Homemade cheesy chipotle chicken taquitos or flautas! Basically, your favorite tortillas stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese. You can fry the taquitos or bake them! Serve with your favorite salsa, guacamole or sour cream!

The easiest chipotle chicken taquitos!

Over the years, I’ve learned that some of our most favorite dinners are the one that I’ve thrown together quickly and that happens to be the story behind today’s chipotle chicken taquitos. The story starts with a batch of cooked chicken in the refrigerator, a bag of shredded cheddar, a bottle of salsa, and of course, tortillas that I bought intending to make something completely different.

What I love most about recipes like my chipotle chicken taquitos is that they’re perfect when you want to make it for a child approved family dinner, but also as an appetizer for a Cinco de Mayo party, super bowl, or a new years eve get together. Also, I’d like to point out that homemade taquitos basically give you the right to eat all your favorite dips for dinner. I mean, at this point I’m just using the taquitos as a vessel to fill up on guacamole, salsa, and pico. Side note, my cheese lovers, this would be so good with melted queso!

Honestly, the other night we sat down with these taquitos for dinner, and I ate an entire ½ cup of guacamole salsa with a single taquito. I double dipped, a whole lot and I’m not even ashamed.

WHAT ARE TAQUITOS?

Taquitos or flautas as they’re more commonly referred to south of the border, are tortillas rolled up with filling. Though corn tortillas are more commonly used to make flautas, you can also make them with flour tortillas, which is what I’ve done today. The filling can be anything from chicken, cheese, or shredded or ground beef. Once you roll the taquitos up, you can either pan-fry or deep fry them until they’re perfectly crispy. Taquitos are topped with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa.

For those that don’t like to fry things, I’ve also shared my method on how to bake them!

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TAQUITOS?

• cooked, shredded chicken
• chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• seasonings
• shredded cheese
• flour or corn tortillas
• oil (for spraying or frying)

WHERE CAN I FIND ADOBO SEASONING?

Adobo seasoning is available in most grocery stores in the spice or ethnic foods aisle. It’s a general all-purpose dry seasoning that consists of ingredients like black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and turmeric. Other ingredients may also be included in the seasoning. It’s important to note that the seasoning is different from the adobo sauce that the chipotle peppers come packed in. I know, it can get a little confusing if you don’t use these ingredients very often so I just wanted to take a second to point that out.

HOW TO COOK THE CHICKEN FOR CHICKEN TAQUITOS?

I poach the chicken the same way for all the recipes that require cooked chicken breasts or thighs.  I start by heating a 2-quart saucepan with water, along with ½ an onion, a few cloves of garlic, 6-8 black peppercorns, and a tablespoon of salt. When the water comes to a boil, I gently lower the chicken breasts into the water and reduce the heat setting so that it just simmers. Let the chicken breasts or thighs cook until they reach 165ºF on an instant read meat thermometer (affiliate link.) But typically it’s in the 12-18 minutes ballpark depending on the side of the chicken breast/thighs. 

Once the chicken cooks, I remove it to a bowl or cutting board. Allow the chicken to cool completely before shredding so you don’t burn your fingers! You can shred the chicken using your hands, two forks, or some people like throw them in their stand mixer and let the paddle break the chicken down.

CAN I USE ROTISSERIE CHICKEN IF I WANT TO  MAKE TAQUITOS EVEN QUICKER?

Yes, absolutely! Using rotisserie chicken anywhere where cooked chicken is called for is a great hack to get dinner on the table much faster. I’ve got a recipe for a 1-hour oven roasted chicken recipe that you can make for dinner one night and use the leftover chicken in these chicken taquitos for another dinner during the week. You’ll need roughly 2 ½ cups of shredded chicken.

CAN YOU AIR FRY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TAQUITOS?

I don’t own an air fryer (I know, gasp!) so I can’t say I’ve tried this before but, after a lot of research and by research I mean Youtube videos, I feel confident enough to say you can air fry these chipotle chicken taquitos. But just keep in mind that every air fryer is different and that you might need a little more/less time depending on the model/size of your air fryer.

HOW TO AIR FRY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TAQUITOS:

1. Preheat your air fryer at 400ºF. Once preheated, open the air fryer, spray the inside basket with cooking spray. 
2. Place the taquitos in the basket, but do not overcrowd or allow them to touch; depending on the size of your air fryer, you can probably fit 3-5 taquitos at a time. 
3. Spray the tops of the taquitos with additional cooking spray.
4. Air fry them for 6-10 minutes or until they are crispy and golden brown. Repeat with the remaining taquitos.

WHAT DO YOU SERVE CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TAQUITOS WITH:

• pico de gallo
• guacamole salsa
• crumbled cotija cheese
• salsa verde
• shredded lettuce
• blender salsa
• sour cream
• avocado dip

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