These pollo asado tacos taste just like a taqueria! Authentic, charred, juicy grilled chicken marinated in citrus, achiote, and spices, tucked into warm corn tortillas and enjoyed simply or piled high with your favorite toppings. The chicken does the heavy lifting here flavorwise, so once it is grilled, all that's left to do is warm the tortillas and build your best chicken tacos!
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love These Pollo Asado Tacos
- What Are Pollo Asado Tacos?
- Start With the Pollo Asado Chicken
- Pollo Asado Tacos Ingredients
- The Best Tortillas for Street Tacos
- Toppings and Salsas
- How to Make Pollo Asado Tacos
- What to Serve With Pollo Asado Tacos
- Make Ahead and Storage
- Pollo Asado Tacos FAQ
- More Tacos for Taco Night
- More Easy Mexican Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- Pollo Asado Tacos Food Safety
Why You'll Love These Pollo Asado Tacos
- Real achiote and fresh citrus, no inauthentic seasoning packet in sight
- The chicken is grilled, sliced, and ready for taco night in minutes
- One batch of pollo asado feeds a crowd
- Corn or flour tortillas, your kitchen, your call
- Street-taco toppings that beat taco trucks and drive-thrus any day of the week
- Grill the chicken ahead and assemble fresh taco dinners or lunches all week
What Are Pollo Asado Tacos?
Pollo asado tacos are Mexican street tacos built on pollo asado, grilled chicken marinated in achiote, sour orange or citrus, garlic, and spices, then cooked until the edges char. The chicken is sliced and piled high into warm tortillas with simple, fresh toppings. It's the pollo asado marinade and the char that make them taste like the taqueria instead of like plain chicken tacos.
Start With the Pollo Asado Chicken
The best chicken tacos start with the marinade and the chicken cut itself. I use boneless skinless thighs because they stay juicy and slice cleanly for pollo tacos with a satisfying meaty 'bite". I also use a traditional 5-minute pollo asado marinade (no seasoning packets or BBQ rubs here), then grill until charred and cooked to 165°F.
You can find the full cooking methods (grilled, oven-baked, and stovetop) with all the details in its own post. Get the full (easy) recipe here: pollo asado. Then come back and build your tacos.
Pollo Asado Tacos Ingredients
- Pollo asado chicken. Marinated, grilled, and sliced. Boneless skinless thighs are my go-to for this Mexican meat, as mentioned above.
- Tortillas. Corn for traditional street tacos, or flour if you prefer. More on that below.
- Toppings. Chopped onion, cilantro, lime, and salsa at a minimum. Then build your favorite toppings from there.
Full ingredient measurements can be found in the recipe card.
The Best Tortillas for Street Tacos
Homemade or fresh corn tortillas from your local tortillería are traditional for street tacos and are the best tortillas you can use. When that's not convenient, store-bought tortillas are perfect to use. I use 5 to 6-inch corn tortillas and double them up the way taquerias do, so you will want a large pack. These are my favorite brands:
- La Banderita yellow corn (white is also great), my top pick for flavor/texture/availability
- Guerrero white corn, another supermarket favorite
- Trader Joe's corn tortillas, perfect if you want a less-processed option (contains only corn, water, calcium hydroxide)
- El Milagro, perfect for the high-quality ingredients and no preservatives (contains only stone-ground non-GMO corn, water, and lime (calcium hydroxide)
- Masienda organic corn, the splurge pick, 2-ingredient heirloom corn tortillas (organic non-GMO corn and alkaline water, no gums or preservatives) with real nixtamalized-masa flavor. Find them refrigerated or frozen at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Target.
- Best of all - a good taqueria-style tortillería near you, or heirloom-corn brands like Masienda, for the closest thing to homemade.
How to Warm Corn Tortillas
- In an oiled skillet (the best way): Brush a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or griddle with a little oil (I use olive oil, but vegetable oil works) over medium-high heat, and warm each tortilla about 30 seconds per side to bring out the corn flavor and make it bendable.
- Dry skillet: Toast them in the same pan with no oil, or add a spritz of water.
- Microwave (my least favorite): Stack 5 to 6, cover with a clean damp towel or paper towels, and heat in 15 to 30 second bursts until warmed through. A hint of oil gives the best flavor and texture, so I personally don't use this method, but it's great for people who are really busy or who are looking to add fewer calories to their taco dinners.
How to Keep the Tortillas Warm
- Kitchen towel and foil: stack the warm tortillas on a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel and then foil, closing it back up each time you add more to trap the heat and steam
- Tortilla warmer: works great if you have one
Toppings and Salsas
Street taco toppings are usually kept really simple, and the chicken is the star. Start with the classic combination, then add whatever else you love. This meat is so flavorful that you really can't go wrong whether you barely dress them up or pile the toppings high.
- Chopped white onion and cilantro. The traditional street-taco topping.
- Lime wedges. A squeeze right before you eat.
- Salsa verde or your favorite salsa. Or a spoon of pico de gallo.
- Shredded cabbage or lettuce. For added crunch.
- Cotija cheese (or cheddar or Monterey Jack). For a little saltiness
- Mexican crema (or sour cream or creme freche). Adds a creamy tang.
- Guacamole or sliced avocado. Always welcome and adds creaminess and extra protein.
- Caramelized or grilled onions. Brings a naturally sweet, slightly crunchy bite.
- Fresh or pickled jalapeños. For a spicy kick.
- Fresh cilantro. For added herbaceous flavor.
- La Cholula or Valentina hot sauce. For extra vinegary, tangy, chili flavor and spicy heat.
How to Make Pollo Asado Tacos
Step 1. Grill the pollo asado to 165°F, rest it a few minutes, then slice or chop it.
