Easy (and Cheap) Homemade Chicken & Cheese Taquitos

I posted a picture of this dinner on Facebook a few nights ago and the first comment was “what’s the recipe?” I promised I would have it up soon! And here it is! They are sooooooo good. And easy to make once I figured out what I was doing. And the ingredients are simple and inexpensive. I topped it off with homemade guac and chips. I’ve included instructions on how to make both of those at the end of the post.

Easy, Homemade Chicken and Cheese Taquitos (plus homemade chips and guacamole)

 

Homemade Taquitos

1 Large (20 oz) Can Chicken (drained)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 /3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup salsa
1 &  1/2 cup colby jack cheese
corn tortillas (6 in)*
vegetable or canola oil for frying

*You can use flour tortillas.  They don’t fall apart as easily.  But I like the taste of the corn tortillas in this recipe – and I don’t usually like corn tortillas.  But if you want to use flour or just already have flour ones, they will work.

***This makes enough to feed a large hungry crowd.  I made the recipe for a second time using a 10 oz can of chicken and halving everything else.  It made 10 taquitos – which is MORE than enough for us!***

Easy, Homemade Chicken and Cheese Taquitos

 

Add 1/2 inch of oil to frying pan and set on medium heat.  Mix the first 5 ingredients together.  Spread on tortillas.  And I mean THIN.  These things are supposed to roll up.  So you’ve got to spread it thin.

Also, don’t think that you’re going to fill all of them up, roll them up and then start frying them.  Corn tortillas are fickle.  If you fill them and roll them and let them sit while you fill and roll the others, they will start to tear.  Yes, they will tear just sitting there rolled up.

So you have to let your oil get hot and then fill, roll, fry.  Fill, roll, fry.

Easy, Homemade Chicken and Cheese Taquitos

Don’t those just look yummy??   So I waited until my oil was hot enough that I could start adding the taquitos.  I would fill one, roll it and put it in the pan.  Then move on to the next one.  I could fit 4 in one pan.  I flipped them once to get them golden on both sides.  Then I lifted them out with tongs and put them on a plate covered with some paper towels so they could drain.  Then I added 4 more.

You should be able to get about 10-12 taquitos from this recipe.

Now for the sides:

Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips

So I had to buy a whole pack of tortillas for this recipe but I knew we wouldn’t use them all.  So instead of buying a bag of tortilla chips for the sides, I decided to make my own!

Using a pizza cutter, I stacked up 3-4 corn tortillas at a time and sliced them into triangles, just like cutting a pizza.

Arrange your triangles on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil (spread it with a pastry brush if you have one – this will make them bake more evenly).  Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake on 350 for 5 minutes.  Flip and bake for 2-3 minutes more.  *you really have to watch them and may have to adjust these times.

Homemade Easy, Healthy Guacamole

Sometimes I like to make loaded guac – tomatoes, cilantro, the whole 9 yards.  But this kind is so easy I know I can always make it because I always have what I need.  And I can make just as much as I need.  One avocado’s worth is enough for one meal for me and Hubs.  If I were feeding more (or wanted leftovers) I would just increase the number of avocados and adjust everything else accordingly.

1 ripe avocado
1/4 diced red onion
pinch of sea salt
lime (optional)

Slice and peel avocado.  Add avocado, onion and sea salt to your food processor.  Add a squirt of fresh lime (optional).  Blend until smooth.

Enjoy!