During the giveaway for the Our Best Bites cookbook I had a LOT of comments referring to their recipe for Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos. I had never heard of them, but I couldn’t believe how many of you love them enough to mention them! I just had to try them. So I did, and here they are, for the rest of us who have never heard of them! You’ll also find the recipe for the dressing with this post.
I love the idea of having something that is normally fried, oily, and chewy turned into something baked, crispy, and awesome.
These are great for a party snack, appetizer, or dinner. We had them for dinner tonight and my husband loved them. The dressing was also a real treat to have at home without having to go to Costa Vida for a pork salad to have it. Of course I ask for extra when I'm there. This is a good copycat recipe for that yummy ranch they have Costa Vida. And it doesn’t even take very many ingredients. In fact, you can buy the ingredients for the taquitos and you end up using a few of them for the dressing. Works out pretty great!
These would also be good dipped in sour cream, salsa, or guacamole.
Ingredients (makes 12 to 16 taquitos)
- 1/3 c. (3 oz.) cream cheese
- 1/4 c. green salsa
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. granulated garlic, or garlic powder
- 3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
- 2 c. cooked chicken, shredded
- 1 c. grated pepper jack cheese
- 12 to 16 small corn tortillas (I hear that flour tortillas are delicious with this too!)
- kosher salt (or the gourmet salt on your spice rack)
- cooking spray
Directions
Heat cream cheese in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to make it soft and easy to stir. Add the green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic. Stir to combine then add cilantro and green onion. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
Heat a few tortillas at a time in the microwave till they are warm and can roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels then heated for 20-30 seconds. Place 2-3 Tbsp. of chicken mixture on the lower third of the tortilla. Be sure to keep it about half an inch away from the edges on the sides. (PS I put 2 Tbsp. of mixture on each one and ended up with 12 total. And some of the chicken oozed out the side. So depending on what you want, you may want to do just a little less.)
Roll them up as tightly as you can. Place them seam side down on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Make sure you lightly spray the foil with cooking spray, and when you place the taquitos on the sheet they shouldn’t touch each other.
Spray the tops with cooking spray then sprinkle some of the kosher salt or gourmet salt on top.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to turn brown.
Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 pack (1 oz.) Hidden Valley Dressing Mix (ignore the directions on the pack)
- 1 c. mayo
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1 lime
- 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 c. roughly chopped cilantro
- 1/4 c. green salsa
- hot sauce
Directions
Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender or food processer. Juice the lime right into that (ends up being about 2 Tbsp.). Toss in the garlic, green salsa, and cilantro. Blend everything together. Taste it and add a bit of hot sauce if you feel like it needs more of a kick. Up to you! Make this up a few hours in advance so it can thicken up.
