Chicken Taquitos

Beautifully crispy golden delicious chicken taquitos with a roasted salsa verde. Perfect comfort food.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

1 large Jalapeno cut in half and de-seeded. Use 2 jalapenos if they are smaller than 3-4" long
1/2 medium Onion the whole half, leave intact
3-4 large Garlic cloves
7 large Tomatillos, halved
3/4 - 1 Cup Cilantro washed
1/2 large Lime
1 pinch Black pepper
1 pinch Kosher salt

Clean chicken breasts up and place into Instant Pot.
Add chicken broth and all the spices.
Close lid, close vent, cook on High Pressure for 22 minutes. Let it depressurize naturally 100%. Open lid and let rest for about 10 mins before shredding.
Shred with forks (or your hands if cool enough), and set aside.

While the chicken is cooking prep the salsa:
In a hot, nonstick skillet heat about 2 teaspoons of oil. Place the tomatillos, jalapenos, and onion cut side down, place the whole garlic cloves on the outside edge of the pan. Cook for several minutes until the bottoms begin to brown, then turn everything over and cover with a lid and cook until everything is tender and soft. You may need to flip them over a couple of times to keep them from burning.
Place the cooked veggies and all the juices from the pan into a blender, add salt, pepper, cilantro, and lime juice. Pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust salt + pepper as needed. Set aside.

Start heating your oil , about 1/2" deep, in a cast iron skillet. Don't over heat... heat on medium heat until about 350 - 375*.
Heat the corn tortillas in the microwave, wrapped in a damp paper towel for just a few seconds to soften them -OR- heat the corn tortillas in hot oil... Just quickly dunk them long enough to heat them, like 2 seconds, drain the oil and place on a large baking sheet.
Place a small amount of chicken on the edge of the softened corn tortilla, press the chicken together and roll up the tortilla. Place a toothpick through the rolled taquito with the outside rolled edge of the tortilla facing up. leave the long part of the toothpick sticking out on the side with the outside rolled edge. * Do not make your taquitos too thick. The chicken should only be about 3/4" thick, max. (Otherwise you're making flautas.)
- Roll another taquito and then place it with the outside rolled edge facing the outside rolled edge of the taquito on the toothpick and push onto the toothpick.
- You should have two taquitos on one toothpick with the outside rolled edges facing each other. This will help them not unroll while frying in the oil.
Repeat making taquitos with two on a toothpick until you've used up all your chicken.

Place the taquitos (2 per toothpick) into the hot oil and fry for just a few minutes on each side until they are your desired golden-ness. In my 10" skillet I can do 3 pairs of taquitos, 6 total.
Place on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat frying process until you've fried all your taquitos.

Place your taquitos on a plate, top with the salsa verde, lettuce, pico de gallo, and crumbled queso fresco. You can also top with guacamole and drizzle with some crema or top with sour cream. The possibilities are endless!
Serve with your favorite Mexican rice and/or refried beans.

Keyword Comfort Food, gluten free,, Taco Tuesday