Chicken Flautas

Method8 steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Have the chicken already fully cooked and shredded before starting. Wash and dry the lettuce, slice it thinly, and keep the cream, queso fresco and ready sauces chilled while preparing the flautas. Set out a paper-towel-lined draining tray and food-safe wooden toothpicks if using them.

   Uses Water for washing the lettuce, as needed

2. 2

   Step 2: Heat a comal or dry skillet over medium heat. Warm each tortilla for about 30 seconds on one side, then turn and warm about 30 seconds on the other, until pliable. Work through all sixteen and keep them warm for rolling.

   Uses 16 ready corn tortillas

3. 3

   Step 3: Put 1–2 tbsp ready shredded chicken on each warm tortilla, taking it from the 2-cup supply, and roll tightly into sixteen thin flautas. Keep any unused chicken refrigerated. If helpful, secure groups of two or three flautas with wooden toothpicks so they hold their shape.

   Uses All sixteen warmed tortillas · Ready shredded chicken, using 1–2 tbsp per tortilla from the 2-cup supply

4. 4

   Step 4: In a deep skillet over medium heat, heat a 1-inch-deep layer of vegetable oil to 350°F / about 180°C. Use a frying thermometer and keep the prepared draining tray nearby.

   Uses Vegetable oil for frying

5. 5

   Step 5: Carefully lower an uncrowded batch of flautas into the hot oil. Fry their first face for 2–3 minutes, checking from 2 minutes, until crisp and golden before turning.

   Check the first flauta face · 2 minUses An uncrowded batch of assembled flautas, separate from unused chicken · The hot frying oil

6. 6

   Step 6: Turn the flautas and fry for about 1 minute more, until evenly golden and crisp and the cooked-chicken filling reaches at least 74°C / 165°F. Continue if needed to heat the filling thoroughly.

   Finish the second flauta face · 1 minUses The first-face-fried flautas to turn · The hot frying oil

7. 7

   Step 7: Lift the fried flautas onto the paper-towel-lined tray. Return the oil to 350°F and repeat the first-face and second-face procedure for the remaining flautas without crowding. Drain each batch, then remove every wooden toothpick before serving. Keep the frying oil separate from the finished food.

   Uses The fried flautas to lift and drain · The oil remaining in the skillet · Any assembled flautas still waiting to fry

8. 8

   Step 8: Arrange the flautas on a platter for eight servings of two each. Offer the shredded lettuce, the separate cups of Mexican crema (to taste), salsa (to taste) and queso fresco (to taste) for topping to taste. Add ready guacamole or salsa verde if desired, and keep clean unused cold toppings refrigerated.

   Uses All sixteen fried, drained flautas with toothpicks removed · 1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried and thinly sliced · Mexican crema to taste from its 1-cup supply · Ready salsa to taste from its 1-cup supply · Queso fresco to taste from its 1-cup supply · Serve with guacamole or salsa verde