Chicken Taquitos with Chipotle Salsa and Guacamole

I can’t visit my favorite Mexican restaurants due to the world world’ing right now, but these crispy chicken taquitos with chipotle “pantry” salsa and guacamole are giving me the vibes I needed. These delicious, super easy to make chicken taquitos are for my texture lovers. If you’re a huge fan of hot, crispy, salty, creamy, spicy, and juicy all in one bite? This recipe is for you.

I haven’t stepped foot inside of a grocery store since early March. Instacart has been my savior during these crazy times. I buy tomatoes often, but I didn’t have any fresh ones on hand. I decided to grab one of the bazillion cans of crushed tomatoes from my pantry and use those instead. You know what? I think I honestly prefer it to fresh. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just keeping it real. The tomatoes are picked at the peak of freshness and stuffed in a can for us to use however we want. 

As much as I love a soft taco, something about frying a rolled taco and covering it with cooling ingredients just sits right with me. I’ve always loved food with texture, so that superior crunch against the soft filling inside, with that cool yet spicy salsa and guac? Whew. Sign me up again and again. 

What’s great about making taquitos is that there honestly isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. Stuff it with whatever you like! Don’t eat meat? Use whatever non-meat-eaters use lol. Prefer steak, turkey, or duck instead of chicken? Girl, do you. Don’t wanna use cheese? Don’t add it. All I ask is that you season whatever filling you use, and make sure you’re happy with it before it’s fried. 

Feel free to switch up the garnishes. Again, I’m using what I had on hand. When I’m at a restaurant, I typically have taquitos with shredded lettuce, fresh pico de gallo, guac, and sour cream or Mexican crema. These are such a great appetizer or main dish, depending on how you’re feeling. I may or may not have eaten like 6 of them. If you’re into this sort of recipe, check out my Tex Mex Beef Tacos. They’re an oldie but goodie.

Check out the video below to watch how they’re made!

Chicken Taquitos with Chipotle Salsa and Guacamole

---

★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

• Author: Chef Resha
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: about 18-20 taquitos

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Super delicious crispy rolled tacos, flautas, taquitos — whatever you call them, they’re fire. Chicken is well seasoned, mixed together with a little adobo sauce and cheese to hold it together, rolled up and fried to perfection. Served with pantry salsa, spicy guacamole and cooled down with creamy sour cream. You’re gonna love!

---

Ingredients

Units USM

• Corn tortillas (I used 6-inch tortillas)
• Oil, for frying (or cooking spray for air-fried taquitos)

Pantry Chipotle Salsa

• 1 28–ounce can crushed tomatoes (or whole peeled tomatoes, juices included)
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobe (or 1 small jalapeño)
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• Few cloves of garlic, roughly chopped (use more or less if you’d like)
• Big handful of fresh cilantro (use less or more if you’d like)
• Juice from a lime (or two)
• Flaky kosher salt to taste

Guacamole

• 3 ripe Hass avocados
• 1/2 cup onion (color doesn’t matter), roughly chopped
• 1 fat garlic clove (use however much you want)
• 1 jalapeno, rouchly chopped (keep the membrane and seeds for more heat if you’d like)
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro (use however much you like)
• Juice from a lime
• Pinch of cumin
• Pinch of ground coriander
• Flaky kosher salt, to taste

Taquito Filling

• 14 ounces cooked chicken, shredded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon granulated onion
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon Taco seasoning
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• Flaky kosher salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup cheese, shredded by hand
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (optional)

Optional garnishes

• Sour cream
• Mexican crema
• Fresh cilantro
• Cotija cheese
• Shredded lettuce
• Fresh tomatoes, chopped
• Lime wedges

---

Instructions

For the salsa

Pulverize all of the above ingredients in a food processor or blender until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the guacamole

Blend everything together until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the taquito filling

Mix all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Mixture should not be soaking wet, but just moist enough to hold itself together.

For everything else

Warm corn or flour tortillas over medium heat for just a few seconds per side until they’re pliable and easy to fold without cracking. Keep the tortillas warm by wrapping them in foil, or a kitchen towel.

Heat about 1 inch of vegetable or canola oil in a skillet until it registers 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, roll up as many taquitos as you can, storing them seam-side down until the oil is hot. When the oil is hot, fry each taquito seam-side down for about 2-4 minutes per side, or until crispy and golden brown. Drain the taquitos on a baking sheet lined with a baking rack so that they don’t sit in oil. If you don’t have a baking rack, just use paper towels but don’t let them sit on the paper towels for too long or they may sog up. While they’re piping hot, season them with a dash of sea salt.

(To make these in an air-fryer:

Spray the taquitos with cooking spray, and air-fry at your desired setting until crisp! It’s that simple.

Serve immediately with the pantry salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Notes

These are starting point measurements. You will be responsible for how you season your own food, because you know what you like! Recipes like this are more about the method and technique, not exact measurements.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Category: appetizers
• Method: frying

Keywords: chicken taquitos, taquitos, taquito appetizers, rolled tacos, fried tacos, flautas, crispy chicken taquitos, homemade salsa, homemade guacamole

Recipe Card powered by