Baked chicken flautas are easy to make with a chicken tinga filling and cream cheese. l Baked in the oven till crispy, they are lighter than fried flautas, but without lacking in tons of creamy, delicious flavor.
With a creamy chicken tinga filling, they have a ton of flavor. Or if you want to keep them simple, you can just use plain shredded chicken or a salsa chicken for the filling.
Use these baked chicken flautas as both an appetizer or full meal when served with an easy slaw or salad and Mexican rice. They're also great dipped in this creamy white queso.
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Oven Baked Chicken Flautas
In Texas there is no shortage of great Tex-Mex restaurants with lots of different versions of taquitos and flautas. Taquitos are usually made with smaller, corn tortillas and flautas are made with larger, flour tortillas.
When baking, I find flour tortillas are easiest to use. They roll very easily and don't break unless they're a little stale. You'll love these baked chicken flautas because:
- Family-friendly - These are great for a family dinner or game day meal.
- Versatile - Easily an appetizer or a dinner when paired with sides!
- Lighter - Since these are baked and not deep fried, they'll leave you feeling satisfied without weighed down!
- Easy to batch - Because you can roll a lot of these on one baking sheet, you can cook more at once than with frying.
Ingredients
- Shredded chicken tinga - I highly recommend using my chicken tinga recipe to make the filling for these, but any shredded chicken will work. If using plain shredded chicken like from a rotisserie chicken, I recommend adding a little salsa to it or a few spices for more flavor.
- Cream cheese - Use one without carrageenan like Organic Valley or Philadelphia (block style).
- Cumin - Dried ground cumin is used to add extra flavor.
- Tortillas - I recommend using fresh flour tortillas that are typically found refrigerated (or if you're in Texas get the fresh ones at HEB/Central Market). TortillaLand, Margaritas, MiRancho are just a few brands.
- Oil spray - Olive oil or avocado oil will work for this. I prefer the spray for ease, but you could also brush it on.
How to Make Baked Flautas
Step 1: Make the chicken tinga filling
If using my chicken tinga taco filling, make this in the instant pot or crockpot the day before or earlier in the day. Or purchase a rotisserie chicken and shred it, then mix with a tablespoon or two of your favorite salsa. Mix that with the cumin and cream cheese till fully combined. (Picture 1,2)
Step 2: Roll the flautas
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the flour tortillas on a flat surface and spoon the chicken filling on one side. Carefully roll it up with your fingers as tight as possible. Secure with toothpicks if needed, but I find they stay together pretty well just placing seam side down on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Spray them or brush them with oil on all sides. (Picture 3)
Step 3: Bake
Bake for 20 minutes at 400F until golden brown and crispy. You may need to flip them halfway through to brown on both sides, but it's not terrible if you forget. (Picture 4)
Recipe Edits
- Veggies - Sometimes I'll add in extra veggies I have on hand like corn, green onion, mushrooms, squash, etc. You could even make these vegetarian this way.
- Cream cheese - I've seen some people who do dairy free who recommend mixing the chicken with refried beans instead of cheese!
- Tortillas - Any tortillas you like should work for this recipe. You can substitute corn for a gluten free version of baked chicken taquitos.
- Vegetarian - For a vegetarian version, I highly recommend using black beans. I have a precise recipe in The Dizzy Cook cookbook.
- Steak - This simple instant pot shredded steak would also be great.
Can I Air Fry Flautas?
If you're wondering if you can air fry this chicken flautas the answer is yes! They will just cook faster so you have to keep an eye on them.
I recommend reducing the time to about 7-8 minutes per side, or you can use my air fryer chicken taquito recipe.
What to Serve with Baked Chicken Flautas
Whether you're serving these baked flautas as a meal or appetizer, here are a few side suggestions.
- Sour Cream or Substitute - Sour cream makes a great dip and Daisy is my favorite. If you're following a migraine elimination diet, I highly recommend using whipped cottage cheese as a great substitute.
