The Flautas de Papa My Abuela Taught Me to Make: Delicioso and Easy!

These flautas de papa, so melty-delicioso, are perfect for when you want to make something quick after a long day. They only need three ingredients — corn tortillas, potatoes and oil — and are endlessly versatile. 

Plus, a flauta, which means flute because it looks like one, is super fácil to make, says Vivi Abeja, a Chicago-area cook and Mexican food blogger (find her at vivis_table). “This is the perfect meal for when you want something quick and easy. I usually always have tortillas and potatoes in my home, so I don’t need to go to the grocery store to prepare it.”

What makes these flautas extra special for Vivi is that her grandmother taught her how to make them. Her abuela’s specialty was delicious Mexican dishes that can be made with just a few ingredients, a style she called comida de pobre or poor-people food. Her abuela was the family-famous expert at making simple yet tasty dishes for their large family, and Vivi remembers all of her dishes with mucho cariño.

“I truly love meals that require the simplest ingredients,” Vivi said. “It reminds me to stay grounded and appreciate the beauty in the simplest things. Expensive ingredients don’t make a great meal. It’s the effort put behind preparing every ingredient.”

Vivi typically adds her own spin to her grandmother’s traditional Mexican recipes, so of course she tweaked these flautas de papa. Though her abuela stuck to just salt and pepper to season the potato filling, Vivi likes to add “a ton” of seasonings: In this case, onion and garlic powder and ground cumin. “Go crazy with the toppings,” says Vivi. “You can really load it up!”

For garnish, Vivi recommends topping these flautas de papa with crumbled queso fresco, green or red salsa (find Vivi’s red salsa molcajete recipe here), sliced avocado and Mexican crema. 

Hungry for more of Vivi’s Mexican family recipes? Find them here!

Flautas de Papa, or Melty-Potato Rolled Tacos

Recipe by Vivi Abeja

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 12 corn tortillas (1 pack, or make them yourself)

• 4 yellow potatoes, medium

• 1 to 2 tsp tsp garlic powder

• 1 to 2 tsp tsp onion powder

• 1 to 2 tsp tsp cumin, ground

• 1 to 2 tsp tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1 to 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

• Garnish Options

• lettuce, shredded

• tomato, diced

• salsa, green or red

• queso fresco, crumbled, or queso cotinua

• avocado, sliced

Directions

• Peel the potatoes and cut into small chunks.
• Place them in a large pot. Add water to cover.
• Boil the potatoes until soft, but not mushy, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• Drain the potatoes and place in a bowl.
• Add the garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt and black pepper.
• Mash the potatoes and the seasonings until well mixed.
• Spoon 3 to 4 Tbsp of the potato mash in the center of each tortilla and roll into a flauta, a diploma-like cylinder. Repeat until all 12 tortillas are filled and rolled.
• Pour the vegetable oil into a frying pan, on medium-high heat.
• When the oil is frying hot, about 350°, place the potato-filled tortillas in the hot oil. Work in batches if you need to.
• After about 3 minutes, when the first side turns golden brown, flip the flautas and fry the second side. When done, plate on a paper towel-lined plate.
• When all the flautas are ready, serve them with your choice of traditional Mexican toppings. Vivi likes hers garnished with salsa, crumbled queso fresco, and a good drizzling of Mexican crema. Enjoy flautas hot, so the potatoes are ooey-gooey, melty-delicioso caliente, says Vivi.

Notes

• Eat the flautas they are hot, so the potatoes are ooey-gooey, melty-delicioso caliente, says Vivi.