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These Chicken Flautas are filled with chicken, salsa, and cheese and baked in the oven until crispy. Your whole family will love this easy, delicious recipe.
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These Chicken Flautas are a staple at my house. Not only do I make them for dinner, but I also make batches and store them in the fridge for quick after school snacks or a last minute appetizer. They are so easy to make and more substantial than some of the other snacks my kids might reach for in the pantry. Flautas are also a great game day food. You don’t need utensils to eat them and they aren’t messy.
Bring the taste of Mexico home to your dinner table with these flautas as part of a Mexican feast! We have recipe for everything you’ll need from Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce to Restaurant Style Mexican Rice to Grilled Mexican Street Corn to a luscious dessert of Baked Strawberry Empanadas.
Ingredient in Chicken Flautas
- Shredded chicken
- Monterey Jack cheese (to add some spice, use Pepper Jack cheese)
- Cream cheese
- Salsa
- Salt and pepper
- Flour tortillas
Difference Between Flautas and Taquitos
Ever wonder what the difference is between flautas and taquitos? My kids ask me that all the time. Basically there’s only one difference: the tortilla! A flauta is make from a large flour tortilla (you can use burrito or quesadilla sized tortillas). Taquitos are made from smaller corn tortillas. The fillings for flautas and taquitos can be the same. Use shredded chicken, pork, shredded beef, or even vegetarian.
Homemade vs. Store Bought
This chicken flautas recipe reminds me of the Costco Chicken Flautas. While those store-bought versions are convenient to purchase already made, there are some advantages to making your own at home. First, making your own is definitely the healthier option. We bake our flautas instead of frying them in vegetable oil in a skillet. Corn tortillas, whole wheat tortillas, and low carb tortillas can all be used in this recipe. You can also air fry them for that crispy outer texture. Use tongs to lift them out of the pan and cool on a paper towel before serving.
Second, making your own at home is more economical. The last time I looked at my area Costco, a package of 16 flautas cost $11.49. You can make a lot of these Chicken Flautas at home for that amount.
Best Chicken for Chicken Flautas
I usually have the idea to make Chicken Flautas when I have leftover chicken from another recipe. However, if you are starting from scratch you can make your own shredded chicken or use a rotisserie chicken or even canned chicken. My favorite way to make shredded chicken is in my Instant Pot.
I put two chicken breasts, 1 cup of chicken broth, salt, and pepper into the pot and cook for 10 minutes on Manual with high pressure. After the timer goes off I let it naturally release for 5 minutes, and then do a quick release. I get tender, easy-to-shred chicken every time. For added flavor, you can also season the chicken with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder or paprika.
What Our Readers are Saying About Our Chicken Flautas
Don’t just take our word for it! Check out what our readers who try this recipe say about it!
“I made these on Sunday during halftime of the Houston Texans game (since my family ate all the Cheese Steak Crescent Rolls before the game). BIG hit! I made a double batch so we could eat them for snacks and/or school lunches this week. And they were all gone today! Thanks for another great recipe!”
“I made these chicken flautas last night. They came together so fast!. We loved them, and needed something easy during the holiday season. I served them with a green salad, and they were perfect. Thanks.”
“Made these for the first time tonight and they were a huge hit! I love how quickly I could put these together, and how tasty they were! Thank you!”
“Made these chicken flautas tonight and they will certainly be going into our rotation for dinners. They went together real quick and tasted oh so good.”
Flautas are a Mexican dish. A savory filling made with chicken or beef is wrapped in a flour tortilla and deep fried or baked. This recipe features baked flautas, which are a healthier option.
Shredded meat (usually chicken or beef), melted cheese, and a flavorful sauce.
In Spanish, a flauta translates to English words like flute, pipe, and whistle, which is what a flauta is shaped like – a small pipe or flute filled with a delicious filling!
What to Serve with Chicken Flautas
Chicken Flautas work great as a meal on their own. However, if you are wanting to round out the meal you can’t go wrong with a green salad or some rice and beans. For a beautiful table centerpiece, serve the flautas on a bed of romaine lettuce or iceberg lettuce with some diced onion, sliced avocado, pico de gallo, cheddar cheese and a little lime juice on top.
We also love to dip our flautas! Our favorites are sour cream, salsa, guacamole, Mexican crema, or ranch dressing. If you want to make some dips at home, try some of our favorite recipes!
More Easy Mexican Recipes
We have more EASY Mexican recipes that I highly recommend if you like our Easy Chicken Flautas. I use our Restaurant Style Refried Beans and our Restaurant Style Mexcian Rice for side dishes every time I make Mexican food at home. We honestly never make a Mexican dish without these two sides anymore. Some of my other favorite Mexican dishes are our Easy Taco Salad and our Grilled Carne Asada.
Chicken Flautas
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
- 6 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 1/3 cup salsa
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 flour tortillas soft taco size
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Combine chicken, cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, salsa, and salt & pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Mix together well.
- Evenly distribute chicken mixture over each tortilla, making a line down the middle of each tortilla and then rolling them up tight.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Place rolled up tortillas evenly spaced on the cookie sheet (place seam side down) and spray cooking spray generously over the top.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until tortillas become golden-brown.
Wow, my family absolutely loved these! They are so quick and simple but oh so tasty!
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How long do they last before they go bad?
About a week in the fridge, or a month in the freezer.
Really enjoyed this and will make it again.
Made these, only I fried them for the extra crunch, bought a higher quality salsa and used onion and chive cream cheese instead (just a family my family preference), they were really good! Great Recipe, Thank You!
Yum! My son is going to love this recipe! I can’t wait to make this recipe!
I’m picking up a rotisserie chicken and making these tonight! I love an easy dinner recipe.
Way better than store bought! Love that these use flour tortillas, which I love!
At 15 mins these still were soft. Turned it up to 425″ for another 5 mins. Still not really crispy. My filling was tasty, but not what I expected.
Was pretty good with fresh salsa and fresh guacamole.
I would like to make these for our Cinco de Mayo potluck on Sunday at church. If I baked them ahead of time, do you think putting them in a warm oven for about 3 hours would work alright?
Yeah I think that should be fine!
These are not flautas.
What would you constitute as a flauta?
can corn street taco tortillas be used?
Sure! They are a little more fragile though so handle with care.
I just made the tonight. My picky husband loved them. My grandson also. So easy to make..thank you
So glad you liked them! If both your husband AND your grandson liked them, I definitely consider that a WIN! 😀
Wow, these look SO good. Our local takeout Mexican food place offers 3 chicken flautas for $4.95 and by the time I get home they are nearly cold. Watched the video and realize I can make them at home. Cannot wait to try these at home. Thank you so much for posting.
Hi Karen! So excited for you to try them! We almost never buy them anymore because they are just SO easy to make AND you can make them healthier because they are baked instead of fried. Let us know what you think when you try them!
Would cheddar cheese work instead of Monterey Jack
Absolutely! Cheddar cheese would be every bit as good. Thanks for asking!
For us ‘eaters’ here in Oz, tell me what Monterey Jack cheese is?
It is a white cheese similar to texture as mozzarella but typically used in Mexican dishes. Do you have pepper Jack cheese there? It is pepper Jack without the peppers!
I would like to know if these are best frozen before they are baked?
Should you bake these first before freezing? I am making approximately 60 to 70 for our church children’s summer camp.
Thank you
Beth
You can definitely freeze them before baking.. but if it were me, I would probably bake them first unless you can flash freeze them (so they don’t get soggy). Either way would probably work fine. 🙂 Hope this helps!