Ground Beef Flautas
You are just 30 minutes away from devouring these crispy flautas loaded with ground beef and ooey gooey melty cheese dipped in cool, creamy avocado cilantro sauce!
Everyone loves Taco Tuesday but what about Flauta Friday? Oh, that’s not a thing? Well it will be once you sink your teeth into these crispy, crunchy, rolled up flour tortillas! This quick and easy dinner is sure to bring your family to the table AND have them asking for seconds!
What is a Flauta?
A cousin to the ever popular taquito, the flauta is typically made with a large flour tortilla that’s rolled around a meat and cheese filling and fried until crispy. The taquito is typically made in the same way but with a smaller corn tortilla.
Instructions
These flautas are super simple to make!
Start by sauteing red onion and garlic. Then brown ground beef, crumbling it with a spoon. Add a few Mexican spices and melty Mexican cheese.
Spread half a cup of filling in a line down the middle of the BOTTOM HALF of the tortilla. Roll tortilla away from you and tightly around the filling.
Shallow fry flautas in batches of 2-3 depending on the size of your pan. A nice heavy pan like this enameled cast iron casserole pan works great for this recipe! I LOVE LOVE LOVE mine and use it ALL the time.
While the flautas are frying combine sauce ingredients in a food processor for the easiest, creamiest cilantro lime avocado sauce ever!
Drizzle flautas with sauce (or serve it on the side if you prefer) and feel free to load them up with queso fresco, diced red onion and fresh cilantro too!
Shallow Frying
Basically, you’re going to fry these flautas in a shallow amount of oil – meaning the oil will not fill the saute pan entirely. As opposed to deep frying where you’d use more oil and the food would be completely submerged.
Shallow frying in this case (and placing the flautas seam side down in the pan) helps them hold together and prevents them from unrolling. If you were to deep fry them in more oil, they would unroll quickly and the filling would spill out.
You’ll Love These
- They’re an easy alternative to tacos. Everyone loves taco night at our house, but honestly it gets a little boring after a while. I like to do flautas or tostadas every now and then to keep things interesting.
- They take 30 minutes to make. From start to finish, you’ll have dinner on the table in less than a half hour, which means these flautas are do-able on a busy weeknight.
- They’re simple enough that your kids can help! Obviously you’ll have to saute the meat and do the shallow frying, but the kids can help peel the onion and garlic, add the cheese and roll up the flautas. Getting them involved in the process of making dinner means they’re more likely to actually eat the dinner!
Tips
- Don’t overfill the flautas. 1/2 cup of filling is the sweet spot for stuffing the flour tortillas. Anything more and they won’t cook evenly in the shallow amount of oil.
- Don’t use too much oil. Be sure to fill your pan with about a 1/2 inch of oil. This will allow the flautas to rest gently on the bottom of the pan while they fry, ensuring that they won’t come unraveled. If you have too much oil in the pan it will bounce your flautas all around and the will unroll, spilling the filling into the oil.
- If you’re flautas are unraveling as soon as you put them in the hot oil to fry, you might have to may have too much oil in the pan. The flauta should rest on the bottom of the pan (seam side down) and the oil should come up about halfway on the flauta. You can also secure the flautas with toothpicks to ensure that they don’t unravel.
- Don’t skip the creamy avocado sauce. This sauce is too good to miss friends. And it’s SO easy. Just throw the sauce ingredients in a food processor and you’re done!
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Ground Beef Flautas
All your favorite Mexican flavors wrapped up and fried to a golden crisp, garnished with creamy, smooth cilantro avocado sauce. Simple ingredients, easy prep and a delicious meal are waiting for you in this recipe!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 flautas 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
Flautas:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 4–5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons diced chiles in adobo
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- splash of water
- 7–8 oz. shredded chihuahua cheese (cheddar or mozzarella work too)
- 8 (8″ taco size) flour tortillas
- vegetable oil for frying
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Cilantro Avocado Sauce:
- 2 avocados, pitted and diced
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- juice of 2–3 limes
- splash of water
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook for another minute or so, stirring frequently.
- Add ground beef and brown, crumbling it with a spatula.
- Once beef is cooked through, add cumin, chiles in adobo, chili powder and a splash of water.
