Flautas or taquitos? I grew up knowing them by both names. Filled and rolled corn tortillas, fried until crispy. Getting creative with weeknight meals takes a little bit of planning ahead. This is a habit I learned early on from my Mom. She often would cook some foods, such as beans or chicken so they would be ready for other meals. The chicken would most often be transformed into enchiladas, tacos or flautas. My favorite of the three would have to be flautas. Crispy rolled tacos topped with that wonderful avocado tomatillo salsa and mexican crema. You seriously had to keep track of how many you ate, because before you knew it, 3 could turn into half a dozen! Lol! But lucky for us, there would be red rice, beans and fresh salad on the side to round out the meal.
The key to cooking great flautas, whether you fry them or bake them is a good quality soft corn tortilla. I will never forget my dad insisting that tortillas must be cooked on the comal (griddle) otherwise they would fall apart. My Dad was very knowledgeable when it came to tortillas. As I have mentioned before, he used to build the commercial tortilla machines used in many of the large tortilla factories. The tortilla is cooked, but when you warm them on a hot surface, that was really like the last step in the cooking process. I have proved this point when I am in a hurry I steam the tortillas in the microwave. The microwave steams them which adds too much moisture, in my opinion, causing them to tear. If you are only preparing a few flautas(taquitos dorados) that will be fried right away, this will work. But if preparing a larger batch, the longer they sit after being steamed, the more fragile they become. If you live in an area that sells tortillas like they make in Mexico, then you are darn lucky, ha, ha, ha! No seriously, if they are good quality, you will be able to roll them tight without them tearing. For today’s post, I decided to bake them instead of frying them. They are still crispy and satify that taquito craving that never seems to go away! Enjoy!
Baked Chicken Flautas-Taquitos
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 18 corn tortillas
- 2 1/2 cups of cooked chicken I used grilled chicken
- Toothpicks
- Oil of choice I used grapeseed oil
Instructions
Directions
- Slice or chop chicken so you have very small pieces. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil paper and brush with oil. Set aside.
- Preheat a large griddle or comal to medium heat for a few minutes. Cook the tortillas for about 2 minutes, turning every 30 seconds. Place tortillas in a tortilla warmer or in between a kitchen towel. Steaming them in the microwave does not work as well, but you can if only making a few.
- Fill warmed tortillas with a thin strip of chicken down the center. As you fold the tortilla over, pull it, with the filling, towards you to make it tight. Then roll away from you to form the taquito. Secure with toothpick at the seam. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush tops of taquitos with more oil. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Serve right away. Garnish with your favorite salsa, guacamole and crema. Yields up to 6 servings.
Notes
Salsa Ranchera, one of my favorites to serve with taquitos. Click onto picture for full recipe of salsa.
Roasted Tomatillo Avocado Salsa, another favorite! Click onto picture to see the full recipe!
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i really like that kind of food..more recipe I love it ha ha ha nice recipe its very simple to follow…
Thanks for the feedback. I do love easy and tasty recipes as well.
Absolutely delicious and such a simple prep. I love that it was baked instead of fried. I want to have good recipes that I can make frequently and I can’t do that with fried foods. I’ll be making this again and again.
I am always looking for a healthy spin on the foods I love.
Awesome, what temperature?
It’s a preheated 450 degree oven.