Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
These southwest crispy chicken wraps are delicious, easy to make, and so versatile! It’s no surprise they’ve been on our steady meal rotation for many years!
Considering these southwest crispy chicken wraps have been pinned nearly 2 million times (!!), I’d say the recipe is definitely worthy of your attention.
Well, actually, can I take that back?
I can give several pretty riveting personal testimonials about how recipes that have been pinned millions of times turned out with disastrous results for me.
Talk about a bad mood inducer.
So while hopefully we can agree that Pinterest alone may not be our best parameter for judging a successful outcome, I promise that in this case, these crispy chicken wraps really do live up to their pinned fame.
You can read hundreds of comments below if you don’t believe me.
Taken after the model of these delicious wraps, I threw these together for dinner one night nearly three years ago in a frantic attempt to feed my hungry family and use ingredients I already had on hand.
And the result was such a smashing success that we’ve continued to enjoy this recipe at least monthly since.
That’s saying a lot coming from the girl who doesn’t repeat many meals.
These crispy chicken wraps have been a staple this summer, in particular.
Thanks to the insane craziness that has been summer thus far (kind of funny since I think we “go” less than most people, but man, I feel busy), I’ve been calling on all my favorite quick and easy meals to save us.
At least once a week since June, we’ve made some variation of these wraps for dinner.
And by we, I mean my kids. Bless them.
They have become quite proficient at throwing together ingredients in the fridge for any number of crispy wrap variations.
Most super delicious, at least one slightly questionable, and all of them eaten with an open mind and heart (better that than going hungry).
Great for an on the go dinner, these crispy southwest chicken wraps can be made in less than 30 minutes, and they are infinitely adaptable.
No cooked chicken on hand? Make ’em meatless.
Forgot to cook or save leftover rice? Leave it out (less carbs that way anyway!) or use cooked quinoa (yum!).
Not a fan of cumin, cheese, black beans, bell peppers, life, humanity and food in general?
Well, by all means, make your own filling with whatever you have on hand and with whatever flavors tickle your fancy.
You really can’t go wrong here.
Um, actually, I should never use that as a disclaimer. I have a feeling I’ll get a comment saying I basically endorsed using marinated seaweed and bananas and for some reason the crispy wrap turned out soggy and nasty.
So use the versatility option with a little common sense and caution, ok?
If you haven’t let these crispy southwest chicken wraps be part of your life, what are you waiting for?
What to Serve With This
- Fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables
- Mexican Corn and Tomato Salad
Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt or garlic powder
- 1-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (or other leftover meat, like shredded pork or beef)
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
- ½ red or green bell pepper, diced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime, about a tablespoon
- 2 cups shredded cheese, I use a combination of Monterey jack and sharp cheddar
- Sour cream, optional
- 6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Optional toppings:, sour cream, salsa, etc.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the rice, chili powder, cumin and garlic salt (or garlic powder). Stir to combine.
- To the bowl, add the chicken, black beans, green onions, bell peppers, cilantro, and lime juice. Mix. Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
- Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla.
- Optional: I like to dollop little spoonfuls of sour cream over the cheese before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it makes the wraps delightfully creamy.
- Fold one side of the tortilla over the filling, followed by the other side. Press lightly to flatten.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute (about 350 degrees on my electric griddle).
- Spray seam side of wraps with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange wraps, seam-side down (cooking this side first will help them not fall apart), in the pan or griddle and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-4 minutes.
- Spray the top with nonstick cooking spray and flip. Cook for another 2-4 minutes until golden and the filling is hot.
- Serve with sour cream, salsa, or other toppings of your choice!
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: original recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally published Sept 2009, updated with new pictures, recipe notes, etc.
We loved these! This is the first recipe I have tried of yours and now you’re in my feed reader 🙂 Thanks! The options for the filling are endless. I think we’ll be using this wrap technique for all sorts of things (breakfast wraps w/scrambled eggs & cheese inside? yum).
I sauteed the green peppers and onions first to soften them and then added the rest of the filling ingredients to the skillet to warm them up (before assembling the wraps).
I seriously did a dance and did some moves that I never knew I had after I took a bite of this wrap..I may or may not have had 3 of these wraps in 1 day(5 hours)! 🙂 Delicious!!
