Baked Chicken Tortilla Cups Recipe

Heat is tamed in this mild, bite-sized version of spicy chicken tinga. Flavorful chicken layered with beans and cream is baked in tortilla cups using a muffin tin.

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) olive oil
⅓ cup diced mini sweet peppers
2 tablespoons diced sweet onion
½ cup finely shredded carrots
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon chili powder
⅔ cup petite diced tomatoes with juice (no salt added)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons shredded cooked chicken breast (from 17-ounce breast)
¾ cup cooked black beans
1 egg
¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
Cooking spray
12 corn tortillas
¾ cup crumbled queso fresco

Directions

Before you begin: Wash your hands.

1. Heat oil in a 2-quart saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
2. Add peppers and onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add carrots, stir and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in cumin, coriander and chili powder.
3. Add tomatoes with juice. Stir in chicken and cook just until tomato juice is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. In a mixing bowl, mash beans using a potato masher or fork.
5. In a small bowl, beat egg. Stir sour cream into egg.
6. Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
7. Mist muffin tin with cooking spray.
8. Using a 2¾-inch biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out center of each tortilla.
9. Cut open the outer tortilla circles. Wrap these tortilla pieces around inside edges of muffin cups.
10. Place 1 tablespoon mashed beans on each inner tortilla circle and push into center of tins.
11. Top beans with 1 tablespoon egg-sour cream mixture and spread to edges.
12. Top with 2 tablespoons chicken mixture.
13. Using the back of a spoon, push down chicken mixture, leveling with top of muffin tin.
14. Bake for 20 minutes.
15. Let cool enough to carefully remove tortilla cups from pan.
16. Serve each cup topped with 1 tablespoon queso fresco.

Cooking Note

If you cannot find queso fresco, crumbled goat cheese may be used instead.

Nutrition Information

Serves 6
Serving size: 2 tortilla cups (170 grams)

337 calories, 14g total fat, 6g saturated fat, 81mg cholesterol, 178mg sodium, 33g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, 3g sugar, 21g protein, N/A potassium, N/A phosphorus

This recipe originally appeared in Food & Nutrition Magazine^®, published by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.