- Stir to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add cheese and stir to combine.
- While your filling is cooking, heat a large pot over medium heat with about 1/2 an inch vegetable oil in it. You will know the oil is ready when you sprinkle a drop of water into the oil and it sizzles.
- Assemble your flautas by spreading 1/2 a cup of the meat mixture in a line down the middle of the BOTTOM HALF of each tortilla.
- Roll the tortilla away from you and tightly around the filling. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
- Fry flautas in batches of 2-3 depending on how wide your pot is. Fry them on each side for 1-2 minutes or until the outside is dark golden brown and crispy. If your flautas are cooking too quickly, turn the heat down a bit.
- For the sauce: combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and process until it forms a smooth, creamy consistency.
- Serve flautas with creamy cilantro sauce, fresh cilantro and crumbled queso fresco.
Notes
Don’t overfill the flautas. 1/2 cup of filling is the sweet spot for stuffing the flour tortillas. Anything more and they won’t cook evenly in the shallow amount of oil.
Don’t use too much oil. Be sure to fill your pan with about a 1/2 inch of oil. This will allow the flautas to rest gently on the bottom of the pan while they fry, ensuring that they won’t come unraveled. If you have too much oil in the pan it will bounce your flautas all around and the will unroll, spilling the filling into the oil.
If you’re flautas are unraveling as soon as you put them in the hot oil to fry, you might have to may have too much oil in the pan. The flauta should rest on the bottom of the pan (seam side down) and the oil should come up about halfway on the flauta. You can also secure the flautas with toothpicks to ensure that they don’t unravel.
Don’t skip the creamy avocado sauce. This sauce is too good to miss guys. And it’s SO easy. Just throw the sauce ingredients in a food processor and you’re done!
This recipe was originally published in July of 2018. It was updated in April of 2019 to include process shots and tips for making the best flautas every single time!
Can I freeze the filling if I made it and wasn’t able to make them this time around ?
Yes! The filling would freeze well!
Everyone absolutely loved these. They were fun for the kids to make and tasted great. I highly recommend this for picky kids and beginner chefs. Thanks for the awesome recipe and the fun that ensued while cooking it.
Hi,
In Mexico, flautas are usually, always made with corn tortillas. What they do is combine 2 corn tortillas, one overlapping the other, to achieve the long flute shape. In general when it comes to fried tortillas, corn tortillas are always used. The practice of using flour for frying is an Americanism.
Thank you for this recipe.
I made these tonight for dinner and such great flavors! My husband loved them as well!! I will make them again for sure!
I am so glad to hear that, C Lupo! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
I made this for dinner last night and it was so delicious!! I also made homemade pico to put on it!
Should i have drained the cooked beef before adding cheese & spices? I didn’t and It seemed excessively greasy! I drained it with a slotted spoon after the fact and alls well that ends well… but i wish draining it was in the instructions? Still came out great but draining after fact was a gross mess!
I typically don’t drain mine, but you are welcome too if yours seems greasy! The grease helps to coat the meat with the spices and I haven’t found that my beef is overly greasy, but I use organic, grass-fed beef and I do think that makes a difference not only in the flavor but also the greasiness.
all those delicious details
Whats the temperature of the pot with oil ?
I’d guestimate around 350-375 degrees.
I love this recipe! Thank you made it last year for Father’s Day and made it again tonight for my dad who’s now going thru chemo – since it can be a challenge I was so happy to him enjoy the meal! thank you for the recipe that was hit for the whole family!
Could these be dry fried or baked? They look delicious!
Yes! I have a really delicious baked flautas recipe as well. I will link it here: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/baked-black-bean-flautas-taquitos/
You could also pan-fry them and just use a bit less oil. I wouldn’t recommend dry frying though.
Great recipe! Simple to make, comes together quickly, great flavor! The sauce is a great base to add other favorite flavors. This post has so much great food info too! Yum! Thanks so much, we enjoyed them! 🙂
WOOOHOO! Could not agree more – this is one of our family’s favorites!! Thanks for leaving a review, Kelsey. I really appreciate it 🙂
My family loved these! They are so good!
I’m so glad that your family enjoyed these flautas Jamey! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