The ultra-crispy baked chicken flautas have fewer calories AND are easier to make than traditional versions. This recipe is a crowd favorite and has been pinned over a million times!
You guys, these baked taquitos are so good. SO. GOOD.
They’re really well seasoned (not spicy at all, but definitely not bland either). And baking them at a high temperature leaves them nice and crispy without any greasiness.
I even managed to sneak some vegetables into them.
You should make them ASAP.
I was worried that the flautas wouldn’t be filling enough on their own, so I served them with some refried beans. They ended up not really needing the beans, but it was a nice touch to round out the meal.
Taquitos? Flautas? What are these things called?
Taquitos and Flautas are deep fried tortillas wrapped around savory fillings.
Traditionally, taquitos are made with corn tortillas, while flautas are made with flour tortillas.
Since I used flour tortillas in this recipes, these are technically baked chicken flautas. However, the two works are often used interchangably and most people simply refer to both versions as taquitos.
Whatever you call them, they’re delicious!
The secrets to making healthier taquitos
I use a few tricks to keeping these delicious flautas on the lighter side.
- Bake instead of fry. Baking these taquitos uses less oil than frying, cutting both calories and fat. You can be them in a regular oven, like I did when I started making them, or in an air fryer.
- Cut the tortillas in half. Cutting the tortillas in half before you roll the filling up helps cut way back on calories and carbs! You’ll never miss that other half. Be sure to watch the video to see my rolling technique.
- Poach the chicken. You can make these flautas with chicken breasts or thighs. Whichever you use, poaching them will keep them extra juicy, for that perfect soft and creamy flauta filling.
What to serve with chicken flautas:
I love serving these chicken taquitos with Mexican rice or refried beans. They’re also great served on the side of a steamy bowl of tortilla soup.
More baked taquito ideas:
If you love baked taquitos, be sure to also try my:
- Baked Chicken and Hummus Flautas
- Baked Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
- Baked Vegetable Taquitos
- Baked Breakfast Taquitos
You’ll also love my collection of healthy Mexican food recipes.
Baked Chicken and Spinach Flautas
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless Chicken Thighs (about 4)
- 16 ounces Beer or chicken broth
- 2 cups Water
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 Jalapeno Pepper minced
- 3 cups Baby Spinach chopped
- 5 burrito-size Flour Tortillas 9 inches
- 6 ounces Quesadilla cheese or other soft cheese like Monterey jack shredded
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil or cooking spray
- Salsa for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
- Put the chicken thighs in a deep sided saute pan and cover with the beer and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the liquid and shred it. Mix together the chicken and seasonings.
- Pour out all but 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the jalapeno and spinach and cook over low heat until for 2-3 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted.
- Cut the tortillas in half. Spoon 1/10th of the chicken (about 1 tablespoon) along the long edge of a tortilla. Repeat with the spinach and cheese. Roll the tortilla up, starting with the straight edge. Place seam-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Brush the flautas with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake for until 10 minutes, or until crispy. Serve with salsa.
Yum!!! This looks and sounds awesome! Love using spinach and a great way to use up extra rotisserie chicken! Great recipe ladies.
If your going to post a recipe here complete it or don’t post it
The recipe should be right at the end of the post – do you not see it there? Let me know if there’s a technical issue I need to sort out, but I see it fine on my end.
The text and images are there but the actual recipe with amounts and times and directions has disappeared, it’s just a blank space. Disappointing because I’ve made it a couple times and looooved it and this last time I had to go to another site to a similar recipe, not quite as good. Hope you can resolve the technical issue! : )
Thanks – I just re-saved it, which hopefully fixed the issue.
Hi There
I tried these with tortillas and they were great. I then tried them with spring roll wrappers and the lightness of the wrapper left them really crispy on the outside if you add a light egg wash. They felt much lighter when eating them. I just followed your instructions but was careful to ensure they came out a little earlier from the oven. I also used 2 wonton wrappers to make little empanadas using the same recipe. They turned out really well if you put an egg wash on them and are perfect for snacks or as a side to a meal.
We love these! It’s a fairly simple weeknight meal and I love that my kids are getting some greens! They freeze so well too!
I’m so glad you like them!
These are delicious! If I wanted to freeze them, do I cook them according to directions and then freeze or freeze before baking?
I’ve had good luck freezing them after they’re baked. I reheat them in a 450-degree oven for about 8 minutes.
Well well well nothing besides fabulous and my picky picky 6 year old absolutely LOVED these! I made absolutely no changes to the originally recipe. I hated having to spread the spinach mixture with my hands, was so tempted to mix it with the chicken from the beginning but wasn’t sure how that would affect the overall outcome so I suffered through it. Have you experimented with mixing all the ingredients together before spreading onto the tortilla?
I’m so glad you liked them!
I have tried mixing the chicken in with the rest of the filling, but I was’t happy with it. The spinach mixture gets a little clumpy, so it’s hard to mix the chicken in evenly – I ended up with big section of chicken and sections of veggies rather than getting a little of both in every bite.
I just stumbled across your recipe when I was looking for something with tortillas, chicken, and spinach. I didn’t have jalapenos, and I didn’t use the chicken broth, but they worked. My family love these tonight! Thank you.
These were awesome! Make sure to fold the ends like a burrito, that helps prevent the ends from burning. I attempted to make them with whole wheat tortillas but they are too dry and crack when u roll. Use the flours tortillas. My kids loved them and they have spinach hidden inside!