Dinner in 30: Chicken Flautas

From start to finish, chicken flautas is one of the easiest, and tastiest meals you can make. All you need is some boneless, skinless chicken, flour tortillas, oil, and your condiments! Of course, you may want a side or two: I like to make a quick version of Spanish Rice to go with these cylinders from heaven. First, the rice: All you need is some chicken stock (I used Trader Joe's for both the flautas and the rice), some tomato bouillion, dried minced onion, ancho chili powder, and the rice. Toast the rice quickly in a little butter, then add the bouillion, onion, chili powder and broth or stock. For 2 cups of rice, I use 2 cubes of bouillion, 2 tbsp onion, and 2 tsp of chili powder to 4 cups of broth. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover tightly. Cook for 18 min, then remove from heat, still covered, until ready to serve.

For the Flautas:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1-2 tbsp Better than Bouillion, chicken flavor
• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• enough chicken broth to cover the breasts in the pan
• flour tortillas
• condiments: guacamole, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce as desired
• Optional: lettuce (shredded) and cheese (shredded)

Place the chicken breasts in a large skillet or fried chicken pan. Add the onion and the broth to cover, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to keep it at a simmer. Cover and let cook 8-10 min, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from pan to a cutting board.
In the pan, add the Better than Bouillion, and let the stock reduce. Remove onions and discard. Keep stock until ready to use.
Shred the chicken using two forks. Return to pan with stock and simmer until chicken absorbs liquid, about 1-2 min. Meanwhile, warm flour tortillas to prevent tearing while rolling and heat about 1 inch of oil in a large frying pan. Roll about 3 tbsp of chicken mixture in each tortilla.

Fry each flauta about 1 min on each side, until deep golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with sour cream and any other condiments you desire.

Enjoy!