Step 2. Warm your tortillas until soft and pliable (see above for step-by-step photos of this process).
Step 3. Pile the chicken into the tortillas, double up if using corn, and top with onion, cilantro, salsa, and a squeeze of lime. Add any other extras you like, and serve right away while everything is warm.
What to Serve With Pollo Asado Tacos
Round out taco night with a couple of sides. I serve these with cilantro lime rice and refried beans, plus chips. salsa, guacamole, and a pitcher of agua fresca or margaritas.
Make Ahead and Storage
These come together fast, so the best make-ahead move is to prep the parts, not the built chicken tacos.
Make the chicken ahead. Grill and slice the chicken up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate or freeze it up to 4 months, then thaw overnight in the refrigerator (full storage and reheating details are in the pollo asado recipe post).
Prep your toppings ahead. The day before or day of, shred lettuce or cabbage, make the guacamole, dice the onions and store them in a glass jar, slice jalapeños, make the salsa or pico de gallo, and keep everything separate in the fridge.
Day of. Warm the tortillas, reheat the chicken slices in a hot skillet with a little oil, and build the tacos fresh right before serving.
Pollo Asado Tacos FAQ
Pollo asado tacos are Mexican street tacos made with pollo asado, grilled chicken marinated in achiote, citrus, and spices. The chicken is grilled until charred, sliced, and piled into warm tortillas with fresh toppings.
Boneless skinless chicken thighs are best because they stay juicy and slice cleanly for tacos and reheat beautifully. Chicken breasts or a whole chicken work too. The full method is in the pollo asado recipe (link above and in recipe card).
Corn tortillas are traditional for street tacos and hold up to the juicy grilled chicken, so warm them until soft and double them up. Flour tortillas work too if you prefer them.
Keep it street-style with traditional chopped white onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and salsa verde, but don't be afraid to add your favorite toppings like shredded cabbage/lettuce, cotija, Mexican crema (or sour cream), guacamole, or pico de gallo.
Marinate boneless skinless thighs in pollo asado marinade, then grill to 165°F, rest, and slice. The full grill, oven, and stovetop methods are in the pollo asado recipe.
Yes, and you should! Grill and slice the chicken up to 3 to 4 days ahead, then reheat and assemble fresh. The cooked chicken also freezes for up to 4 months.
More Tacos for Taco Night
Pollo asado is our go-to chicken taco, but taco night has room for any Mexican meat!
If you want pork, my tacos al pastor have their own delicious achiote-and-pineapple marinade and the same signature char.
For beef, try my carne asada, which is grilled and sliced thin with a bright citrus and beer marinade of its own.
These are not swaps for the meat in pollo asado; each is its own recipe with its own flavor, and they're all worth making. Set out all three and let everyone build their favorite for Street Taco Tuesday dinner.
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📖 Recipe
Grilled Chicken Street Tacos (Pollo Asado)
- Yield: 16 to 20 Street Tacos
- Diet: Dairy-Free
Description
Delicious pollo asado street tacos made with charred, juicy grilled chicken marinated in achiote and citrus, piled into warm corn tortillas with your favorite toppings.
Ingredients
For the Tacos
- 1 batch pollo asado chicken (about 3 lb boneless skinless thighs), grilled and sliced
- 32 to 40 five-inch corn tortillas (2 per taco), such as La Banderita
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil, for warming the tortillas, or more as needed
Optional Toppings for serving
- Guacamole
- Shaved cabbage or shredded lettuce
- Salsa
- Pickled or fresh jalapeños
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar, or Cotija)
- Sour cream or Mexican crema
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Grill and slice the chicken. Cook the pollo asado to 165°F, let it rest 5 to 10 minutes, then slice it against the grain. Full grill, oven, and stovetop methods can be found in the pollo asado recipe post.
- Warm the tortillas. Brush a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or griddle with a little oil over medium-high heat. Warm each tortilla about 30 seconds per side, brushing lightly with oil as needed, until it is bendable and the corn flavor comes out.
- Keep tortillas warm. Stack the warm tortillas on a plate lined with a kitchen towel and then foil, closing it back up each time you add more to trap the heat and steam. A tortilla warmer works too.
- Assemble the tacos. Stack two warmed tortillas, slightly overlapping, and add a few slices of chicken. Top with guacamole, cabbage or lettuce, salsa, jalapeños, cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lime.
- Serve. Add any optional cheese or crema and serve right away. For a crowd, put the chicken and toppings on platters and let everyone build their own.
Notes
- Tortillas: Use 5-inch corn tortillas, doubled up. La Banderita and Guerrero are my favorite supermarket brands. Masienda or fresh from a local tortillería are a step up. See the post for more on picking and warming tortillas.
- Make ahead: Prep the parts, not the built tacos. Grill and slice the chicken and chop the toppings up to 3 to 4 days ahead, keep everything separate, and build fresh so the tortillas do not go soggy. The cooked chicken freezes well for up to 4 months.
- Make it interactive: Serve family style with the chicken and toppings on platters so everyone builds their own.
- Category: Dinner, Mexican + Tex-Mex
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: Mexican, Mexican + Tex-Mex
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Tacos
- Calories: 284
- Sugar: 0.2g
- Sodium: 212mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Fiber: 5.2g
- Protein: 34g
- Cholesterol: 67mg
Pollo Asado Tacos Food Safety
- Cook the chicken to 165°F in the thickest part, away from the bone. See the pollo asado recipe linked above for methods and times.
- Marinate in the refrigerator, never on the counter. The marinade that touches raw chicken is not a sauce unless you boil it first. Full notes are on the pollo asado marinade post.
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