Chicken rolled tacos, also know as Flautas de pollo, are another version of crispy tacos. The tortillas are filled with shredded chicken, then fried and served with your favourite Mexican toppings.

Even if you haven’t done this kind of tacos before, you’ll see how easy is to make them. Let me show you how can you prepare Mexican flautas in an authentic way.

Chicken rolled tacos served with lettuce, pico de gallo and guacamole salsa.

What is rolled tacos (flautas)?

Mexican flautas are basically a rolled taco filled with various ingredients and then deep fried until crunchy.

Traditional flautas are made with an oval shaped tortilla, more bigger also than a regular one, so when they’re rolled they will look like a flute; hence the name. Some flautas can be as longer as 40 cm/15,7″.

There’s the rumor about flauta’s origin to be from Sinaloa and from there spread all over the country. Now you can find flautas all over the world.

Chicken rolled tacos served with lettuce, guacamole sauce and crema.

The fillings can vary, from meat and fish, to vegetables, potatoes and mushrooms. The recipe I am sharing with you today, are one of the most common fillings: Shredded chicken.

Try also our recipe for taquitos rancheros.

How to serve them

You can serve chicken rolled tacos with various ingredients, such as a delicious tomato sauce (recipe below), lettuce, guacamole sauce, pico de gallo and queso fresco.
But actually those chicken rolled tacos can be served with more toppings. For example: Mexican crema, tomatillo sauce, radishes, fresh tomatoes, cueritos curtidos, avocado slices, pickled onions, etc.
You can also serve those rolled tacos as an appetizer and dip them into fake guacamole or other mexican table sauces. The photo below shows how they’re served in Colima.

Flautas - Colima style. Mexican flautas. — Rolled chicken tacos served with tomato sauce, lettuce, radishes, onions, cream and *queso fresco*.

Chicken rolled tacos | The recipe

Place chicken breast in a pot. Add onions, celery and carrots. Add bay leaves, thyme, garlic and salt. Cover with water and boil until tender.

Strain the stock and set aside, then shred the chicken using two forks or use your electric mixer. If you do this when chicken is still warm it would be a lot easier.

Shredding chicken on a bowl with two forks.

In a cast iron skillet heat up tortillas both sides until they’re soft. Keep them warm wrapping them into a kitchen towel. Did you know? You can also make blue corn tortillas to prepare chicken rolled tacos!

Place about 2 tablespoons of the shredded chicken on one side of a tortilla and roll it tightly into a tube-like shape. Place seam side down or secure with two toothpicks. Repeat with all tortillas and set aside.

A tortilla flat on a surface with some shredded chicken in the middle.

Make the no-spicy tomato salsa

Place tomatoes in a medium sauce pan, cover with water and boil for about 10 minutes or until you’ll see the skin starts to fall. Let tomatoes cool down then peel them and place them into a blender.

Add garlic, oregano, thyme, pepper and one cup of chicken stock. Blend until smooth.

A collage with two photos with ingredients before and after blending tomato salsa.

In a sauce pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add tomato sauce, one cup of chicken broth and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes then turn off the heat. Set aside.

A collage with 2 photos showing tomato salsa preparation.

In a frying pan heat up a generous amount of oil. Fry the rolled tacos over medium heat, turning them constantly until they’re evenly crispy (about 5-6 minutes).

Place them on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess of oil.

Chicken rolled tacos on a plate with kitchen paper towels.

If you secured your chicken rolled tacos, remove the toothpick carefully to not break the taco. Then place them all in a serving plate where you previously put a bed of lettuce. Pour over a generous amount of tomato sauce, guacamole, pico de gallo and cheese – or any other topping you prefer.

Tips for rolled tacos

If you can’t find or can’t make our recipe for Mexican queso fresco, use Feta cheese instead or a combination of Feta+Parmesan.
For Mexican crema there’s a quick trick I do, since I can’t find that type of cream here in Europe: Mix one cup of regular cream with 1 tbsp of lemon juice + 1/2 tsp salt, leave it to rest for 20 minutes and use it in your recipe. Or you can also use greek yogurt instead regular cream.
Use corn tortillas. Flour tortillas doesn’t get as crunchy as corn tortillas and with the sauce they will get mushy almost immediately.

Make it vegan

Craving for chicken rolled tacos but want a vegan version? What about filling them with mushrooms? Here a quick recipe:

Sauté 1/4 cup chopped onions + 1 garlic clove finely minced. Add 2 cups of diced mushrooms and cook until tender when there’s not liquid left. Turn off heat; season with salt, pepper, a pinch of ground cumin and a little bit of chilli flakes. Use the mixture for filling your rolled tacos!

Make it healthier

Bake them instead of frying. Heat the oven to 200°C / 390 F. Brush tacos from all sides with a bit of oil, then bake for about 15-20 minutes or until they’re golden and crispy.

How to freeze taquitos

First of all, you need to do it before frying them. Even though you can also freeze them once fried, I highly recommend to not do that; they’re a lot better when fried and then eat immediately.
After you filled your tacos, let them cool completely on a paper towel lined plate. Wrap taquitos with cling film or place them into plastic bags. You can do this with portions of 4-5 flautas.
You don’t need to thaw them later, just fry them over medium low heat.

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This was beautiful. I was eating dish while reading this. My stomach would have started hurting if I read this before eating.

Chicken rolled tacos: Flautas