Chicken Flautas

Ready for an easy dinner with lots of flavor? Chicken Flautas are the answer!

I love Mexican food, mostly I love spice so I guess I should rephrase that, I love food with lots of flavor.

When I think of Mexican food sometimes it all feels the same or if you are in places like Minnesota or the Northeast coast, you will not get a lot of flavor, you get a sad variation of Mexican food with tomato sauce not salsa.

How do you make a burrito? Tortilla, beans, cheese, meat.

How do you make a taco? Tortilla, meat, beans, cheese, token lettuce and some olives or tomato.

How do you make a tostada? Fried tortilla, beans, meat, cheese, token lettuce, olives, tomato/salsa.

But for me, Mexican food is all about the flavors melding together to create something super tasty.

And one of my favorites are chicken flautas. They are pretty easy to make and have lots of good flavor if made right.

So here you go, my favorite chicken flauta recipe.

Ingredients

Flauta ingredients:

3-4 breasts of roasted chicken cooked, shredded
2 tsp. of cumin
1 tsp. garlic
1 small can of medium spice green chilis
1 small yellow onion diced
1 cup of medium to hot salsa (our favorite brand from the store is Fresh Cravings Salsa Restaurant Style Medium Crave)
2-3 cups of Pepper Jack shredded cheese
10-12 Small Flour tortillas soft taco size (this is the difference between flautas and taquitos – taquitos generally use corn tortillas – plus the size when rolled – LaLa’s tortillas are the closest we have found to authentic)
Some olive oil or butter for lightly brushing on tortillas once rolled
Large sheet pan for baking (frying takes too long!)
Parchment paper

Toppings:

Sour Cream
Guacamole
Cilantro (if desired)
More Salsa!

Makes 10-14 flautas depending on how full you fill them. Serves 6-8 people.

Instructions:

Cook chicken in a crockpot with spices until meat literally falls apart. Usually 4 hours for us, but really depends on your crockpot.

Shred meat and add any additional seasoning back in you desire. Be sure to drain excess broth off the chicken before making the flautas though.

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

In large sauce pan put 1-2 tbs. of olive oil and cook on medium heat diced onion until it is see through in coloring. Add in garlic, cumin and green chilis. Then add salsa and shredded chicken to warm slightly and mix together.

Once nicely mixed remove from heat.

Start Constructing:

Take a tortilla and put 1/2 cup of the meat mixture down the middle of the tortilla, then add cheese to taste on top of that. Then tightly roll. These will be thicker than a taquito by double or more. That is how they were meant to be. Place on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Continue until you have used all your meat up. Then lightly brush tortillas with olive oil or butter to help with crisping.