I’ve been wanting to make these for awhile since they are so highly “pinned.” My son was visiting from college and we made these for a quick dinner one night since I had both leftover brown rice and rotisserie chicken sitting in the fridge. I wasn’t really expecting much but boy were they delicious. The best wrap/burrito thing I have ever made. I really think it’s the preparation method and plan to improvise ingredients such as using refried beans and avocado. I can see how the variations are endless. My son loved them so much he wanted to learn how to make them and brought the recipe back to school with him.
I made these and the whole family really liked them – I was surprised at how much!
yum! I’ve tried so many recipes on your blog, but the name and picture of this one didn’t really grab me/seem like something all the different. But today when I saw it under the “Most Pinned” recipes I figured I’d check it out. I had all the ingredients on hand and WOW was it delicious! All my kids ate it. I was so excited I called my sister and told her she had to try it. Thanks for another great recipe that will now become a regular.
First, do understand that I almost NEVER comment on blogs, or recipe sites, or whatnot; however, I do follow your blog and find many of your recipes to be amazingly good, and I’m a big fan. That being said, I tried these southwest chicken wraps only because they were the “‘most pinned’ on your site, and when a recipe has nearly 1.5 million pins, I sit up and take notice. They are truly amazing! My husband loves them, they are relatively healthy and quick. They’ll be regulars on my menu, too! Thanks so much
I just have to say that I made these recently and they are AMAZING!!! My family inhaled them! Huge hit around here!! Speaking of which, I think I need to make them again….
Just made your Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps tonight. AWESOME! Great flavor. This will be a regular to my menu for sure. Thanks!
I made this last night for my family and it was amazing! The only changes I made were that I used yellow rice and I mixed the shredded cheese with sour cream and spread it on the tortilla. SO good! Thanks for the recipe! I can’t wait to make it again!
going to make these tonite but in a taco style with avacado cant wait to try them
I love when I have a Pinterest “success”!! These were great! Thanks for the recipe!
We made these today and they were a total hit! My husband raved about them. 🙂 Our mods – I added corn and canned diced chilies but omitted the green onion and bell pepper. I also used half chili powder and half chipotle chili powder. Instead of making wraps, we just made regular burritos. This dish will most certainly be a part of our regular rotation now. Thanks, Mel!
These were a great twist on a burrito/cafe rio type dish! We just thought that there was too much lime. Excited to try again with less.
So happy to have stumbled on this site. Made this for dinner and everyone loved it. Can’t wait to play around with this recipe and dress it up. Thanks Mel!
I think I have everything to make these….except tortillas. But I DO have some wonton wrappers that need to be used up soon…. Think I’ll use them to make this into little turnovers for football watching!!
We love these! Next time I will use my foreman grill instead of frying pan and will add jalapenos to my husbands…..and maybe try them w beef too! Love this recipe!
I have made several of your recipes in the last couple months. Last night I made these crispy chicken wraps. My oldest declared these the best of the new recipes I have tried. He ate the leftovers for breakfast this morning!
These look wonderful. Do you have the nutritional info on them please?
ZingL6 – please check out the FAQ page about the nutritional info. Thanks!
I was wondering what you thought about subbing quinoa for the rice?
Hi Darlene – I think it’s a great idea – kind of wish I would have thought of it myself! 🙂
Came across these about 6 months ago and have had them at least 6 times. We love them!
Had these pinned for the longest time and finally made them this evening! Another delish recipe – I seriously have NEVER been unhappy with anything from your site! Thanks for being my #1 online cookbook! 🙂
Found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I’d give it a try tonight. SO glad I did! They are SO yummy and huge hit with my hubby and my 15 month old loved the filling. I did do a few substitutions, quinoa instead of rice, Greek yogurt instead of sour creme, and then since my hubby sadly hates cilantro and I hate peppers, I left those out but added green chilies and chunks of avocado. And I think next time (there will definitely be a next time!), I’ll add corn and black olives! Thank you for this super yummy recipe!
We made these last night! They were sooooooooooooooooooo good! We loved them a lot! They will become a regular on our menu, especially in the summer where we won’t need to turn the oven on! I even froze some extra rice so I can whip them up faster (without planning much) next time. Thanks for the yuminess!
