Spicy Chicken Flautas

Spicy Chicken Flautas, are a great game day food. The spicy chicken goes great with this chipotle cream, guacamole or your favorite salsa. Just grab one (or two) and crunch away!

Less than a week away and the country will be glued to the couch watching the Super Bowl. I will be but after half time. My best high school friend is flying in that evening for my birthday and it so happens that her flight arrives at 7pm. Kind of a bummer but the airport is fairly close to my house so we can b-line it to a bar on the way home and hopefully catch the half time show and the remainder of the game! This is fine though, I’m fairly certain that we will be up all night catching up and getting ready for a fun few days! I’m so excited!

One of my favorite things to order at a Mexican restaurant are flautas (also referred to as toquitos). I love them with a big bowl of guacmole and a cold margarita! That being said, I was thinking of what to make for the Super Bowl and flautas came to mind. I decided to doctor them up and make them Spicy Chicken Flautas! Who doesn’t love a fried tortilla wrapped around spicy chicken? Not me. Flautas are a great party food because you can cut them in half and have plenty of servings. They go perfect with salsa and my spicy cream sauce too. If you are having Mexican themed Super Bowl party, these would be a perfect addition to any party spread.

What ever team you are rooting for in the Super Bowl, I hope they win!

PS. Sorry for being so short lately, but there are some big changes coming to Rocky Mountain Cooking! Stay tuned with the site and hopefully I’ll be sharing some pretty great news with you all soon. I’m working on getting my ducks in a row and completely organized before I put it out there to the world! 🙂

Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Flautas

Recipe Type: Appitizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Author: Heather Blake

Serves: 12 flautas

The beauty of this, you can turn it into anything that you like! Flautas, toquitos, tacos, burritos, tostatdas…The spicy chicken can be good on just about anything! Feel free to use your imagination!

Ingredients

[br][b]For the Spicy Chicken[/b][br]
olive oil
1 pound boneless chicken breast
1 cup onion, diced
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
3-4 tablespoons chipotle peppers with adobo
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomato
1 cup chicken stock
[br][b]For the Spicy Cream Sauce[/b][br]
1 cup Mexican crema
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons chipotle peppers with adodbo
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons dried cilantro
[br][b]For the Flautas[/b][br]
Canola oil for frying
12 (6 inch) flour tortillas

Instructions

To make the spicy chicken filling. In a medium sized saute pan that has a lid, heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook until they become soft, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the the chipotle peppers, cumin, chili powder, cilantro, salt and pepper until combined. Place the whole chicken breasts over the vegetable mixture and cover with the diced tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook the chicken until it shreds easily with a fork. Approximately 1 hour.
When the chicken is cooked, strain the liquid from the pan saving all the onions and tomatoes. Reserve the liquid. Shred the chicken combining with the vegetables.
To assemble the flautas. Place approximately 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture on one side of the tortilla and tightly roll up. Secure with a toothpick for frying. (See picture below). Set aside.
Fill a 10-12 inch saute pan with about 2 inches of oil. Heat on medium temperature. Take a little piece of chicken place in pan. When it starts to sizzle, carefully add the flautas. I did mine in batches of 4 at a time. Carefully brown on all sides by flipping them over with tongs. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat until all the flautas are cooked.
To make the spicy cream sauce. In a small bowl stir together the crema, garlic, chipotle peppers, cumin, cumin salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve.

Notes

Use the reserved liquid as a dipping sauce as well. I found it to be quite tasty as an alternative or along with the spicy cream sauce!

I like to put the tooth picks in this way. It holds up better during the frying process!

While sitting at my desk writing this post, I looked out my window and saw some pretty spectacular clouds! No wonder it takes so long for me to get stuff done. Beautiful Winter days that feel and look like Spring!