These Mexican fried chicken flautas are a great quick and easy dish that can be served as an appetizer or main. Also known as rolled tacos, they are ready to serve in 30 minutes.
Prepare the chicken filling: Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add in the onion, jalapeño peppers, salt, chili powder, and cumin. Sauté for a few minutes until softened. Stir in the shredded chicken, salsa, and lime juice. Remove from heat.
Prepare the tortillas: Warm the tortillas by wrapping the stack of them in damp paper towels and microwaving for a minute.
Prepare the flautas: Place about 2 tablespoons each of chicken filling and a sprinkling of cheese in the middle of each tortilla. Roll the tortillas up tightly and place them seam side down on a plate.
Fry: Heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place 4 flautas in the pan, seam side down, and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Then, flip the flautas and fry for another 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Add the remaining vegetable oil to the pan as needed and repeat this process with the remaining flautas.
Serve: Serve the flautas with your favorite toppings such as lettuce, cilantro, salsa, and sour cream.
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Notes
Make sure your tortillas are warm and pliable before rolling. Once you’ve heated the tortillas, keep them covered in a pan or plastic container so they stay warm.
It’s best to roll quickly to avoid tearing of the tortillas. No worries if any of your flautas have small tears after rolling. You can still go ahead with the frying process.
Fried flautas can be frozen. Let them cool and place in a container. Thaw them in the fridge overnight and then bake in the oven at 350F or 10 -15 minutes.
I like to use shredded chicken for this recipe, and it's a great way to use up leftovers from Roasted Chicken.