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Beef flautas, how to make the best

When I lived in Iowa City, a fellow homesick Texan was tired of the lack of good food, so he opened a Mexican restaurant called La Perlita. The name means little pearl in Spanish and this small restaurant was indeed a gem. The salsas were fiery and bright, the refried beans had depth and flavor, and the tortillas were patted out by hand. But I have to say my favorite dish on menu were the freshly fried flautas.

Not familiar with flautas? Perhaps you know them by another term: some refer to them as taquitos and in parts of Mexico they’re often called tacos dorados. But the basic premise is the same—it’s a rolled taco that’s been fried.

Beef flautas | Homesick Texan

Flauta (which means flute in Spanish) is what I grew up calling them, so I was a bit flummoxed by the variation in names. When I asked my non-Texan friends, they insisted that it was a flauta if it was made with flour tortillas, a taquito if it was made with corn. I have to disagree as I’d never even had flour tortilla flautas (though I don’t doubt their existence). And the Mexican street-food vendors here all sell tacos dorados, but they look just like flautas to me.

No matter what you call them, however, the key to a good flauta is that it needs to be fresh. Often you’ll find pre-fried ones, where a dull tortilla surrounds a cold, lifeless filling. Would you eat a cold nacho? Would you eat a cold enchilada? Of course not! So I don’t understand why people insist on serving old food—you can’t doll it up no matter how much lettuce, cheese or salsa you pile on top of it.

But a fresh flauta? Now that’s a thing of wonder! The tortilla snaps, the filling is alive and no adornment is necessary—though a drizzle of hot sauce is certainly welcome.

Beef flautas | Homesick Texan

Making these is not difficult—as long as you’re brave when confronted with a skillet that is hissing and popping with hot fat. (I wear long sleeves and oven mitts to keep myself safe.) But because of your fearlessness you will be rewarded with the best flautas you’ve ever had. Actually, that’s not exactly true—I still think that the best flautas were those served to me at La Perlita, by a fellow Texan who knew how to make those needing a respite from the cold feel welcome and warm.

I’m curious—what do you call these? And am I wrong—is there indeed a difference between flauta, taquitom and tacos dorados? Please let us know!

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Print
5 from 5 votes

Beef flautas

Cook Time 3 hours
Servings 8
Author Lisa Fain

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 4-inch chunks
  • 1 tablespoon bacon grease or canola oil
  • 1 medium Spanish onion, quartered
  • 5 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked and quartered
  • 2-4 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • Oil, for frying
  • Salsa, cilantro, diced onions, and sour cream for garnishing

Instructions

  • Brown the cubed beef in the fat on medium heat in a large Dutch oven or pot (may have to do in batches). Add the onions, garlic, tomatillos, jalapenos, cumin, 1/2 cup of the chopped cilantro, 4 cups of water, salt, and pepper.
  • Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer uncovered for 2 hours until meat is tender. Remove beef from the pot, shred it and then toss it with the 2 tablespoons pan juices, the lime juice, then taste and adjust seasonings.   
  • Wrap the tortillas in foil, and heat in a 350° F oven for 10 minutes or until soft. Take each warmed tortilla and place 2 tablespoons of the shredded beef into it and roll tightly.
  • Heat 1 1/2 inches of canola oil in a large iron skillet and when oil is 350° F (or hot but not smoking), gently place 3 flautas into oil, seam side down, and cook on each side until crisp, 45 seconds per side. (If you don't have a thermometer, you can stick a wooden spoon into the oil and if it bubbles around it, the oil should be hot enough.) 
  • Serve immediately with salsa, chopped cilantro, onion and sour cream.

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Recipe Rating




122 Comments

  1. I make beef flautas a lot…I differentiate taquitos and flautas by the tortilla…with corn its taquito and with flour its flauta. My family loves both and cook them the same way…just watch the flour tortillas cause they burn easily. Love your blog!

  2. Kim Gamble says:

    I grew up in San Diego and the local shops (both across the border and in the county) called the fried rolled tacos taquitos=corn tortillas and flautas=flour tortillas. This is actually the first time I've seen a fried rolled taco with a corn tortilla referred to as a flauta.

  3. When I was a little girl my dad and I loved the chicken flautas at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin called Tres Amigos. They were soft and packed with filling, then a thin layer of tangy, red Colorado sauce was poured on top with a dollop of sour cream. Then management changed and the flautas became the too crispy, too dry flautas that I find at most places. I have yet to find a good replacement–but maybe this is it! Thanks for posting.

  4. My dad made these for us growing up and we always called them flautas. I've always love them, they're so delicious, and I make them quite frequently myself. Everybody always loves them. My daughter likes chicken flautas, so I make them for her, but for me it's got to be shredded beef,
    I live in Salinas, California, where the Mexican restaurants outweigh any other .

  5. 5 stars
    I love crispy flautas, but when eating out I always ask for them to be soft. How can I achieve this at home?

    1. Lisa Fain says:

      Dulce–I reckon if you don’t want a crispy tortilla I’d just heat it up in about a teaspoon of oil in a skillet on each side for a minute or so until warm but not hard.