Easy Chicken Taco Pinwheels
These Easy Chicken Taco Pinwheels are consummate party food. They’re ideal for serving as an appetizer, for between meal snacking or make-ahead holiday and game day starters.
Easy Chicken Taco Pinwheels Recipe
When it comes to finger foods, my family flips for these pinwheels as a casual meal or weekend grazing. This recipe is one more way to use those beloved Costco rotisserie chickens that seem to always find their way into my cart. They’re so simple to turn into a variety of dishes to enjoy. Whether we’re in the mood for white chicken enchiladas or barbecue chicken french bread pizza, those chickens can be a lifesaver for busy day meals. It works like a charm for these handheld snacks, too. How to make simple Chicken Taco Pinwheels with tortillas:
- Chicken – Fully cooked rotisserie chicken or roasted chicken.
- Filling – Two blocks of plain cream cheese and sour cream.
- Salsa – Use a thick salsa or picante sauce. This can be mild, medium or hot, go with your preference.
- Seasonings – Taco seasoning, salt, granulated garlic or garlic powder and lemon pepper.
- Cheese – Shredded sharp cheddar cheese or colby jack cheese. You could also use pepper jack cheese.
- Mix-ins – Green onions and cilantro.
- Tortillas – Extra large burrito size flour tortillas.
- Accompaniments – Salsa, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole.
How to Make the Best Chicken Taco Pinwheels Recipe
- Ingredients you’ll need to make Chicken Taco Pinwheels recipe: Chopped fully cooked rotisserie chicken, plain cream cheese, salsa or picante sauce, taco seasoning, sour cream, salt, granulated garlic, lemon pepper. shredded colby jack or pepper jack cheese, cilantro, green onions and burrito size flour tortillas.
- Kitchen tools you’ll need: Medium bowl, hand mixer, sharp knife and cutting board, measuring cups and spoons, a large rubber spatula or spoon for stirring, cheese grater, plastic wrap, offset icing spatula or knife for spreading the filling onto the tortillas.
- I highly recommend that you start with a quality 10 inch or larger burrito-size wrap. A lesser quality tortilla will crack and split when rolling. Use a trusted brand or homemade, for the best result.
- When whipping the cream cheese, continue to beat until the cream cheese has fully combined with the other ingredients and no lumps remain.
- I use rotisserie chicken for this recipe but please note that you can use leftover baked chicken, grilled chicken or poached chicken, if you prefer.
- It’s very important to allow ample time for the filled tortillas to chill in the refrigerator before attempting to slice them into rounds. You can also place them into the freezer for 10-15 minutes prior to slicing to help the pinwheels maintain their shape.
- When slicing, use a super sharp knife and reshape as needed so the pinwheels will all be uniform in size. Avoid using a sawing motion. It’s helpful to do this in advance and arrange the pinwheels on a serving platter then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until serving.
- I highly recommend serving these with a side of homemade guacamole or pico de gallo.
- Prepared chicken taco pinwheels can be made one day in advance and placed into an airtight container. If sliced, stack with wax paper between layers to prevent sticking.
- Store leftover chicken pinwheels for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Separate with wax paper if stacking to prevent them from sticking together.
More Southern Style Pinwheel Recipes to Make
There’s something about pinwheels that everyone loves to eat. You can begin with tortilla wraps as in this recipe, using crescent rolls, pizza dough and more. A few more pinwheels recipes you may like to try:
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels feature that triple threat flavor combination that you’ll love.
- Bacon Spinach Crescent Pinwheels can be served as an appetizer, at tea time or for brunch.
- Cheesy Sausage Biscuit Pinwheels are made with homemade biscuit dough.
- Sundried Tomato Fontina Puff Pinwheels are made with frozen puff pastry making assembling a cinch.
- You may also enjoy this recipe for Italian Pinwheels from Tornadough Ali.
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Helpful Kitchen Items:
Easy Chicken Taco Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 2 8 oz blocks cream cheese softened
- 2/3 cup thick salsa or picante sauce (Use mild, medium or hot, your preference)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp lemon pepper
- 2-3 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- 6 extra large burrito size tortillas
- salsa, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole for serving optional
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer on medium-high whip together the cream cheese, salsa, sour cream, taco seasoning, salt, garlic and lemon pepper until fully blended.
- To the bowl add chicken, cheese, green onion and cilantro. Mix well by hand.
- Divide the mixture evenly among tortillas leaving a 1/2 inch order all around. Roll from the widest side ending seam side down. Shape firmly by hand.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours or overnight.
- To serve: Use a sharp knife to slice each tortilla into 8 even pinwheels. (Yield may vary depending on how you slice the tortillas)
- May serve with a side of salsa, guacamole or pico de gallo, if desired.
i am going to try them could you do them with crap meat or shrimp
You probably could adapt this recipe, sure.
I’m fixing these for our next football Sunday snack.
This recipe is great!!! Last week I tripled the recipe and ended up with 260 pinwheels!!! Even with tripling the recipe, it still was easy to get everything mixed together. I left out the cilantro, just because I don’t care for it!!! There were no left overs!!! This is a great, easy recipe!!!
Wow, that’s a lot of pinwheels, thank you!
Do you think I could use turkey breast instead of chicken? Thank you!
Sure!
Family favorite!
I’m so happy to hear it, thanks!
This is a great recipe. Perfect make ahead. I used rotisserie breast meat… no other changes . Rave reviews
Thank you!
Do you have to use sour cream in when mixing the ingredients together? I have several family members that don’t like sour cream.
You may be able to replace it with unflavored greek yogurt or crema. Otherwise, it does add to the creaminess of the filling.
Can I substitute can chicken for chicken breast
You could, sure.
Can these be frozen?
Hi Suzanne, it’s a great question. I typically make these and serve them. While they do fine in the fridge for make-ahead assembly, I’m not sure they would do well when frozen. If you try it, let us know how it goes.
This is delicious and I’ll be making again! I used the garlic salt, but will use garlic powder instead next time. Pretty salty and I’m a saltaholic!
Salt is subjective, you can always adjust to your taste. I highly recommend not omitting the salt in any recipe, unless you have health issues, of course.
Can you tell me what wraps will not get soggy or dry tasting? 🙂
I typically use whatever is on sale. La Banderita, Mission or Chi Chi’s usually all perform well.
Looks really good but where is a link to a printable recipe. Thank you
In the recipe template.
I wanted to try to bring these to a softball tournament for quick snacks for the kids. Do these need to be refrigerated or can they be kept cold in a cooler?
Make sure you have them chilled thoroughly, before transporting. They will be fine in a cooler packed with ice.
In the pic the chicken looks shredded , but in recipe it says chopped , plz help
I think shredded would work better
I wanted to ask u bout the pic and recipe plz let me know ASAP as I want to make these
Thank You
Betty
The picture is showing roughly chopped chicken. Either way is fine, you can do whatever you prefer.
Your recipes are absolutely great! Thank you so much for sharing them!
Thank you so much!
Do you have a vegetarian recipe for these or something very similar. My granddaughter is vegetarian and it’s always difficult to cook two different meals I’d like something that I can alter the ingredients. Thank you for your wonderful recipes
You could likely adapt this omitting the chicken.