Spicy Chicken Wonton Tacos

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Wonton Tacos

Summary: A tasty alternative to mexican beef tacos.  This recipe came about because I fell in love with Applebee’s Spicy Chicken Wonton Tacos but didn’t want to spend $8.99 for 3 itty bitty tacos.  This recipe tastes just like Applebee’s and makes a lot more than 3.

UPDATE – November 2013

I met a friend for lunch at Applebee’s the other day and found something interesting about their Chicken Won Ton Tacos.  According to our server Applebee’s serves 2 different kind of won ton tacos.  1 version is similar to this recipe.  It is a chicken won ton taco topped with a spicy jalapeno Asian cabbage salad and the other is with a regular coleslaw mix topped with bbq sauce and served with lime wedges.

Our server said that Applebee’s rotates the 2 versions periodically to give customer’s a variety.   He then went on to confirm that the creamy cole slaw version used the house slaw.

The Chicken Won Ton Tacos that were served to my friend and I were topped with the regular house coleslaw.  It is very thick and creamy but not overly sweet the way Southern Cole Slaw is.  Overall it was very good but I definitely prefer the Spicy Asian Cabbage Salad mix better than the house version.

Oh, and you get 4 tacos for $8.99 now instead of 3.

Ingredients

  • 6-8 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breasts, Grilled
  • 1 Tablespoon Stir Fry Oil
  • 1 Package of Cole Slaw Mix
  • 1/4 cup diced Red Onion
  • 1 4 oz can diced jalapeños
  • 1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • Asian Vinaigrette Dressing
  • 1 package square wonton wrappers
  • 1 cup vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro
  • Limes

Instructions

  1. Shake out the bag of cole slaw mix into a bowl (but do not mix in the cole slaw dressing that comes with it) and add cilantro and dice red onion.
  2. Strain can of diced jalepenos making sure to eliminate as much of the juice as possible.
  3. Add jalepenos to cole slaw mix.
  4. Pour Asian Vinaigrette into cole slaw mix, you won’t need much. Use an amount that makes the cole slaw taste the way you want it. I use about 1/4 of a cup or less.
  5. Stir cole slaw mixture together until all ingredients are well combined and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour.
  6. marinate chicken breasts in Asian Vinaigrette for at least 1 hour while the cole slaw mix is chilling.
  7. Grill Chicken breasts and cut into small  bite sized cubes.
  8. In a preheated skillet warm up stir fry oil.
  9. When oil is hot add chicken and crushed red pepper flakes.
  10. Fry for about a minute or so until chicken is hot again (because it will have cooled while being cubed)  and coated in stir fry oil.
  11. Remove chicken from skillet and add 1 cup of vegetable oil to the pan.  Heat oil until hot enough to cause bubbles when you insert the handle of a wooden spoon into it.
  12. Place a “strip” of the cubed chicken in the center of a wonton wrapper and fold the wrapper so that it resembles a taco.
  13. Fry wonton wrapper with chicken inside for about 30 seconds or so until wonton wrapper is golden brown and crispy.
  14. Top each taco with cole slaw mix and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro.
  15. Give everyone a lime wedge to squeeze over their tacos.

Quick Notes

Everyone has their own Asian Vinaigrette that they like. For this recipe I use Tamari Sesame Gluten Free Asian Dressing.

Cooking time (duration): 30 minutes to an hour depending on your grilling skills.

Number of servings (yield): 8

Meal type: dinner, snack, lunch or hor’dourves

My rating: 5 stars: ★★★★★

Recipe by on.
Microformatting by hRecipe.

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Haphazard administration and unpredictably crazy blogging topics are the staple of Kelly's (SWL's slightly weird founder) writing career. One thing you can always be sure of is that you never know what Kelly is going to post at Suburban Wife Life next.

22 thoughts on “Spicy Chicken Wonton Tacos

  1. Thank you so much, ive had them at Applebees twice now, and loveeee them so much, i went and bought stuff i need to make them,dont have the asian sauce but i have another sauce i will try. was gonna try doing it on my own, but found ur recipe..making them tonight, cant wait!!

  2. The way you can create the shells, and then stuff, is to place the wonton shell into a saucepan of oil, and submerge with wooden spoon. The shell will naturally rise toward the spoon. Voila!

