Chicken Tostadas

An overhead image of a chicken tostada on the pan with sour cream and avocado on top.

These chicken tostadas are the most deliciously crunchy open-faced taco you'll ever try! Perfect for leftovers, they're seriously easy and totally customizable too. Ready in a very quick 20 minutes.

Course Entree, Main, Main Course, Main dish

Cuisine Mexican

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 230kcal

Author Jessy Freimann

Equipment

Ingredients

Cooking spray
6 corn tortillas
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 ½ cups salsa, divided
1 can refried beans (or well drained black beans if you prefer)
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
The toppings of your choice

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
Place tortillas on sheet pan in a single layer and spray with cooking spray. Bake for 5-7 minutes until crispy.
While the tortillas bake, mix chicken with ½ cup salsa until well combined.
When tostadas are out of the oven top with 2 Tablespoons of beans per tostada.
Then top with 2 Tablespoons of salsa per tostada.
Divide chicken mixture between the tostadas.
Divide shredded cheddar between the tostadas
Return to the oven and bake for 7-10 more minutes until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve immediately with the toppings of your choice.

Video

Notes

Make sure you don't over-shred your chicken. It'll naturally shred up more as you stir in the salsa, and you don't want it to get stringy or mushy.

I like to spray my tortillas with cooking spray to help them crisp and brown up even more.

Don't overcrowd the baking sheet! Remember, one of the key components of this recipe is the crunchy tortilla. If you add too many at a time, they may steam instead of crisp up.

Warm up the beans to make spreading easier. Refried beans can be kind of stiff straight from the can. Popping them in a bowl and then microwaving in 30-second increments will make them much easier to layer on.

Shredding the cheese yourself will give you a better melt. Listen, I'm all for convenience, so if a preshredded bag is all you have, that's totally fine — but I encourage you to try shredding from the block at least once!

Honestly, the measurements I gave for this are suggestions. For this recipe, it's perfectly fine to measure with your heart.

Ingredients to prep ahead- Get ahead and cook and shred the chicken, make the salsa if using homemade, shred the cheese, and chop or dice any other toppings before getting started.

Leftovers and storage- Leftovers for this are great, but I encourage you to pack things up separately instead of assembled for the best results. These will last up to 3 days covered in the fridge.

Nutrition