Chicken Flautas

Being from Laredo, TX, you know I’ve had my fair share of flautas. My mom used to make them for my family when I was younger and that was seriously one of my favorite dishes ever! If you’re not familiar with flautas, they are a Mexican dish made by stuffing corn tortillas with filling, rolling them up into little flutes (“flauta” means “flute” in Spanish), and then frying them up until crispy and golden brown. They’re traditionally served with toppings like shredded lettuce, avocado, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, and cheese.

I really wanted to recreate chicken flautas because, since I now eat paleo, I want to be able to enjoy some whenever I get a craving for them! After I tasted them, I was like “Omg I gotta share this recipe ASAP!” I remember that when my mom would make them, she would typically make them stuffed with chicken that she would boil herself. When I made my version, I decided to purchase an unseasoned rotisserie chicken from Sprouts and used that instead of boiling the chicken. You could totally be a superstar like my momma and boil your own chicken breasts as long as you end up with 3 cups of shredded chicken to use! To flavor my chicken, I mixed in some Two Hot Mamas Salsa Verde, but you can use any homemade or store-bought salsa that you prefer .

If you do end up purchasing the rotisserie chicken, I recommend that you shred it ahead of time that way it’s ready to go when you need to use it. To replace the corn tortillas, I used the Siete almond flour tortillas. All you do is heat up the shredded chicken and salsa together, season with salt and pepper if needed, heat up the tortillas (they’re easier to handle when slightly warm), plop about 2 regular spoonfuls of chicken into the tortillas, roll them up, and pan-fry them on all sides in a pan until crispy and golden brown. So good!

I served mine with some shredded lettuce, homemade pico de gallo, homemade cilantro avocado crema, and lime wedges. YUMMMM! The crunch factor is on point with these flautas! I hope you give this recipe a try and love them as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 3/4 – 1 cup Two Hot Mamas Salsa Verde (or salsa of choice)
• 1 pack of Siete almond flour tortillas
• Avocado oil
• Himalayan salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat pan on stove top on medium heat (I used my beloved 10 in. cast iron pan).
2. Place shredded chicken and salsa in a bowl, mix together, and heat in the microwave until warm (you can also heat this mixture up in a pan if you prefer).
3. When pan is heated through, add enough avocado oil to really cover the entire bottom of the pan (I used about 1/4 cup, but you may need more depending on the size of your pan).
4. Working one at a time, heat a tortilla in the microwave for about 8 seconds (you can do this in a pan if you prefer, but heat them slowly on low heat until slightly warm), place 2 regular spoonfuls of the chicken and salsa mixture off-center on the tortilla, and roll them up into a flute shape or taquito (see pictures above). Repeat with the rest of the taquitos.
5. Place the prepared flautas “seam” side down in the pan. I pan fried 3 of them at a time, but make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan!
6. Keep an eye on the flautas, making sure they don’t burn. When crispy and golden brown, flip them over and continue to pan fry.
7. Repeat this process on the two additional sides (I gently used tongs to hold them on their side) and transfer to a paper towel lined plate when done.
8. Serve the flautas up with your toppings of choice! I used shredded lettuce, homemade cilantro avocado crema, homemade pico de gallo, and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Tips:

If you have a splatter screen, I recommend that you use it.

Make sure not to overfill the tortillas or else the filling may seep out or the tortillas may tear.

Make sure that the oil is hot before you place the tortillas in the pan.

When you put the rolled up tortillas in the pan, make sure that they go in “seam” side down that way they crisp up and the “seam” won’t open anymore.

When they are pan-frying, keep an eye on them because they can burn if you leave them alone for too long.

If you see a couple of burnt bits in the oil, throw out the oil and replace with new oil.