Chicken Tinga Taquitos with Avocado Cream for #SundaySupper

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Chicken Tinga Taquitos | Savvy Eats

The summer after freshman year of college, Dan and I both spent the summer in Madison, working in research labs. Work-wise, it wasn’t the best experience – my advisor would disappear for days at a time, and it was over a month before I actually received any training for what I was hired to do. But in all other aspects, it was one of my favorite summers: we spent our evenings and weekends riding our bikes around Madison, attending various festivals and events and watching movies at one of our sublets (usually mine. Dan lived with three guys who weren’t the most hygienic, so we both preferred to hang out at the house where I was subletting a room).

It was our first summer on our own, away from our parents and the dorm dining halls, and we didn’t know how to cook much. So we always kept a box of taquitos in the freezer, and ate them for dinner a few times a week, usually with baby carrots or some frozen vegetables.

As I taught myself to cook and started paying a little more attention to the nutritional value of what I was eating, the taquitos slowly got phased out of our freezer. We hadn’t eaten them in years, up until the week before we left for Jamaica last month.

I was trying to empty out our freezer, since we were going to be away for nine days.  The Wednesday before we left, I grabbed a big container of salad greens and a box of taquitos to get us through some of the last few pre-vacation dinners.

Chicken Tinga Taquitos

While the taquitos were less unhealthy than I expected them to be, and still pretty tasty, I knew I could make something even better. So as soon as we got back, I challenged myself to come up with an even better taquito recipe…and with these chicken tinga taquitos, I’m pretty sure I succeeded!

And this avocado cream? It is more of an avocado ranch dip. And I just want to use it on everything – as a dip for taquitos, sure, but also on salads and in scrambled eggs. It may just become a regular staple in our refrigerator. While it does contain some mayonnaise, much of the mayo and all of the sour cream and buttermilk from a typical ranch dressing is replaced by avocado and fat-free Greek yogurt, making it much lighter and healthier. So I don’t have to feel quite as guilty for using it on everything!

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Chicken Tinga Taquitos with Avocado Cream

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: About 20 taquitos

Chicken Tinga Taquitos with Avocado Cream

The spice of these flavorful chicken taquitos is tempered by an avocado ranch sauce. If you'd like to make them less spicy, cut back on the chipotle puree. They can also be made with corn tortillas if you'd prefer, though I've found that they are more likely to tear and leak.

Filling adapted from Tacos by Mark Miller.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 10 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 1 poblano pepper, diced
  • 12 ounces chorizo sausage
  • 12 ounces crushed tomatoes, with juice
  • 1 7-ounce can chipotle chilies in adobo, pureed
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 20- 6" flour tortillas
    • For the avocado cream:
  • 1 avocado
  • 1/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons lime juice
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
  2. Cover the chicken breasts with the 4 cups of water in a large stockpot. Put the lid on, and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside. When it is cool enough to handle, shred the chicken with two forks.
  3. Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the onion, garlic, bell pepper and poblano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7-10 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
  4. Crumble the chorizo into the skillet and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
  5. Return the vegetables and chicken to the skillet. Add the tomatoes, chipotle puree, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until much of the liquid is absorbed and the filling is heated through. This should take 10-15 minutes.
  6. Grease a 9x13" baking pan. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of filling into a tortilla in a single line about 1/3 of the way from one edge. Roll tightly, and place seam down in the pan. Repeat until the pan is full (you will have extra filling and tortillas).
  7. Brush the tops of the taquitos with oil, and bake at 450F for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
  8. Either cook the rest of the filling into taquitos, or allow it to cool completely before sealing in an airtight freezer-safe container and freezing for later.
    9. For the avocado cream:
  9. Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until completely mixed.

Make Ahead and Storage

Extra filling can be frozen for up to 3 months for future use.

Here's how to freeze your taquitos!

http://www.savvyeat.com/chicken-tinga-taquitos-avocado-cream-sundaysupper/

This week on #SundaySupper, we’re talking about our favorite stuffed, wrapped and rolled foods. Check out what everyone else made!

Starters and Snacks

Entrees and Mains

All things Sweet

 

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Comments

  2. says

    omg everything about this sounds delicious. Chicken, chorizo and balsamic=yum. Pinned! And I’m swooning over that Avocado cream sauce. I’ll be trying that very soon. I tried to make taquitos once and couldn’t get them small enough, they looked silly. But this recipe has inspired me to give it another try. Thanks for sharing.

  12. says

    Yeah, I have a feeling your homemade taquitos are WAY better than the boxed version. And your avocado cream sounds amazing!

  17. says

    I want to dive face first into that avocado cream! Actually instead I’ll take those taquitos and dive them into it!

  20. says

    I love taquitos so much so I am rather surprised I haven’t actually tried making it at home before. Can’t wait to give your recipe a try.

  24. says

    Nice job, Julie! The crispy exterior of the taquitos looks perfect and I’m in love with your avocado cream sauce. I bet thees taste a thousand times better than the frozen stuff!

Trackbacks

  3. […] February (here’s how to freeze taquitos). In the time it took them to bake, I managed to make an avocado cream dipping sauce and side salad and get the kitchen all cleaned up. Win-win – a delicious dinner and one less […]