  3. Veronica, to help the wonton wrappers stay opened during the frying process I just use the tongs to hold them in place. your pan should only have a small amount of oil in the bottom so that the wrapper can lay on its side in the pan. You aren’t trying to deep fry them but rather fry them on one side, flip and then fry the other side. I didn’t have any problem keeping the chicken inside the wrappers with this method. I think if you do try to deep fry them the chicken will fall out of the wrapper since there’s nothing holding it closed. I don’t think I would try to deep fry them because then the chicken will get deep fried too and the wrapper will be closed and you wouldn’t be able to top it with the slaw mixture.

  4. My boyfriend and I made these last night. We also found the chicken to be bland and thought maybe some salt and pepper next time would do the trick. The only thing we struggled with was frying them. It was hard to keep them open and keep the chicken inside. Thought about maybe shredding the chicken and also thought about maybe throwing them in a deep fryer really quick. Any thoughts on that?

  5. I love that so many people have their own way of making these. i haven’t made these in a while. I need to find a gluten-free version.

    Scott, Tasha and Jenny (both jennys) I’ve tasted the pork ones even though I tend to gravitate towards chicken but you all may have convinced me to try the pork version.

    Thanks for reading and sharing!

  6. I made pork ones tonight and they turned out as delicious as the Applebee’s originals. I used rather lean pork and put it in the crock pot along with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, chili powder and a bit of cumin, a cup and a half or so chicken stock, about a quarter cup brown sugar, and a quarter cup or so of apple cider vinegar. I cooked this for 5 hours or so until the meat easily shredded with two forks. I then removed all but a quarter cup or so of the liquid and continued to shred the pork to a medium fine shred. I added in a 12 oz bottle of Korean Barbecue sauce and almost that much KC Masterpiece original and let it set on warm for a half hour or so to soak in. Fry the won tons folded in a triangle to hold the fillings. Fill with pork and garnish with shredded carrot, shredded cabbage, finely diced red onion, and coarse chopped cilantro. Squeeze a lime quarter on it and enjoy.
    My wife loves the ones at Applebee’s and said that mine were honestly just as good. I hope yours are too. Scott

  7. I seasoned and cooked a pork tenderloin in the crock pot and used that instead of chicken with a fresh made dressing instead of bottled. Most had too much sugar and sodium. It was great on top of the pulled pork and the tenderloin was simple (seasoning and a little broth cooked for about 5 hours on low and 2 hours on high). The slaw without all the mayo dressing was really nice.

  8. Hi Jenny. No I can’t say that I’ve ever tried to make the pork ones. I’m not sure if the seasoning would be the same or not. If you do try it come back and let us know how it goes.

  9. Just wondering if you’ve ever tried to make them with pork? And if so how would I go about doing that? I’m new to this whole cooking thing, but i’m enjoying it so much! 🙂

  10. Mandy they do turn out ok in the oven, although they are a tad bit different. Not alot different mind you, just a tiny lit bit. They are still crispy and crunchy. When you bake them make sure you spread the chicken around the edges so they don’t bake shut.

  11. I’m so glad you all enjoyed them. I haven’t made them for a while. Now I’m going to have to make up a batch. lol

  12. We had these for an appitizer at Applebee’s last night and LOVED them! My husband wanted me to make them today, so I went out and got everything. They came out FABULOUS! I did modify the recipe a bit, and marinated the chicken in the Asian dressing for the hour that the coleslaw was marinating. I also found them VERY spicy, but I couldn’t stop eating them…they were THAT good! Next time, I will cut back on the red pepper (I eliminated the jalepeno’s from my version)…but they were FANTASTIC! My hubby was SUPER happy! Thanks for the recipe!

  13. Tiffany, Basically you just have to use tongs to hold the top open a little bit. I made them a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t feel like dealing with a pan full of oil so I brushed the wonton wrappers with oil and baked them. The way I kept the top from closing up entirely was to spread the chicken around the edges, as well as in the middle, to keep the wrappers propped up a bit. I hope that helps. If you need more explanation let me know and I’ll see if I can explain it a bit more.

  14. How do you make the “taco” shells? It doesn’t seem to be that easy to just put a piece of chicken in the middle. How do you keep the top from sticking? Looking forward to making this, I love the ones from applebees!

  15. I did it! I never cook and they turned out fabulous. My husband likes them better than Applebee’s. I loved them but I felt the chicken could have had more flavor. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  16. Tzrobers, how exactly did it turn into a disaster? Can you be a little more descriptive. I make these all the time, maybe I can help you figure out what went wrong.

  17. I tried your receipe on Mother’s Day, after having enjoyed it at Applebees the night before. It was a disaster, looks nothing like your picture. Sorry tzr

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