacos – and if you’re making the keto version of these tacos, be sure to check out my keto cauliflower rice and keto tortilla chips recipes!
How to Store and Reheat Chicken Tacos
These chicken tacos make really great leftovers and meal prep – but it is best to store chicken, tortillas, and salsa/toppings separate, so the tortillas stay fresh – then reheat chicken and assemble tacos when it is time to eat.
To store fried chicken bites, refrigerate in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to four days.
Fried chicken can be frozen for up to four months.
Thaw in refrigerator overnight and bake to hot – or bake from frozen until piping hot.
Easy Fried Chicken Tacos Recipe
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Easy Fried Chicken Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast tenders or 2 chicken breasts
- 2 cups of buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon of salt + 1 ½ teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of sugar, omit for keto recipe
- ¼ cup of soy sauce, keto recipe: use 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, omit for keto recipe
- ½ cup of flour, omit for keto recipe
- 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs, keto recipe: swap for 4 oz crushed pork rinds
- 2 eggs
- 48- ounce avocado oil or vegetable oil, keto: use avocado oil
- 12-15 white corn tortillas
- ¾ cup of purple cabbage, shredded
- ¾ cup of green cabbage, shredded
- 1 lime, juiced
Instructions
- Start by washing, drying and cutting the chicken into bite size pieces.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of the salt, sugar, soy sauce, dried parsley, black pepper and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder together in a small bowl.
- Then, mix the spice mix into the buttermilk. Add in the chicken pieces and stir to coat all of the pieces.
- Add the chicken and buttermilk mixture to a Ziploc bag or an airtight container and put it into the fridge for at least half an hour to marinade or up to 2 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and add ½ cup of the buttermilk marinade to a small bowl.
- Whisk in the eggs until smooth and set aside.
- Add the flour to a separate bowl and mix in 1 teaspoon of the salt, the remaining cayenne pepper powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin powder and cornstarch until combined. Set aside.
- Add the breadcrumbs to another bowl and set aside.
- Heat a large frying pan over low medium heat and the oil. Check to see if it is ready after 5 minutes by dipping the end of a wooden spoon or chopstick into the oil. If it bubbles after a second or two, it’s ready, if not, give it a few minutes before checking again.
- Using a fork, drain the buttermilk mixture off of a chicken piece and dip it into the flour mixture, coat it completely, tap off the excess and add it to the egg mixture. Drain the excess egg and coat the chicken piece in the breadcrumbs. Shake off any excess breadcrumbs and add it to the oil.
- Continue the process until there are about 5-6 pieces of chicken in the pan at one time.
- Flip the pieces once the bottom turns a golden-brown color and remove after another minute or so. Place the chicken on a plate with a paper towel to drain off any excess oil.
- Repeat the process in batches of 5-6 pieces with the remaining chicken.
- Heat the tortillas by placing in a foil pouch in a 250 degree oven, microwaving for a few seconds, or quickly heating individually in a pan.
- Mix the purple and green cabbage, lime juice and remaining salt together and let sit for a few minutes before serving.
- To assemble the tacos, add a spoonful of the cabbage mix to the tortilla then add 3-4 pieces of the chicken and finally, a few spoonfuls of salsa.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
