I try to get creative with my taco combinations because my husband loves having a Taco Tuesday at home when possible. The kids like it as well, but get excited if there's a change from our usual combinations. These tacos came about from me needing a quick and easy taco meal from ingredients I already had available. I had chicken, my ranch seasoning and lots of cilantro so I knew I could get creative with those and came up with these easy yummy tacos.
Easy & Quick Marinade
I think chicken doesn't need to be marinaded for something like this, but it just adds an extra flavor component and helps keep the chicken juicy. If you don't have time to marinade, your tacos and chicken will still be great. I also like the addition of lime juice in the marinade to give the chicken that extra tang.
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
I wanted to just add another ranch layer to the tacos, but wanted a heavy cilantro component so I whipped up this dressing. After making it and tasting it for the 1st time I realized it would be a great dressing for a salad as well. It's easy and quick to make and if you have extra, try it on a salad or just drizzle it on some raw veggies. It has a nice tang to it and better than so many dressings you'd get in the store.
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Ranch Chicken Tacos
Makes about 10 soft chicken tacos. If you're in a hurry, you can make this recipe without the marinade.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 52 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Ingredients
Quick Marinade (Optional)
- ⅛ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
Chicken for Tacos
- 1 lb organic free-range chicken, cut into small cubes
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil for cooking
- 1 Tbsp WML ranch seasoning
- About 5 Tbsp Cilantro Ranch Dressing
- 10 soft tortillas of your choice
Taco Topping Ideas
- Shredded/finely chopped green lettuce
- Shredded cheese
- Avocado cubed
- Tomato cubed
Instructions
*Optional-Marinade Chicken
- In a small bowl combine all marinade ingredients and whisk
- Add chicken to a large ziplock bag along with marinade, squeeze bag tight while closing bag to remove as much air from bag as possible and disperse marinade by squeezing sides of the bag till chicken coated.
- Marinade chicken in refrigerator 30 mins to 1hr.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat, then add olive oil.
- Once pan and oil heated add chicken chunks to pan and cook chicken about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once chicken cooked completely, add the ranch seasoning and cook another minute or 2, making sure all pieces coated. (no water necessary)
- Set aside chicken and warm your tortillas.
- Add chicken and taco toppings to each warmed tortilla and drizzle Cilantro Ranch Dressing to each taco as well.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
Melanie @ Melanie Cooks says
We also like to have a Taco Tuesday, tacos are always a hit! I like the ranch flavor on your chicken, that's a nice change from the usual taco seasoning!
Katia says
Thanks Melanie! It's hard to go wrong with ranch I think.