Recipe Swap: Creamy Chicken Taquitos

It's Blogger's Choice Recipe (well, more like Blog) Swap again! Sarah from A Taste of Home Cooking assigns us a blog, and we get to choose which recipe to make. My assigned blog was Kylee Cooks. 

I found many recipes that I wanted to make, and finally settled on chicken taquitos. Taquitos are small corn tortillas with filling (usually beef or chicken) that are fried. Flautas are similar, but are usually made with flour tortillas. 

They were a good choice! It had been a while since we'd last had Mexican food (heck, with the stomach bug that got passed around, it had been a while since we'd last cooked anything!), and it was a nice change from our usual repertoire of meals. I made only a few minor changes to the recipe. I used chicken thighs because they are moister than chicken breasts, and between roasting, and being heated again as the taquitos cooked, I thought breasts would dry out. I also opted for the traditional corn tortillas instead of flour ones. 

Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Slightly adapted from Kylee Cooks
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ to 1 ½ lbs chicken thighs
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 12- to 16-ounce jar mild, medium or hot chunky salsa, divided
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ small red onion, diced
• 3 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend, plus more for garnish
• 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• Cooking spray
• Kosher salt
• Sour cream and/or guacamole, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil. 
2. Lay chicken thighs on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Roast for 20 minutes, then flip each thigh, and roast an additional ten minutes. 
4. Increase oven temp to 425 degrees. 
5. Trim any fat, remove meat from the bones and shred the chicken, and place in a mixing bowl. Add the cream cheese, ¼ cup of the salsa, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic, red onion, cilantro, green onions, and 1 cup shredded cheese to the bowl, and mix until evenly distributed. 
6. Line a clean baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. 
7. Place the tortillas on a microwaveable plate and heat for about 30 seconds on high. 
8. Working quickly, place two spoonfuls of the filling on one half of each tortilla, then rolling the tortilla tightly around the filling. Rewarm the tortillas as necessary if they start to stiffen and crack. 
9. Place the filled taquitos seam-side down on the baking sheet, one right next to the other. 
10. Lightly spray the tops of the taquitos with cooking spray, then sprinkle with coarse kosher salt. 
11. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. 
12. Plate 3 taquitos, top with additional cheese, and serve with remaining salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole, and Mexican rice.