I made these for dinner last night and they were great! I used leftover rotisserie chicken from Costco and added the cheese into the chicken/rice/bean mixture (by mistake) and it turned out wonderful. Thanks so much for this recipe!
oh hello. I rarely comment anywhere but I want to tell you, I love trying new recipes, and I love recipe blogs, but yours is always the first one I come to. And most days, the only one I come to. My kids know you by name; I regularly make your haystacks, lemon garlic grilled chicken, sweet and sour chicken, beef stroganoff, southwest chicken wraps, and kale salad, pea/ pesto pasta salad, and I know there are more I’m forgetting. But. These last couple weeks we made your chicken pillows (with the cornmeal crescent rolls)–HOLY MOLY., 30 second turtle cookies, crispy chicken wraps, the taco salad with catalina dressing, greek pastiito, and I always use your method for ‘simple shredded chicken.’ Tomorrow I’m making your mexican lasagna. You are my hero!
You threw together in a frantic attempt to feed your family? With these ingredients, this is literally the only option. Cilantro lasts only a couple days if still considered fresh, so I call bullocks on this being a last minute “throw together”. If you had not purchased the tortillas and cilantro sepcifically to do some sort of mexican dish I would agree, but you don’t just have a full package of tortillas sitting around randomly. those were purchased sepcifically for making these or something very similar.
I grow Cilantro in my garden and always have tortillas on hand, we use them for everything in our house, wraps, quesadillas, pizzas and more
and just because she had them in her pantry/fridge doesn’t mean she wasn’t busy all day and made a quick throw together that she hasn’t made before!
You have no clue what this woman does with her days or time so your negativity is far from needed, instead of rude comments just move on
Haha. I was laughing over here because she said you wouldn’t have tortillas on hand unless you had specific purpose for them. THinking about it, I have 4 kinds of tortillas in our fridge. Just because. And Cilantro. Because my mom puts in in like.. everything. Everything on here, we usually have on hand for other meals. 🙂 I ADORE this recipe. My husband and I use it alllll the time. Our daughter loves it too. She was a a year old when we started using it. I actually put the spices into the rice so it makes mexican rice in the rice cooker. Can also make the spices into a mix. I add a can of corn for an extra veggie and extra yumminess.(We named them Squaritos in our house… 😀 )
I certainly have large tortillas in my fridge at all times.
I also ALWAYS have tortillas on hand, and how is this literally the only option? Seems like this is being rude just to be rude
I would disagree. I always have two kinds of tortillas in my pantry or freezer. I have two boys and a husband who love snacks. Tortillas with pb and honey or a meIted string cheese are easy after school or after work snacks they can do on their own. I wouldn’t be so quick to assume anything about someone else’s kitchen if I were you.
Yet, people who actually shop for the essentials always keep last minute additions handy. Here is a hint for ya ASDF, I freeze tortillas. Thaw the corn ones out, cut them into triangles and fry them. Chips and salsa or nachos. Do the same with flour make flautas. In a Mexican house, bean rice and tortilla are like water and milk. Guess what. I’m about to make this recipe and don’t need to leave my house AT ALL! Ha, maybe your the one who needs to be more prepared for just about anything!
I have all these ingredients on hand all the time…it’s called a well stocked pantry. You should try it!~
good grief that was mean
I cook with cilantro a lot and use tortillas in place of bread on many occassions, so it would not be surprising to find these items in my kitchen. Don’t be so quick to assume that she wouldn’t have these items. Just because you don’t use them regularly, doesn’t mean that others don’t as well.
I haven’t tried this recipe and I literally have everything on hand. For many reasons. We love mexican food, and I buy all these ingredients regularly. Especially tortillas. I have 2 toddlers. We wouldn’t survive more than a couple of days without tortillas for quesadillas.
Why would you post this??
When I buy cilantro, I cut off the bottoms of the bunch and put the bunch in a mason jar with water at the bottom. It keeps the cilantro fresh for days!
These were fantastic! Thanks!
These were great, just made them for lunch. So tasty and I will definitely use the recipe again. Thanks:)
Oh. My. Word. These were delicious!! My husband made an audible “Mmmmmm!” the second he bit into them. I don’t have a meal rotation yet, but these will definitely make me start one! Have already shared the recipe with everyone I know. Thanks for all of your lovely recipes–all of them have been a success!
These were really yummy. Loved the little bit of crispiness, and the blend of flavors with sour cream cooked right in there was superb. Will make these over and over, without a doubt.
Mel, I just tried these and LOVED them! Seriously awesome and hearty enough to satisfy my hungry husband and my picky kids! Thanks
Does anyone know how much calories one wrap has?
These are fantastic! Thanks. Making them again tonight, a new family favorite here! My sand loves anything burrito adjacent!
