I spotted a box of Don Lee Farms Crispy Shredded Chicken Tacos in the freezer section of Costco and decided to give them a try.
The quick review is, “The tacos are okay but not amazing. I doubt I would buy them again.”
Cooking Instructions
There are three sets of cooking instructions provided for the tacos:
- Air Fryer
- Oven
- Stovetop
Oven Heating Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F
- Remove two tacos from their plastic wrapper and place on a baking sheet
- Bake the tacos for 20-25 minutes
Stovetop Heating Instructions
- Coat pan with oil
- Remove two tacos from their plastic wrap and place in pan
- Heat on Medium for 2-3 minutes flipping often
Air Fryer Instructions
- Remove two tacos from their plastic wrap and place evenly in your air fryer.
- Heat at 375F for 6 minutes
When we cooked these in our air fryer we had to modify the instructions as they were not ready after six minutes. We heated at 375F for 6 minutes, flipped them over and heated for another 6 minutes at 375F.
Don Lee Farms Chicken Tacos
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 Don Lee Farms Frozen Tacos 2 tacos per serving
- 1/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 cup Salsa
- 1/4 cup Guacamole
Instructions
- Remove two tacos from their plastic wrap and place in the air fryer.
- Heat the tacos at 375F for 6 minutes.
- Flip the tacos over and heat at 375F for 6 more minutes.
- Remove the tacos from the air fryer and serve with sour cream, salsa and guacamole.
Taste Test!
We cooked one batch of tacos by the stovetop directions and another with our Ninja Foodi Air Fryer. We put the tacos side by side and the ones from the air fryer (left side) came out much better than the ones from the stovetop (right side).
The tacos from the air fryer were crisper and less greasy than the ones from the stovetop.
That being said, neither set of tacos really came out that crispy. We were able to get some crunch along the edges but the middle of the tortillas stayed pretty soggy. The crunch level on these tacos is well below what we got with the San Miguel Mini Tacos from Costco and was disappointing for a product with “Crispy” in its name.
The filling in the taco seemed to be about 50% shredded chicken and 50% American cheese. The combination wasn’t bad but I really wasn’t expecting so much cheese especially since it isn’t mentioned on the front of the package.
We served the tacos with some sour cream, guacamole and salsa. I wish we had a bottle of Don Pancho Cilantro Lime Crema to use when we had these tacos but the product is seasonal at Costco and wasn’t in stock.
We ended up eating all four tacos but we weren’t excited by the meal.
Calories and Nutrition
Two tacos are considered a single serving and have the following calories and nutritional information:
- Calories: 260
- Fat: 12g (15% DV)
- Cholesterol: 40mg (13% DV)
- Sodium: 510mg (22% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 23g (8% DV)
- Protein: 14g
These tacos are labeled as Gluten Free.
Costco Value
I bought the 16 pack of frozen Don Lee Farms tacos for $13.99 which works out to a cost of $0.87 per taco.
This is about the same cost of Costco’s Street Taco Kit which I feel is a higher quality product. An even better choice would be the Costco Chicken Quesadillas that you can get super crispy with a cast iron skillet and have a LOT more chicken.
If you need a gluten free product then the Don Lee Tacos are acceptable. If gluten isn’t important to you then you might want to go with the Don Miguel Mini Tacos or Costco’s Street Taco kit.
costco doesnt have these anymore. where can i buy more? i thought these are delicious!
They were great. We love them and told our kids about the tacos and now we all enjoy them. Costco does not sell them anymore. I cant find them anywhere. Typical Costco when you like it they will no longer sell it.
Great go to quick dinner
We used to buy the old brand of mini tacos Costco had before they discontinued them and replaced them with Don Lee Farms tacos. We love the old version. When Don Lee Farms came out instead they were the larger ones and we thought they were a disgusting oily mess. All the oil gave the shells a hard yet odd chewy texture (we did follow box instructions so it wasn’t a user error). I was so glad to see them finally disappear a month or so ago. Hilarious thing is I forgot the Don Lee Farms brand name so when a new variety pack of mini tacos came out my family and I were trying to remember if it was the same brand we hated. We couldn’t remember and bought them and sure enough they were the same oily mess (we had to wash the oil off our fingers even after taking them frozen out of the bag to put on the pan). How anyone can like these is beyond me. Some forms have said they remind them of Jack In The Box tacos but I’ve never had those. I’ve just been curious to see if others hated them as much as we did or if we’re just crazy… We’ll stick to the Jose Ole mini tacos or the ones Sam’s Clubs sells (forgot the brand) in their refrigerated section.