Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ok... Jen and Amy have been keeping a secret from all of us. This is AMAZING!! We had some friends over tonight before they moved and I had chicken thawed out and was calling around trying to get ideas of what to make. Jen said to make this, she got it off Amy's Pinterest page and it is one of Mitch's favorite meals.

HUGE HIT. Thanks for keeping this a secret, ladies...

So I'm sharing the amazing recipe with y'all and hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

NOTE: I doubled taquitos recipes (not the sauce) and one Taco Bell green salsa bottle was used for the whole thing. And it called for 2 Cups chicken, so doubling it, I just did 5 chicken breasts.

INGREDIENTS

1/3  C (3 oz.) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (I just used lime juice from the bottle)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (I boiled mine to cook it)
1 C grated pepper jack or plain jack cheese (we used pepper jack)
small flour or corn tortillas (we did half and half, both were good, flour stayed together better)
kosher salt
cooking spray or olive oil (we used olive oil)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well. You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

If using corn tortillas, work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave, wrapped in damp paper towels until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. Usually 20-30 seconds. If using flour tortillas straight from the fridge, it helps to warm them in the microwave so they're easier to roll.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of tortilla, keeping about 1" from the edges. Roll up tortillas and place seam down on the prepared baking sheet, not touching one another. Spray lightly with cookin spray, or lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown. (I think ours was closer to 25 to make them harder) Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Dip in sour cream or this amazing: CREAMY LIME-CILANTRO RANCH dressing. (recipe below)

Freezer Instructions: Prepare the taquitos through rolling them out and placing them on the baking sheet. Place baking sheet in freezer and freeze until solid, then transfer to a large freezer bag. When ready to cook, preheat to 425, place on lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Makes 12-16, when using 6" tortillas, depending on how full you make them.

You can find this fabulous original recipe HERE.

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing

This is a great Mexican food dipping sauce or salad dressing. The original recipe blog says it's her knock off Costa Vida/Cafe Rio dressing. We used it to dip our Baked Chicken Taquitos, which was amazing!

INGREDIENTS

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1 C mayo
1/2 C buttermilk (or milk works, too I just added about 1-2 tsp of lemon juice as well if I did milk)
1 lime, juiced (about 2 Tbsp. lime juice)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (or 1 tsp. minced garlic)
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa
hot sauce (I totally forget it called for this and never added it, but it was still amazing.)

DIRECTIONS

Mix milk, mayo, ranch in a blender. Add lime juice. Toss in garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend. Sample and add hot sauce to taste. Make several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

Original recipe called for a chunky salsa, I only had the Taco Bell Salsa Verde that I used for this and the taquitos and it was great!

Enjoy!

Find the original recipe HERE.