Easy Baked Flautas
Easy Baked Flautas are corn tortilla rolls filled with a seasoned blend of black beans, chickpeas, cannellini beans, bell pepper, onions, and salsa verde, topped with cheese and baked until crispy. The tortillas are steamed prior to rolling to prevent cracking, and the filling is seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, oregano, and fresh cilantro, delivering bold, layered flavors in a handheld snack or appetizer.
Ingredients
- ½ cup red onion
- ½ cup white onion
- 2 TBSP cooking oil olive, coconut, avocado, healthy
- 1 bell pepper diced, large
- 2 cups black beans
- 1.5 cups chickpeas (or 1 can, drained and rinsed)
- 1.5 cups cannellini beans or 1 can, drained and rinsed, or pinto beans
- 1/4-1/2 cup salsa verde
- 1 TBSP chili powder
- 1 TBSP garlic powder
- 1 TBSP cumin
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
- ⅛ tsp oregano
- salt to taste
- 2-3 TBSP cilantro fresh, chopped
- 2-4 cups Mexican cheese coarsely grated/shredded, of your favorite
- 25-30 corn tortilla small, yellow
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 385 degrees F.
- Saute your onion in a little bit of oil [approx 2 TBSP] to soften.
- Next combine bell pepper, beans, and salsa in a large bowl.
- Add onions to the mix and season with chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, cilantro, cayenne, oregano.
- Salt to taste [use less with canned beans and more with fresh]
- Next wrap a small stack of corn tortillas [4-5] in a damp paper towel and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Follow it up with an additional 30 seconds. The goal here is to steam the tortillas so they roll into perfect flautas without breaking or cracking and this quick-steam trick works like a charm! I highly suggest to work in small batches of 4-5 tortillas so they stay warm while you're filling/rolling them. It's so much easier that way!
- Once steamed, spray or rub one side of the tortilla with oil and add a thin layer of veggie filling vertically along the center of the opposite [un-oiled] of the tortilla. Top it off with a layer of cheese [as much or as little as you want!] and gently roll the tortilla.
- tip: your steamed tortillas will naturally start to curl around each other in the stack. This is a total advantage since they naturally want to roll! When you unwrap your tortillas from the paper towel, oil the side facing up and then put the filling on the side that is curling inwards. Viola!
- Seal each flauta shut with two toothpicks and place on a wire baking/cooling rack. Repeat these steps until you have a rack full of flautas. Once you'e ready to bake, give them one more teeny spritz of oil and place the wire rack on on a foil-lined baking sheet. The wire rack elevates the flautas and allows them to get nice and crispy on both sides.
- Sprinkle the finished product with a dash of, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Prefer to keep it mild? Simply the sub cayenne with paprika. Bake on the middle rack, at 385F, for approximately 15-18 minutes. At the very end, set oven to broil on HIGH for just under a minute to crisp the tortillas into a perfectly golden, crunchy shell. You can also flip the flautas at the halfway mark, this works especially well if you're not using a wire rack.
Notes
- Use toothpicks to keep flautas rolled tightly during baking for better shape retention.
- Fresh lime wedges served alongside add a bright, tangy contrast to the savory flautas.
- This recipe makes a large quantity of filling suitable for 25-30 snack-sized flautas; adjust quantity or tortilla size for smaller servings.
- Filling can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for longer storage, expandable to other dishes like tacos or quesadillas.
- Steaming tortillas in small batches prevents cracking and makes rolling easier.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 25 flautas
Amount Per Serving
Calories 150
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 150kcal | 8% |
| Carbohydrates | 21g | 7% |
| Protein | 6g | 12% |
| Fat | 5g | 8% |
| Saturated Fat | 2g | 10% |
| Cholesterol | 9mg | 3% |
| Sodium | 125mg | 5% |
| Potassium | 201mg | 4% |
| Fiber | 4g | 16% |
| Sugar | 2g | 4% |
| Vitamin A | 330IU | 7% |
| Vitamin C | 7mg | 8% |
| Calcium | 98mg | 10% |
| Iron | 1mg | 6% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.