Baked Chicken Taquitos

Easy Baked Chicken Taquito's

So Delicious!

As so many of my recipes these days, I found this amazingly simple recipe for Chicken Taquitos.  The hardest part of this recipe was shredding chicken.  I made the taquitos fresh to be eaten that night, but you can freeze the recipe in case you have a party, or a large group of people you are trying to feed later on.  Or if you simply want to make a double batch and save half for later.  I also made some simple changes to my recipe since I cant have any cows milk products, I will also post my version of the recipe after the original.  All the pictures throughout I took during my cooking process.  And at the bottom I added TIPS & HINTS so make sure to read those!


Original Recipe

Ingredients:

Not everything in the "original" recipe is pictured,  I changed things up a bit as posted at the end.

3 ounces cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup green salsa 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime) 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro 2 Tbsp sliced green onions 2 cups shredded cooked chicken 1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese small flour or corn tortillas kosher salt cooking sprayPreheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic.  In this picture I used goats cheese instead of cream cheese.  As you can see looks very much the same and tastes close to the same too.  Also I added juice of a whole lime for a better taste.  I also omitted the Onion powder because we simply did not have any on hand. Once combined, stir in the cilantro and green onions. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly. The mixture was very creamy and held together well.  I added extra cilantro and a few extra green onions since I omitted onion powder.  I didn't measure my ingredients, and this was a recipe that was VERY easy to eyeball. (If you decided to prep this in advance, refrigerate the mixture at this point until ready to continue.)Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds).Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can. Rolling the tortillas was easy and fast!  My tortillas were fresh so I didn't microwave them as in the previous step. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone.  Make sure the taquitos are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt. My recipe made 20 taquitos using the small enchilada and taco flour tortillas.   Im assuming in the original recipe she used burrito size tortillas.  Also corn tortillas would work fine and add more flavor, but we do not have a decent selection here! Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.AND THE FINAL PRODUCT AGAIN I ate about 3 or 4 while my husband ate about 6 or 7.  Very filling, the inside is warm and gooey while the outside is crisp! **To freeze:  Before baking, flash freeze the taquitos in a single layer on a baking sheet then place in a labeled freezer bag and store up to 3 months.  To bake a frozen taquito (no need to thaw first): Preheat oven to 425˚F and bake for 20 minutes

(Original recipe found from the following blog http://penniesonaplatter.com/2010/02/22/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/ )

So what kind of changes did I make to this recipe?  


1. Instead of cream cheese, and regular cheese I used goats cheese, about a half a pound, or about 7-8 ounces.  I Let it soften on the counter and once it was soft, it was the same consistency as cream cheese, and has the same texture, and close to the same taste.  Now in the states they have Soy Cream cheese (tofutti) and they have an array of different goat cheeses from cheddar, to dutch, to mozz.  In korea I am limited to the Chevre but found it can be used in most cases.  


2.  I used double the lime, extra cilantro, and extra onion, and omitted the onion powder because there was none on hand.  


3.  I used taco/enchilada size flour tortillas which resulted in more, smaller taquitos.  If I had delicious corn tortillas,  I would use those instead.


TIPS AND HINTS


I started with raw chicken, threw them in a pot, covered with water and boiled on the stove until no longer pink in the center.  I used 4 small chicken breasts.  I then shredded with two forks.


I used the chunky green salsa, not the thinner green salsa.  


I was worried that the inside wouldn't be gooey and warm and the outside wouldn't be crisp like a fried taquito, but it was!  I baked mine for 20 minutes WITHOUT turning them.


I served with Jalepenos, Tapatio, salsa.  Also I added spanish rice and Beans to make this more of a meal and less of an appetizer.  


ENJOY!