Chicken Chorizo Taco Cups

Chicken Chorizo Taco Cups have a baked, crispy flour tortilla loaded with spicy chicken and topped with your favorite veggies.

It’s almost time to hear that familiar question on our TV screens, “Are you ready for some football?!”

Even if the answer to that is ‘no’, the answer is ‘yes’ to, “Are you ready for some great food?!”

Football season is right around the corner which means it’s time to pull out some of my favorite seasonal recipes perfect for tailgating, pot lucks and Fall get togethers.

And we are kicking football season off with a brand new recipe called Chicken Chorizo Taco Cups.

Now, I enjoy watching football but I do not have an unwavering, deep-to-the-core passion about the sport. I don’t know most of the players names, but I always feel bad when one of them gets hurt. I love listening to whomever sings the Star Spangled Banner before the beginning of each game. I love watching the players who are big and tough and weigh 200 lbs in pure muscle, get a little choked up when the Star Spangled Banner plays.

My husband is a die hard San Franciso 49ers fan, and I am a Washington Redskins fan. They may not have won a Super Bowl since 1991 but I love them anyways.

The main reason I love football season is because even if you don’t like the sport, who doesn’t love great food and hanging out with people that you love?

We enjoy hosting football get togethers at our house and making a huge spread of delicious munchies for all to enjoy.

Football, family, friends and food. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I also love the excitement of football season because everyone who is there, whether it’s for the game or for the food, is there to have fun. Everyone gets along and there’s no drama. Only smiles, laughter and a good time. Unless, of course, my husband is yelling at the tv screen at the 49ers.

Enough about football. Let’s talk about the good stuff. The food! If it is just me, Chris and the kids, we will make a much smaller spread for game time munchies. We always incorporate a veggie or fruit tray to get some healthiness in there, especially for the kids.  But then the fun part begins. Sometimes, we grill wings, hamburgers and hotdogs, or smoke a BBQ and some ribs. Other weeks we make sausage and peppers, and oh man, are they so good.

Other times, we make small finger foods like pigs in a blanket, spicy hamburger cheese dip or chicken chorizo taco cups. The possibilities of tasty, lip smacking, finger-lickin’ food combinations are endless. And delicious.

They are endlessly delicious.

Chicken chorizo taco cups are not only easy to assemble and make, but they are really fun, too. I think that way about most appetizers and finger foods though, because they are so tiny and so cute to make. They plate nicely and look aesthetically pleasing when preparing a spread of food.

To make the chicken chorizo taco cups, we first start by prepping the cups for filling. Using a pack of burrito size flour tortillas, trim off the edges of the tortilla so you end up with a large, squared shape tortilla.

A pizza cutter or small kitchen knife works great for this. Once you have the edges of the tortilla trimmed down to the shape of a large square, cut the tortilla evenly in half in width as well as in length. This should result in four mini squares.

Place the mini tortilla squares on a paper plate and microwave for 10 seconds. This will help the tortilla be more pliable and not tear when forming them into the empty muffin pan.

Using a mini muffin pan, place the tortilla pieces into each of the empty muffin spaces. Use your fingers to gently form them into the cavity. Make sure you press the tortilla gently against the muffin base to make a nice, deep pocket.

This process moves along pretty fast, but the tortilla can tear if you are a bit rough or go too fast so take your time. Bake the taco cups for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees in your oven. Once they are golden brown on the edges, they should be crispy and flaky.

From there, bake 1 lb. of chicken breasts in the oven or cook on the stove top until throughly cooked and juices run clear. After the chicken cools enough to work with your hands, mince the chicken up into tiny, bite sized pieces. This is for an appetizer, so the smaller the pieces of chicken are, the better. Place all the chicken into a large bowl and add the spicy chicken chorizo seasoning and two tablespoons of water. Mix well together.

Using a regular sized spoon, scoop one spoonful of chicken mixture into each taco cup. Top with your favorite toppings. In the pictures above, I used lettuce, shredded cheese, tomatoes, green onions and sour cream. You can swap these out or add salsa, black olives, seasoned corn and/or guacamole. The flavor combination of the toppings are endless.