- Queso - Try both my queso recipes - mozzarella queso and white queso from The Dizzy Cook cookbook.
- Salsa Verde - You can find regular and salsa verde in my Dizzy Cook Cookbook. There’s also a great recipe for Mexican Black Beans in there that would be awesome with these chicken taquitos.
- Mexican Brown Rice
- Slaw
Storage Suggestions
- Refrigerator - Baked flautas will store well for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Freezer- Chicken flautas freeze extremely well! They can be reheated in the oven or in an air fryer directly from frozen. Reheat at 400 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes till warm and crispy!
Tex Mex Chicken Recipes
For more recipes like these baked chicken flautas, see these posts! And don't miss this air fryer chicken taquitos.
If you make this, tag me #thedizzycook or @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram. And if you love the recipe, please leave a review below! Follow along on my Pinterest for more great recipes.
Baked Chicken Flautas
Ingredients
- 1 pound shredded chicken filling (chicken tinga recommended)
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- any extra leftover chopped veggies, like corn or kale (Optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 12 flour tortillas or corn tortillas (taquitos)
- olive oil spray
Toppings
- 2 green onions
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- salsa verde
Instructions
- Spoon creamy chicken mixture into one side of a tortilla and roll up, as tight as you can. Place the tortilla seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Spray lightly with olive oil and bake at 400° for 20 minutes until lightly browned on outside and crispy. Serve warm.
Notes
- Rotisserie chicken or chicken breasts can be shredded and used for this recipe if you want something fast, but for the most flavor, use this chicken tinga recipe. You can also mix up the filling by using my shredded steak.
- Corn tortillas sub out well for flour if you're looking for a gluten free alternative. These are just usually called "taquitos".
- Reheat these at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. They'll still be crispy on the outside.
Question about freezing! Would you bake them and then freeze or prepare the recipe up to the baking point and then just bake when actually ready to eat them? Thanks! 🙂
I think you could do both but I bake and then freeze! They reheat crunchy! If you bake first, you'd just have to make sure you don't get them too dark while reheating. But you can cover with foil in the beginning and then remove it later on when the inside is warmed to crisp it up more.
These are *phenomenal*. I made them with regular cream cheese for my brother’s family, which includes 4 kids who are picky eaters, & it was an easy crowd favorite. I make them with goat cheese for myself & that melts beautifully too, and makes my mouth water as I’m writing this haha. TortillaLand tortillas have changed my life—I don’t even care to reintroduce regular tortillas bc these are so good & crisp up to a crunchy golden!
I am not only gluten free, but dairy free. What can be substituted for the cream cheese?
Hi Karey,
Just leave it out! It's good without the cheese too.
Hi Alicia! Would these freeze well? Maybe not with the cream cheese I guess?
Does the HYH diet allow for much food prep/freezer meals?
Thank you and congratulations on your pregnancy!!
They do freeze very well!! And yes!! There are so many great recipes for food prep and freezer meals. I talk more about this in my cookbook, but a resource here that you may enjoy is this 5 day meal plan which has you freezing some of the meals for the future. Also most of my soups freeze well too. Thank you!
It looks delicious, I have to try it
Love these!! My whole family requests these for dinner every week. Thank you!
Hi. I thought cream cheese is not a good choice for the vestibular migraine diet. Do you use a special type of cream cheese?
Thank you for all your posts and helpful advise.
Hey Sonia - cream cheese is ok, it just can't have carrageenan or live active cultures. Quite a few brands are ok - Philadelphia plain block cream cheese, organic valley, whole foods organic.
Love this recipe. It is always a crowd pleaser. Tou can make these as an appetizer or a meal!
Loved the creamy chicken taquitos!!!
Really quick and easy to make and sooo filling.. I couldn’t eat more than one and a half, saved the rest for later..
Thank you Alicia, can’t wait to get my new recipe book!
Thank you, Jill!! So glad you enjoyed!