02 September 2011


Mexican food is quite popular at our house.  We have something Mexican about once a week.  I saw these flautas on the blog For the Love of Cooking and had to try them.  I wasn't sure exactly what a "flauta" was, but these reminded me of taquitos.  I have made taquitos before, and this seemed like the same method with a different filling.  I wikied "flauta" and found out that flautas and taquitos are different words for the same thing, a rolled tortilla with some kind of filling inside.  Flauta means "flute" and taquito means "little taco".  Traditionally they are fried, but it's super easy to make them healthier by baking them.  Here is the recipe for the ones I made last night.


Creamy Chicken Baked Flautas

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
12 small (6”) flour tortillas
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a cooling rack on top if you have one.  Coat either the foil or the cooling rack with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, cilantro, cream cheese, Monterey Jack, oregano, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined.

Wrap flour tortillas in wet paper towels and microwave them for 1 minute or until soft.  (Some brands are soft enough that they don’t require this step.  I use Mission and they don’t need it.)

Place a spoonful of chicken mixture down the center of the tortilla; roll up. Place, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Finish rolling the rest of the flautas, then spray each of them with cooking spray.

Place into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Makes 4 servings, 3 flautas each.

The original recipe didn't say what size or how many tortillas to use, so the first time I made these I used what I had, medium tortillas.  I only got 5 flautas out of it and they didn't brown up very well because there was too much tortilla rolled up.  I got some small tortillas and tried it again and was much happier with the results.

When I made the taquitos last year, I created a refried bean dip to go with them.  The filling in these flautas is so creamy and cheesy that I decided to make a Spicy Black Bean Dip to go with them.  It was the perfect complement to the flautas.



 The yummy chicken filling.  If you don't like cilantro, you can just leave it out, but I think it really makes the flavors pop.


Flautas served with Spicy Black Bean Dip.

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1 comment:

  1. These look so good Edesia. I miss the authetic Mexican food I used to eat when I lived in Miami. I tried your orange chicken the other day, the hubbs and I loved it. Have a great Labor Day weekend. :)

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