Quick Tasty Supper

by Two Chums on March 11, 2020

Everybody loves a meal that is quick to make and really tasty to eat. We’ve got just that today 🙂

Rolled chicken tacos are one of the easiest and yummiest quick meals you can make. To keep things really easy, you can buy a roast chicken at the market and shred the meat or even use left over baked or roasted chicken. Of course, if you are making dinner for a crowd, you can roast or bake as many chicken breasts or thighs as you want depending on your preference for light or dark meat, and you can make lots of these rolled tacos. You’re going to want more than you think you might. They can be stored and reheated in a hot oven to crisp them up again the following day. You can also use left over pot roast and shred that instead if you like beef better than chicken. Either way give these a try soon!

Quick and Easy Rolled Tacos

This is not really a recipe as much as it is a method. We prefer to make ours in corn tortillas because they are gluten free but they are very, very tasty made in flour tortillas as well.

Have everything you need ready before you begin as this will go pretty quickly and you can keep things moving if you have all the elements of these rolled tacos ready to go. Heres what you need:
Shredded chicken (or beef if that’s your preference)
Tortillas
Oil for frying
Toothpicks
Tongs
A heavy bottomed frying pan
A plate for stacking the tortillas
A paper bag or paper towels
A baking sheet
A rack to fit on the baking sheet if you have one
Guacamole (click here for recipe)
Queso fresco or cotija cheese, crumbled (optional)
Sour cream
Salsa
Chipotle sauce (optional)
Shredded lettuce or cabbage

Place a paper bag or paper towels on a baking sheet and then place a rack on top if you are using one. Put the baking sheet in a 250 degree oven. This is where you will put each batch of rolled tacos to keep them warm while you are frying the subsequent batches.

Put about 1/2″ of oil in a heavy bottom frying pan, cast iron is always good for this and many other things too. Be sure an use an oil that can take a high heat and is good for frying, sunflower, grapeseed, or peanut oil are our favorites. Heat the oil in the pan over a medium high heat. While the oil is heating, quickly place each tortilla in the oil for a couple of seconds on each side just to soften them. Using the tongs remove them quickly. You don’t want to crisp the tortillas at this point, you only want to warm and soften them to make them more pliable and easy to roll.

Stack all the softened tortillas up on a plate. Place a couple of spoonfuls of shredded chicken in the center of each tortilla and then roll it up like a cigar. You can secure it with a toothpick to keep it from unrolling while you are frying them. When you have several of them rolled and ready, place them in the pan of hot oil being careful not to overcrowd the pan. You will need to cook them in batches if you are making more than 5 or 6 rolled tacos, depending on the size of your pan. Once they are browned and crispy on the bottom, turn them over to do the same on the other side. If your tacos are very full, you may need to rotate them on all sides to get them crispy all over.

When they are browned all over, remove them to the baking sheet and keep them warm while you make the next batch.

When you have cooked them all, place them on a bed of shredded lettuce or cabbage and top with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese, or whatever your favorite toppings are.