With one rotisserie chicken you can make a variety of meals. I was able to make a mound of Ancho Chicken Nachos with the dark meat and still have leftover breast meat to use for another dish. I chopped the breast meat into little cubes and combined it with a green chile sauce to make a filling for Verde Chicken Taquitos. My love of taquitos has no bounds! I love biting into those crisp corn tortillas with savory fillings and oozing cheese. They’re the ultimate fun food you eat with your fingers, but when you dip them into a creamy queso, spicy salsa or fresh guacamole you add on a whole nother dimension. Whether you mix or match is up to you, but you can’t go wrong with any of these flavors. I had 3 cups of leftover chicken which made 2 dozen taquitos. Next time I may use the whole chicken to make a batch for the freezer.
This cheese sauce is made just like the Green Chile Cheddar Sauce with a different cheese. I thought a Pepper Jack cheese would taste good with chicken taquitos. One cup of grated Pepper Jack Cheese is all you need.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl combine 3/4 cup evaporated milk and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Whisk together and pour into the saucepan along with the melted butter. Stir the mixture together as it begins to thicken.
Add the grated cheese and stir until melted. The sauce will become creamy. This recipe can be used with any melting cheese and will remain creamy even when it cools down or is refrigerated. And it doesn’t have that grainy texture that other sauces have that are made with a flour roux.
I added 1/3 cup of green chile to the sauce, just because I love it so much! But I’ll leave that up to you.
The Verde sauce is made with diced onion, minced garlic, roasted and chopped green chile, roasted tomatillo sauce, chicken stock mixed with cornstarch and salt to taste. **You can roast 2 – 3 tomatillos until they are soft, then run through a blender if you can’t find roasted tomatillo sauce in a jar. The only place I’ve ever found it is at Sprouts Farmers Market. I can vouch that it tastes just like you roasted the tomatillos yourself.
Drizzle a medium non-stick skillet with olive oil. Saute onions over medium high heat until they become soft and translucent. Add the minced garlic and stir in with the onions for approximately 30 seconds.
Pour in the chicken stock mixed with cornstarch. Stir as the sauce begins to thicken.
And the roasted tomatillo sauce.
Cook for an additional 2 – 3 minutes as it thickens. Set aside.
I have the breast meat of a rotisserie chicken.
Stir in the green chile sauce for your taquito filling.
Heat a skillet and add a drizzle of olive oil. Let the tortillas fry for 2 – 3 seconds on each side. This is just long enough to make them pliable and absorb a little bit of oil. DO NOT pat the tortillas down with a paper towel. The oil will give your taquitos that crisp texture that makes them so good. Add a drizzle of oil to the pan before frying each tortilla, then set the tortillas aside on a baking sheet to assemble.
Drop a couple heaping tablespoons of the verde chicken filling. Top with grated Oaxaca Cheese or any Mexican melting cheese of choice.
Starting from the bottom begin folding the tortilla around the filling.
Continue rolling it up until it looks like a long tube.
Insert a toothpick to hold it in place. Continue the process with the remaining taquitos.
One pan down . . . One to go . . . After all the taquitos have been filled and secured with a toothpick, drizzle the top with olive oil and place in a 350 degree preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Once the top side has become slightly browned and crisp, turn the taquitos over to the other side for an additional 10 – 15 minutes. Remove toothpicks before serving.
Don’t forget the Fresh Guacamole . . .
And Chile de Arbol Salsa!
Verde Chicken Taquitos with Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce
3 cups Rotisserie Chicken, diced
24 Corn Tortillas
8 ounces Oaxaca Cheese, grated (or any Mexican melting cheese)
Verde Sauce, recipe follows
Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce, recipe follows
Fresh Guacamole, optional
Chile de Arbol Salsa, optional
Verde Sauce
1/3 cup Onion, diced
1 clove Garlic, grated on a microplane grater
1 cup Roasted Green Chile, chopped
1/4 cup Tomatillo Sauce, or 2 -3 Roasted Tomatillos, peeled and crushed
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
2 teaspoons Cornstarch
Salt to taste
To make Verde Sauce: Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan and add diced onions. Saute onions until they become soft and translucent. Add grated garlic to the pan and stir for 30 seconds. Whisk together the chicken stock and cornstarch together and add to the pan. When the sauce begins to thicken, add diced green chile, tomatillo sauce and salt to taste. Let cook for 2 – 3 minutes as the sauce thickens. Let sauce cool for a few minutes before adding to diced chicken.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a small skillet and add a drizzle of olive oil. Pan fry the tortillas one at a time adding a drizzle of olive oil before adding each one. Heat for just a few seconds on each side, just enough to make them pliable, and to absorb some of the oil. Set aside but do not pat dry the tortillas.
Lay a tortilla flat and add approximately 2 heaping tablespoons of verde chicken filling to the center of the tortilla. Sprinkle cheese over the filling and begin rolling the tortilla around the filling. Secure with a toothpick in the center. Assemble the taquitos on a baking sheet then place in preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Turn the taquitos over to crisp the other side for an additional 10 – 15 minutes. Taquitos should be browned and crisp when done. Remove toothpicks before serving.
Serve hot with Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce, Fresh Guacamole and Chile de Arbol Salsa
Makes 24 Taquitos
Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce
1 tablespoon Butter
3/4 cup Evaporated Milk
2 teaspoons Cornstarch
1 cup Pepper Jack Cheese, grated
1/3 cup Diced Green Chile (freshly roasted, frozen or canned may be used)
Salt to taste
To make Pepper Jack cheese sauce melt butter in a medium saucepan. Combine evaporated milk and cornstarch together. Whisk together until blended and add to the melted butter over medium high heat. As the sauce begins to thicken add grated cheese and slowly stir until all the cheese has melted. Add green chile and stir until sauce is smooth. Set aside.
2 thoughts on “Verde Chicken Taquitos with Pepper Jack Cheese Sauce”
The Moore The Merrier
This is beautiful!!!
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NativeNM
Thank you!
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