Chicken Flautas
Crisp rolled corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken, topped with lettuce, crema, queso fresco and red salsa.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Flautas are corn tortillas rolled tight around a savory filling and fried until they crackle, long and thin like the flute they are named after. In Mexico they come piled on a plate under shredded lettuce, cool crema, crumbled queso fresco and plenty of salsa, and they disappear fast at any party.
The Thermomix® TM7™ does the prep: it cooks a simple red salsa with tomato and serrano, then poaches the chicken and shreds it in seconds on reverse. The salsa goes both into the filling and over the top. Rolling and frying happen on the stove, a few flautas at a time, so set up a little assembly line and invite a helper.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Chicken Flautas
Makes: 16 flautas
- Prep30 min
- Cook50 min
- Total1 h 20 min
- Serves8
Ingredients
For the red salsa
For the chicken
For the flautas
To serve
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, serrano, water and salt for the salsa in the mixing bowl and cook 12 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 1.
- With the measuring cup in place, blend 30 sec/speed 5-10, increasing speed gradually. Pour the salsa into a bowl and rinse the mixing bowl.
- Place the chicken, onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt and water in the mixing bowl and cook 25 min/100°C (212°F)/reverse/speed soft. The chicken should reach 74°C (165°F) in the thickest part.
- Drain the chicken in the simmering basket set over a bowl (save the broth for soup or rice) and discard the onion, garlic and bay leaf. Return the chicken to the mixing bowl, add the cumin and 60 g (1/4 cup) of the salsa and shred 5 sec/reverse/speed 4.
- Warm the tortillas on a hot griddle or skillet on the stove, a few seconds per side, and keep them wrapped in a kitchen towel so they stay soft and bend without cracking.
- Place about 35 g (2 heaping tbsp) of chicken along one edge of each tortilla, roll it up tightly and hold it closed with a toothpick.
- Heat 2 cm (3/4 in) of oil in a large, heavy skillet on the stove to 175°C (350°F). Fry the flautas 4 or 5 at a time, 3 to 4 min, turning them, until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels.
- Remove the toothpicks, arrange the flautas on a platter and top with the lettuce, crema, queso fresco and the rest of the salsa.
Tips
- Feeding a crowd? Keep the fried flautas warm on a rack in the oven at 95°C (200°F) while you fry the rest, and add the toppings just before serving so they stay crisp.
- Make ahead: the salsa and the shredded chicken keep 2 days in the fridge. You can also freeze the rolled, uncooked flautas on a tray, then pack them in a freezer bag; fry them from frozen, 1 or 2 minutes longer.
- Oven option: brush the rolled flautas with oil and bake them on a sheet pan at 220°C (425°F) for 15 to 18 minutes, turning once. They come out a little less crisp, with much less oil.
- For more heat, use 2 serranos in the salsa or serve pickled jalapeños on the side.
