Chicken Flautas are a crispy Mexican classic, made extra easy using precooked chicken so you can have dinner on the table on short notice!
Chicken Flautas with Salsa Cruda and Simple Guacamole
by Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
This month, I chose to participate in the SSM’s Weekday Suppers event where a group of bloggers is doing wrapped foods all this month (Mon-Fri) and I chose flautas for my selection (I love them and besides, Cinco de Mayo is coming up!) Flautas, if you didn’t know already, are crispy fried rolled tacos, and can be filled with a variety of things. I chose to do chicken as an example. However, this can be changed!
But is it a rolled taco? Or taquito? Or flauta?
Start with a soft flour tortilla
Yes, these tacos are rolled (and baked or fried crispy). The defining element is the type of tortilla used. It is generally agreed that if it uses a flour tortilla, it is called a flauta (or flute), and if it uses a corn tortilla, it is called a taquito (or little taco). And as well, if you did these burrito sized, they are the much beloved chimi.
Tortilla with Fillings
I first had them years ago after I had already fallen in love with chimichangas. As a smaller version, they are easier to justify having them (since I like mine fried).
Roll flauta and secure with toothpicks
I do give directions for baking them here as well. They turn out nicely, although I daresay the baked ones are never as crisp as the fried, but you can choose what you like for you and your family.
Ready to start frying or baking?
Normally I would bake/roast the chicken myself, but since this a 30 minute rush recipe, I made these using a rotisserie chicken, which you can pick up at any grocer just about. Or perhaps you have some leftover chicken from a Sunday dinner? If you do have time to make your own, I have a great recipe right here:
Once you have the chicken chopped up, it really is short work to get these to the table.
Let’s Fry!
And if you like, I have included a recipe for (fresh) salsa cruda and home made guacamole to use as garnishes and dip. Those are so easy you shouldn’t have to worry about buying those at the market.
Don’t forget to take out the toothpicks!
I do hope you enjoy, and scroll further down the page for info on other Weekday Supper recipes and info on where you can join the movement yourself.
Baked version of flautas
Mucho Gusto and have a great week!
~Sue
Chicken Flautas with Salsa Cruda and Simple Guacamole
Flauta Ingredients:
- 2-1/2 cups chopped cooked roasted chicken
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 10 6-inch flour tortillas
- 20 toothpicks
- cooking oil (if frying) or olive oil spray (if baking)
Salsa Cruda Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons minced red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste (from tube)
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced serrano or jalapeno pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
Simple Guacamole Ingredients:
- 1 avocado, lightly mashed
- 1 tablespoon minced red onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 small serrano pepper, minced (optional)
- 1 tablespoon minced cilantro
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
Method:
- Prepare salsa by mixing salsa ingredients together and prepare guacamole by mixing the guack ingredients together; cover the guack with plastic if it is to sit very long as it tends to oxidize. Do not prepare the guack well in advance but only 10-15 minutes early (it doesn’t take long to do).
- Chop chicken and toss with ground cumin, salt and pepper.
- Heat cooking oil in a skillet about an inch deep to hot but not smoking. Or alternatively, preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Briefly warm flour tortillas just until soft (you can use a microwave or griddle).
- Place 1/4 cup chicken mixture onto each tortilla and roll up, securing the tortilla with two toothpicks in an “x” pattern.
- Fry rolled flautas in hot oil, for several minutes on each side or until golden and crispy; drain on paper toweling. Or to bake, spray each side with olive oil spray (or you could brush lightly with oil) and place on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once.
- Remove toothpicks before serving.
- Serve flautas with salsa and guacamole.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
I am posting this recipe as part of the Weekday Supper Movement. I wanted a wrapped recipe for the event, so I decided to make this old favorite, especially since it will soon be Cinco de Mayo, and my thoughts (like clockwork) have returned to spicy foods and Tex-Mex.
Weekday Supper Movement is a branch of the Sunday Supper Movement where a group of food bloggers does recipe postings on selected subjects. For the Weekday Supper Movement, the them runs the entire month and each blogger picks one of the days to run their article/recipe on. For Sunday Supper Movement, the theme is weekly, and multiple bloggers all run their post on the same day (Sunday). It’s lots of fun, so if you are interesting in blogging or desktop publishing, you might want to look into it.
If you want to see the other Weekday Supper recipes for this week, I have them listed here (although they will not be live until their individual post dates, so if you are reading this early, just remember to check back, or better still, subscribe via RSS to the blog you are interested in). Please do visit them and let them know you appreciate their hard work working up these delicious creations for you.
Monday April 27th-Friday May 1st:
Monday: Chicken Verde Enchiladas by The Redhead Baker
Tuesday: Salt Roasted Salmon with Strawberry Salsa Wrap by Lifestyle Food Artistry
Wednesday: Chicken Flautas by Palatable Pastime
Thursday: Cheese and Ham Empanadas by Basic N Delicious
Friday: Carolina Pulled Pork and Blueberry Cole Slaw Wrap by Nik Snacks
Join my recipe group on Facebook for more recipes from blogger friends around the world!
Palatable Recipes
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YUM!!!
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
We thought these were quite good. While we enjoy heat this was a nice break from the screaming meanies! I did add shredded cheese to our diced chicken-DH’s request, and we really liked the salsa. Made for CQ 2015
Delicious! I fried mine this time and they were crispy and flavorful. I loved the homemade salsa and guacamole, too. Thank you for a nice meal! Made for CQ 2 – Tex-Mex
Glad you like them! The fried are just a little more crispy. Higher fat, but occasionally that’s fine.
Made the fried version. Yum!! With rotisserie chicken this is a crazy quick meal. Thanks for posting Sue!! Made for Culinary Quest 2015.