Baked Chicken Taquitos

There's this "fancy" Mexican/Spanish restaurant in town called Saizon that does small plates. We went there a few weeks ago to check it out and tried their chicken taquitos. They were amazing! I looked at the ingredient list from the menu and thought that maybe we could make them at home. This is one of those times where I must be missing a key ingredient because it was pretty bland. Ours definitely did not end up the same as the restaurant. 

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup salsa (red or green)
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley
• 2 small scallions, diced
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 cup pepper jack cheese
• 12 6-inch flour tortillas
• cooking spray
• kosher salt

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix together the first nine ingredients until well combined and creamy. Add the chicken and cheese; stir thoroughly to combine. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll, about 10 seconds. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the lower third of a tortilla and roll it up tightly. Place the rolled tortilla seam-side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone, making sure the taquitos are not touching each other. 

Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with a little salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and golden. Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole or avocado crema. 

NOTES: The recipe calls for pepper jack cheese. We used Havarti because that's what the restaurant menu mentioned. However, it could be the Havarti was just sprinkled on the top and inside was some other cheese? I'd be willing to mix up the cheeses on this to get different results. 

Also, I think I've decided I'm not a fan of cumin. I can always smell it in the dishes we use it on and it just is not pleasant to me. I think it's the cumin? Anyway, I'd try leaving that out next time too.

Serves 4-5

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Recipe from BellyFull.net