Creamy Chicken Taquitos Recipe
Serves 12
15 mins prep
2 mins cook
17 mins total
🌮🧀🥑 Make these creamy chicken taquitos in the oven, air fryer, or skillet in just 30 minutes with simple ingredients. Great for an appetizer, snack, or main course, they're crispy on the outside, warm and melty in the center, and a hit at every fiesta and casual get-together!
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To a large bowl, add the cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, and stir to combine. Tip - Make sure the cream cheese is very well softened to room temp or this is unnecessarily difficult.
Add the cooked chicken, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and stir to combine.
Add about 2 tablespoons filling in a vertical strip at the edge of each tortilla and roll up tightly. Tips - Don't overfill. Flour tortillas are easier to work with, more pliable, and don't rip as easily. If you're using corn tortillas, add a stack to the microwave, cover with a damp paper towel, and heat for about 15 seconds to 'steam' the corn tortillas just a bit which will make them easier to work with and roll without ripping.
To a heavy-bottomed skillet with a bit of depth (cast iron is preferred; don't use a nonstick skillet that's intended to make scrambled eggs!) add enough oil so that it comes up to about 1 to 2-inches high.
Heat the oil until it's 350F as measured with a thermometer. Tips - I strongly recommend not guessing and using a thermometer. However, if you don't have one and you are going to guess, likely the oil is hot enough when it's bubbling and you can add a small piece of tortilla to the oil and it cooks instantly, but that it's not so hot that the tortilla just burns.
Add about 2 or 3 rolled taquitos to the oil, and fry for about 2 minutes total, flipping and once midway through. The exterior should be golden browned but not burnt when done. Tips - Don't crowd the pan because the taquitos will not cook properly because the overall temp of the oil will drop too low and/or there isn't enough oil freely flowing and circulating around the taquitos to cook them.
Place cooked taquitos on a plate lined with paper towels to cool briefly while you repeat the frying process with all remaining taquitos. Discard fry oil safely after you're done.
Serve immediately. Taquitos are best served hot and fresh. Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 4-5 days however there is no way to replicate the crispiness of freshly cooked taquitos after they've been refrigerated. I warm my leftovers if I have any in the microwave for about 30 seconds. I don't recommend freezing taquitos because the texture after thawing won't be very good.