Chicken and Cheese Taquitos
Serves 12
Directions
- 1Shred chicken leg quarter meat, leaving it in fairly large pieces with chunks, and remove the skin.
- 2Chop about half of a red bell pepper (or green bell pepper) into tiny cubes.
- 3Dice half an onion into tiny cubes.
- 4In a stainless steel skillet on medium-high heat, add a little neutral oil.
- 5Add the chopped onion and pepper to the skillet and cook them down.
- 6Add a pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes until soft, stirring frequently.
- 7Once soft and any water has evaporated, move the cooked onion and pepper to the bowl with the chicken.
- 8Add half a block of softened cream cheese to the bowl.
- 9Add 4 ounces of shredded mild cheddar cheese and 4 ounces of shredded Monterey Jack to the bowl.
- 10Add 2 tablespoons of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of cumin, and 2 teaspoons of chili powder.
- 11Carefully fold all the ingredients together into a homogeneous mix, ensuring no cream cheese clumps remain.
- 12Scoop about 3 tablespoons of the mixture onto a flour tortilla, just off-center.
- 13Fold the back end of the tortilla over the filling, then tuck and roll tightly.
- 14Insert a toothpick at an angle into the lip of the rolled tortilla to keep it from unrolling.
- 15Repeat the filling and rolling process for all tortillas, yielding around 12 taquitos.
- 16To deep fry, fill a high-walled saucepan with about an inch of oil and heat it to 375 degrees.
- 17Carefully lay 2-3 taquitos into the hot oil, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.
- 18Cook on one side for about 1.5 to 2 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for the same duration until golden and crispy.
- 19Remove cooked taquitos and let them drain on a wire rack.
- 20Repeat frying with the remaining taquitos.
- 21While the next batch is frying, carefully pull out the toothpicks from the drained taquitos.
- 22Serve the taquitos with shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, cilantro, and cotija cheese.
Ingredients
- leg quarter meat
- 0.5 red bell pepper
- 0.5 onion
- neutral oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 0.5 block cream cheese, softened
- 4 ounces shredded mild cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces shredded Monterey Jack
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- flour tortillas
- 1 inch oil
- shredded lettuce
- sour cream
- guacamole
- tomatoes
- cilantro
- cotija cheese
Equipment
stainless steel skilletwire rackhigh-walled saucepantoothpick
Tips
- Remove skin from chicken.
- Keep moving onions and peppers while cooking to prevent burning.
- Add a splash of water to deglaze the pan if onions and peppers are close to burning.
- Ensure no cream cheese clumps remain in the mixture.
- Flour tortillas are easier to work with than corn tortillas for rolling.
- Do not overcrowd the pan when deep frying to maintain oil temperature.
- Carefully remove toothpicks while the next batch is frying.
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