Looking for a good meal idea for Meatless Mondays? Are you hoping to find a hearty vegetarian dinner that even the meat-lovers in your family will devour? These easy cheese flautas are a staple at our house, and we are a family of devoted meat-and-potatoes fans. This dinner idea is also a great way to please picky eaters, as toppings can be adjusted or omitted to suit different tastes. How do you make flautas from scratch? What are flautas anyway? Read on to find out!
Table of Contents
What are Flautas?
Why are they called flautas? How do you pronounce flautas? Traditionally, flautas (pronounced flaw-tuhz) are fried tortillas rolled in the shape of a flute. Even though this recipe shapes the flautas differently, that’s where the name comes from. What’s the difference between flautas and taquitos? Are flautas made with corn or flour tortillas? Usually, taquitos are made with corn tortillas and flautas are made with flour tortillas, as in this recipe. Sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, so confusion may arise. If you make this cheese flauta recipe often enough, you won’t be confused about the difference. What’s the difference between flautas and enchiladas? Flautas are fried, and enchiladas are usually baked in some kind of sauce. Both dishes contain rolled tortillas, so it’s easy to see how the two might get mixed up.
How Many Flautas Does it Take to Serve One Person?
Most of the time, we plan two or three flautas per person. For this recipe, you will just have to adjust the quantity of ingredients to fit the number of people you are serving. For the purposes of simplicity, I gave the quantities to serve four. Please adjust as needed.
Ingredients for Serving Four People (3 Cheese Flautas Each)
1 pound Monterey jack cheese (or pepper jack if you prefer, enough for 12 slices)
12 flour tortillas (I usually use the burrito size)
1 cup cooking oil (I usually use canola oil)
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 head lettuce, chopped
2 large avocados
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons ketchup, to taste
1-2 teaspoons dried, minced onion, to taste
1/2-1 teaspoon chili powder, to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, to taste
A few drops of hot pepper sauce, to taste
12 wooden toothpicks
1 cup sour cream (optional)
1/2 cup salsa (optional)
Directions for Cheese Flautas
Heat the oil on the stove in a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Line a baking dish with paper towels and set it near the stovetop.
While oil is heating, prepare guacamole by peeling the avocados, removing the pit, and mashing in a flat-bottomed container. Add lemon juice, ketchup, minced onion, chili powder, garlic powder, and hot sauce, if using. Mix together and chill. (For more details, see the Easy Holiday Appetizers post.)
Dice tomatoes and chop lettuce. put in separate bowls and refrigerate.
Slice the cheese into 12 pieces. Place each piece inside a flour tortilla and fold sides in like an envelope.
Fasten each cheese flauta with a wooden toothpick.
Turn oven on to heat at 200 degrees.
By now the oil should be hot. If the oil starts smoking, turn the heat down or remove the pan from the heat for a bit.
Using the metal tongs, dip each cheese flauta in the hot oil, one at a time.
Hold in the oil for about 30 seconds, until the tortilla is browned. The cheese should be melted on the inside.
After frying, place each flauta in the baking dish.
After flautas are all fried, place the baking dish in the oven to keep the cheese flautas warm. Place the guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream (if using) on the table to serve with the flautas. Remove the toothpicks before serving, if you like. Call everyone to the table, say grace, load each cheese flauta with the desired toppings, and enjoy!
How do You Seal Tortillas for Frying?
In this recipe, I use toothpicks. That’s more to keep them closed after I fold the tortillas into the envelope share. If you don’t have toothpicks, you could just turn the tortillas upside down so the open ends are laying on your work surface. (I usually use a big wooden cutting board.) When you are ready to fry the cheese flauta, just grip with the tongs and hold the tongs in place while frying. The fried tortilla should keep its shape when you place it in the baking dish. If you use toothpicks, you can remove them before serving, if you like.
What’s a Good Side Dish for Cheese Flautas?
What do you eat with flautas? Since there are so many accompaniments to place on top of the cheese flautas, I don’t usually add any more side dishes. If you wanted to, you could add the classic Mexican side dishes of refried beans and seasoned rice. An excellent dessert choice would be Pea-Pickin’ Cake or easy Berry Gelato.
Flautas
Equipment
- metal tongs
Ingredients
- 1 pound Monterey jack cheese sliced
- 12 flour tortillas
- 1 cup cooking oil
- 2 fresh tomatoes diced
- ½ head of lettuce chopped
- 2 large avocados mashed
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1-2 teaspoons ketchup
- 1-2 teaspoons dried, minced onion
- ½-1 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 3-5 drops hot pepper sauce
- toothpicks
- sour cream optional
- salsa optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil on the stove in a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Line a baking dish with paper towels and set it near the stovetop.
- While oil is heating, prepare guacamole by peeling the avocados, removing the pit, and mashing in a flat-bottomed container. Add lemon juice, ketchup, minced onion, chili powder, garlic powder, and hot sauce, if using. Mix together and chill.
- Dice tomatoes and chop lettuce. Put in separate bowls and refrigerate.
- Slice the cheese into 12 pieces. Place each piece inside a flout tortilla and fold sides in like an envelope. Fasten each cheese flauta with a wooden toothpick.
- Turn oven on to heat at 200 degrees.
- By now the oil should be hot. If the oil starts smoking, turn the heat down or remove the pan from the heat for a bit.
- Using the metal tongs, dip each cheese flauta in the hot oil, one at a time. Hold in the oil for about 30 seconds, until the tortilla is browned. The cheese should be melted on the inside. After frying, place each flauta in the baking dish.
- After flautas are all fried, place the baking dish in the oven to keep the cheese flautas warm. Place the guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream (if using) on the table to serve with the flautas.
Other Recipes to Warm You Up
Interested in other cozy, comfort food recipes? Try these!
- Easy Cola Chicken Recipe with 4 Simple Ingredients
- Easy French Onion Soup with Sausage in the Slow Cooker
- Raclette: More than Just a Meal, It’s a Fun Family Activity
- Easy Curried Turkey
- Easy Ham and Potato Hash
- Simple Thai Curry Chili
Are You Excited to Make Easy Cheese Flautas?
This delicious recipe is calling my name. If you decide to try these easy cheese flautas, I’d love to see pictures. If you do make this recipe, take a picture and tag me on Instagram! I’ll feature the photo in my Instagram story.
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Lisa Mitchell is a wife, mom, and school librarian who likes to create and share recipes, often using fresh ingredients from her family’s small Pacific Northwest farm. To learn more about what this website has to offer, click on over to the Welcome page.
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Interesting. I have never heard of flautas before but I have had taquitos, so I have at least tried something similar. These look pretty simple to make and sound like a great way to mix up taco night. I will have to give these a try.
I hope you do get to try them. They are a simple go-to part of my dinner rotation.
Easy cheese flautas and I just happen to be at the grocery store. Score a win for me. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome! If you try them, send me a photo on Insta.=)
I love cheese, and these look like an easy dish to make. I’ll have to try them and see what the meat-lovers in my family think. Thanks for sharing the recipe for easy cheese flautas!
I hope you get the chance to try making them!