Chipotle Chicken and Sweet Potato Flautas Recipe

I love this dish because it works as well for one or two as it does for a family meal – if you’re dining alone you can prepare this in 20 minutes or so, and enjoy an authentic, and tasty Mexican meal – made from scratch!

I love chipotles, and the secret ingredient to these flautas here is the mashed sweet potatoes. The smoky heat of chipotles is perfect with the sweetness of mashed sweet potatoes (seriously, add chipotle sauce to anything you make with sweet potatoes – it always tastes great!) and they add a really interesting flavor note to this seriously tasty dish.

I’ll often make this up when I’ve got some leftover sweet potatoes in the fridge – easy-peasy

Chipotle Chicken and Sweet Potato Flautas (for 1, multiply as necessary)

• About a half cup of cooked mashed sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes can be mashed just as regular potatoes. Cook them any way you life (boil, bake, microwave, whatever) and then mash with butter and salt. Yummy.
• 1 chicken breast, cut lengthwise (making big flat strips) into ¼ inch strips
• Some chipotle sauce, about ½ cup or so
• 4 corn tortillas
• Oil for frying
• Onions, spicy tomato salsa and sour cream for topping
• Cilantro for garnish, optional

1. Heat a fry pan up over high and add a splash of vegetable oil to sauté your chicken strips. Wait until the pan is very hot (you want to get the chicken a bit browned before it cooks through, if possible) and then add in your chicken strips.
2. Let the chicken strips cook for a minute or so on one side, letting them get as browned as possible, Flip them over and cook for another few seconds and then add in the chipotle sauce and a splash of water.
3. Let the sauce bubble and boil up for another minute or so, or just until the chicken has cooked through, and then turn off the heat.
   
4. Using your kitchen tongs (or a knife, if you’d rather) roughly tear up the chicken into bite sized pieces. I just do this in the pan, to avoid making an unnecessary mess.
5. Heat a small skillet or fry pan to medium high with about ¼ inch of oil in for frying.
6. Give your mashed sweet potatoes a quick turn in the microwave, just to reheat them.
7. Lay your 4 tortillas out on the counter and then divide the sweet potatoes between the 4, spearing a lengthwise strip down the center of each, and then divide up the chicken atop the four strips of mashed sweet potatoes.
8. When your oil is hot, roll up one corn tortilla into a flauta shape (a little tube with an open end) using kitchen tongs, hold the tube shut and still holding it shut, hold it in the oil for 30 seconds or so. After about 30 seconds the tortilla will have hardened slightly and it will hold its shape. You can then let go with your tongs without worrying about the tortilla unraveling.
9. Fry the flauta on all sides until just barely crisped. About 90 seconds per flauta. Repeat with the remaining flautas – once you get the hang of this you can do multiple flautas at the same time.
10. Drain each flauta very well and then transfer to a serving plate. On top of each flauta, spoon over some spicy tomato salsa and some sour cream and then top with thinly shaved onions and cilantro for garnish.

Delicious!