Easy Flautas - Using Premade Pork Carnitas

 

Flautas are one of our favorite ways to use leftovers in our house.

While this recipe uses leftover pork carnitas, you can also use a rotisserie chicken, cook up some taco meat, or use whatever you have on hand as a filling.

For this recipe you'll need:

• 1 - 1.5 lb of Pork Carnitas or your favorite meat for filling
• 1 package of 15-20 flour tortillas
• 5-6 cups of vegetable oil to fry in
• Toothpicks

If you're reheating leftover meat, you'll want to reheat the meat in a skillet and rehydrate it with a few tablespoons of water. You may want to lightly season this with cumin, garlic powder, and taco seasoning to brighten it up.

Heat your oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit as you tightly roll your meat mixture into your flour tortillas. About 1-2 spoonful's will do, but if you have a digital scale, 1 oz of meat seems to be the perfect amount.

Using two toothpicks, poke an "X" shape into the middle seam of the rolled flauta. This will help the flautas to keep their shape in the frying pan, while also allowing air to escape from the tortillas while frying.

Fry for 1-3 minutes per side, carefully flipping each flauta over as you notice the bottom start to brown.

The toothpicks help to give you a means to grab on to the flautas and stabilize them against themselves while frying to keep them from flipping.

Remove when golden brown and place on a paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Remove the toothpicks after cooling and before serving.

Serve with rice and beans, or with your favorite salsa, queso, or guacamole to dip!