Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Flautas

Flautas are the perfect bundle of joy. Scrumptious chicken and cheese wrapped in a crunchy tortilla - all I can say is yes please! These crispy air fryer chicken flautas are effortless, and require little time to prepare or even cook. You will be wondering why you haven't made flautas in the air fryer before! If you are feeling tangy, top with some homemade pickled onions! Serve these crispy flautas on their own, or with any of these delicious Mexican-inspired salads, to make it a meal!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Recipe Overview
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Tips and Tricks
• FAQ
• Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Flautas
• 💬 Comments

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• They are a great party appetizer or a main course! You can cut these flautas in half to make a perfect game day appetizer, or keep them whole and eat them as a main course!
• The filling is no-cook! To cut down on time, the filling is no cook! Rotisserie chicken makes the perfect shortcut for these chicken flautas.
• The options are endless! I love this filling, but you can add literally anything into a cheesy filling and wrap it in a tortilla. I mean that!

Recipe Overview

• Flavour: The filling has perfect creamy cream cheese and some sharp cheddar. It gets a little kick from smokey chipotle pepper powder, but not too overpowering or overwhelmingly spicy. A drizzle of sour cream or Mexican crema on top balances out the kick perfectly!
• Ease: Rotisserie chicken makes these easy. All you need to do is mix the filling together, and roll these flautas tightly. Since we wrap them tight, there's no need for toothpicks to hold them together!
• Time: Once these tortillas are wrapped up, they take 15 minutes in the air fryer to get perfectly brown and crispy. The prep takes approximately 10 minutes, making this a less than 30 minute meal!

Ingredients

• Shredded chicken breast: Shortcuts in the kitchen are a-okay! Shredded rotisserie chicken breast makes for an easy filling. If you prefer dark meat, feel free to use shredded chicken thighs instead. Leave out the skin though, as much as it pains me to say it!
• Cream cheese: The cream cheese is the perfect binder to hold the filling together. It will be thick enough that it will not fall out of the flautas, but also melts to a perfectly creamy bite!
• Scallions and green pepper: The obligatory green elements, really. Scallions add a mild onion taste that is preferable to raw onions in the filling. You can use any bell pepper of your choice, if you don't enjoy green bell peppers!
• Sharp cheddar cheese: I do not discriminate against cheese. I enjoy sharp cheddar cheese in these, but if you have pepperjack, or monterey jack on hand, those would be perfect. You want to use a good melting cheese, and preferably shred it fresh to avoid the coating on pre-shredded cheese.
• Spices and seasonings: You will need chipotle chilli pepper, ancho chilli pepper, garlic power and onion powder to season the filling.

Instructions

1. Prepare the Filling: In a mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the filling. This will work best if the cream cheese is either room temperature, or slightly softened if you forget to take it out of the fridge (lol, me!)
2. Fill the Flautas: Fill the tortillas with equal parts of the filling - it should be roughly ⅓ of a cup in each tortilla.
3. Roll: Roll up the tortillas tightly and place them seam down in the air fryer basket.
4. Air fry: Spray the top of the flautas with olive oil cooking spray, and air fry for 15 minutes at 380 degrees.

Tips and Tricks

• Chop the scallions and bell peppers finely: To avoid large bites of veggies in the filling, try to dice the bell peppers and scallions as finely as possible!
• Make sure the cream cheese is soft: You want the cream cheese to be mix-able. There is nothing worse than trying to mix a block of hard cream cheese. The spices will not mix through well if the cream cheese still has a chill on it. To soften, if you forget to take it out in advance, microwave on 50% power in 10 second increments.

FAQ