This recipe is going to go over well with the entire family. I love the simplicity of the recipes you provide and most are just delicious! Thank you very much for what you do here.
I make these, minus the meat, for meatless Monday. Serve with a guacamole salad and you have a perfect dinner with lots of flavor. So easy to adjust the recipe for just 2. Definitely a favorite!
I have made these a few times and absolutely LOVE them. The crispiness really makes everything extra delicious! I found the recipe on pinterest and wrote about it on my blog.
http://whynotgiveitatry.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/crispy-chicken-burritos/
Just made these for dinner tonight. Very easy and only dirtied one bowl with precooked rice from the freezer and leaving out the chicken (trying to find more meatless meals for our rotation). Also added chopped tomato as some others suggested, left out scallions and cilantro ’cause we didn’t have any on hand. Used a little extra rice as my family doesn’t always love beans but DOES love rice.
Verdict – super! Hubby and I both loved them. We made 4 big burrito size and 4 smaller soft taco size (for my 2 year old and for snacking). Used the sour cream inside and definitely would again. Amazing how much flavor just the lime juice and a few simple spices produced. The only thing I would do to make them even faster next time is just mix the cheese into the filling — it would save me a few minutes of assembly time and I think would turn out equally cheesey delicious.
Thanks for a great recipe! With a toddler and another due in just a few weeks I’m finding I really have to change how (and what) I cook. No more hours of cooking for one dinner – we need quick, easy, healthy (and preferably inexpensive), and tasty. This one did it all!
Made these tonight with leftover Cafe Rio style shredded pork. Yummy! I used uncooked tortillas. I cooked one side, then removed it from the pan and stuffed it cooked side up-rolled it up, then put back on the stove and flipped occasionally to cook all sides. I even folded the ends and cooked the ends so they stayed closed so when you crunched into it it revealed a warm, soft, delicious inside.
Made these tonight and my family devoured them, even my picky 7 year old! It seems like the majority of my supper ideas are coming from you these days!
do you really never repeat recipes?? so jealous of your kids right now, my mom cooks the same thing over and over again, she only has like 10 recipes that she keeps making and they are all the same to me :””( forever jealous .
A friend brought me these for dinner after having my baby and we LOVED them! The only thing she did differently is that she omitted the green onion and green pepper and put in a can of green chilies.They were great! Thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Hello Mel,
I don’t know if this was asked before but if I made these on a Sunday could I use them throughout the week for lunches if I just put them in a container in the fridge?
Thank-you
Hi Jennifer – that’s really up to you. They taste best fresh, in my opinion, but if you are fine with heating up leftovers, I think it would work ok.
Just finished these! They are so amazing! I subbed out chiles for bell peppers and used a chipotle sour cream inside. SO GOOD! Thanks for the idea!
Looking forward to trying this one a night when I need something easy. Looks great!
These were so good. My family loved them and wants me to make sure I saved the recipe! They were so easy which was very nice. Thank you for sharing this! I added some corn and some salsa and used lemon because I didn’t have lime. I used the uncle bens 90 second rice pouch which made it even easier. Great recipe!!!
I just made these tonight and they turned out really yummy. I didn’t have fresh cilantro, so I used dried (would be better with fresh) and I used taco bell southwest ranch sauce because I didn’t have sour cream. Only thing I would do differently is I would cut back on the cumin a bit. This makes a TON of the mixture. I used fajita size (smaller than burrito size) wraps and two were more than enough for one person and I could probably make 4-6 more.
I will be using the remaining of the mixture and turn it into soup. I am thinking a can of rotel and a few cups of chicken broth.
Cassie, I have made these exactly as written for freezer meals. I did not grill them prior to freezing. I wrapped them with saran wrap individually and put them in a freezer bag. Instructions to go with the meal start at spraying with cooking spray after thawing. Just be sure there isn’t any water left in the rice or beans. It should not be soupy.
This looks awesome! Do you have any freezer meal tips for this recipe?
Cassie – I don’t but I know several commenters have frozen them so look through the comment thread for details.
These worked out great, even though I was missing a few ingredients (cilantro, lime and green onion) and still were a hit! I used leftover beef that I cooked in the crockpot earlier in the week, a partial pepper, rice I had frozen from a previous meal and leftover tortillas. I love how leftover night took on a life of its own. Thanks, Mel!
This is very easy to make. We won’t comment on the taste until we eat them! 😉