Chicken flautas

5 from 1 vote

These simple snacks are a delicious mix of crisp tortillas with a chicken filling, and lots of tasty toppings! Maybe slightly messy, but so good.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Total Time40

Course: Appetizer/Starter

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: flautas (serves 4 as smaller portions)

Calories: 176kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

8 corn tortillas (see notes)
1 cup shredded chicken approx
vegetable or canola oil for frying (you may need around 1 cup/240ml but most you can save to then re-use after)

Toppings (approx amounts)

1 cup iceberg lettuce around 2 leaves
3 tablespoon Mexican crema or sour cream if unavailable
¼ cup cotija cheese or queso fresco
½ cup pico de gallo (salsa fresca) or around ½ amount of salsa verde

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Warm the tortillas before adding the filling - you can do this by wrapping in kitchen paper and placing in the microwave for a few seconds, but the best was is to warm a dry skillet/frying pan over a medium head and cook for place a tortilla in for around 30 seconds each side (or more/less until just warm rather than crisp). I tend to warm one, start filling, and have another warming as I work to then fill next.
Place some chicken in a line towards one side of the warmed tortilla then roll it up - you want it relatively snug so the chicken stays in, but bear in mind the tortilla will swell up a little as it cooks, so don't try to make it too tight or it will burst. Secure the tortilla closed by placing a cocktail stick through the rolled tortilla right through the middle (see photos above/video).
Repeat with the rest of the tortillas and chicken, and get your toppings ready - shred lettuce, make pico de gallo if not already made, crumble cheese.
Warm some oil over a medium-high heat in a skillet/frying pan that is just a little wider than the tortillas are long so a few can cook in at once, but without too much extra space. You want probably around ⅔in (2cm) depth of oil, so that it will come around halfway up the tortillas as they cook.
Once the oil is warm, add a few flautas to the skillet. You don't want to over-crowd the pan and remember you need a little space for turning so leave a little space between them. Cook, turning now and then, for a few minutes until they are crisp outside (you can make them more or less crispy to taste).
Carefully remove the cooked flautas from the pan, tip to one side to let any oil stuck inside drain out then place on kitchen paper to drain further before serving. Repeat cooking the rest of the flautas.
Once ready to serve, top the flautas with the shredded lettuce, crema, cheese and pico de gallo (traditionally added in that order). You would typically stack them all together and top, though if easier, you can do on separate plates for individual servings.

Video

Notes

Flautas are traditionally made with flour tortillas, but it can vary. Here I used soft corn, but I have used flour as well and they are also great. Corn, corn & wheat blend or wheat are all fine so use as you prefer.

The tortillas I used here were around 7in (18cm) diameter, and cooked in an 8in (20cm) cast iron skillet. If you have larger tortillas, you will need additional chicken to fill them but the general process is the same.

Nutrition