This recipe for jackfruit and potato flautas is a collab post with Staley of Sauced Up Foods. She creates recipes for celebrities as if she were their personal chef! It's such a fun idea and as the first vegan chef she's ever worked with, we chose to make something scrumptious for musician Billie Eilish, a hardcore animal lover and vegan!
My idea was to make a Mexican-inspired recipe, knowing she loves burritos and anything with avocados. I also read one of her all-time favorite foods is mashed potatoes! One time I had a potato flauta at an overrated Mexican restaurant in LA that shall not be named. So I expanded on that idea and made it way better! I decided to add a seasoned jackfruit mixture with a little spice from habanero and poblano to make the filling more substantial.
The sauce on top is a tangy and creamy avocado sauce with fresh cilantro, lime juice, and vegan yogurt. We even made our own tortillas. You can find that recipe on Staley's blog here. Hand-pressed tortillas aren't necessary, but I would look for flour or a flour and corn blend at the store so the tortillas don't break when frying them.
The jackfruit and potato flautas turned out perfect and we garnished our platter of flautas with green onion, cilantro, and radish.
The jackfruit filling for these flautas is inspired by the jackfruit and poblano tacos on the blog! I also have another version of jackfruit tacos and quesadillas using a jackfruit tinga filling. I'll admit using jackfruit as a meaty sub can be hit or miss. Of course, I would never steer you wrong! It's all in the preparation and the seasonings so be sure to follow my instructions and don't skip steps.
Ingredients
mashed potatoes
- 1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and large diced (about 3 cups diced)
- 3 tablespoon melted salted vegan butter
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ground black pepper, to taste
jackfruit mixture
- 1 (20 oz / 567 g) can young green jackfruit in brine
- 1 roasted poblano
- 1 to 2 habanero pepper
- 2 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil
- 1 C finely chopped yellow onion (about half an onion)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoon vegan worcestershire
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
avocado sauce (makes a generous 1 cup)
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 green onion, roughly chopped
- ¼ C + 1 tbsp lime juice
- ¼ C unsweetened vegan yogurt
- ½ C packed fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
flautas
- 10 to 12 (5-inch) all flour or flour/corn blend tortillas
- finely chopped red onion, as garnish
- finely chopped fresh cilantro, as garnish
- thinly slcied radish, as garnish
Instructions
- To make the mashed potatoes, cook peeled and diced potatoes in a pot of water until fork tender. Drain and set aside in the pot.
- Roast the poblano and habanero for about 6 to 8 minutes per side on a baking sheet under the broiler in the oven. It may be a shorter roast time depending on your own, so watch closely. Ensure you place the baking sheet on the middle rack rather than too close to the element. You can also char them over an open flame if you have a gas range stovetop. Cook for about 5 to 8 minutes per side, turning them occasionally with a pair of metal tongs to get the peppers evenly charbroiled. Either way, do not leave these unattended or forget about them! They’re done when they’ve softened a bit and the skins is blistered and charred all over. Immediately place the peppers in a plastic bag and tie it. This will allow them to sweat and steam helping to remove the skins easily. Leave them in the bag while you prepare the jackfruit.
- Drain jackfruit from the can in a fine mesh sieve. Rinse well with fresh water while breaking it up with your hands until it looks shredded. Squeeze dry with a clean tea towel or in a nut milk bag and continue to shred by hand into a mixing bowl.
- Remove the poblano pepper and habanero from the plastic bag. Scrape off the skin of the poblano with the back of a knife or your hands. It should come off very easily. Split the pepper in half and remove the inside seeds. Dice the pepper. I use gloves to cut these, especially the habanero. Deseed and finely dice the habanero.
- Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot add chopped onion, chopped poblano and habanero, and minced garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add jackfruit, cumin, sage, liquid smoke, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook another 5 to 6 minutes. Add worcestershire and tomato paste and combine well cooking another 4 to 5 minutes. Add more salt, to taste, if needed at the end. However I made the mashed potaties pretty salty which is why this mixture isn't overly salted. Transfer the jackfruit ixture to a mixing bowl and set aside while you finish the potatoes. Wipe out the pan as you will use it to fry the flautas.
- I like to push the potatoes through a ricer to ensure they get very smooth. You can also do this with a sieve. Rice them into a mixing bowl. Combine with melted vegan butter, salt and ground pepper.
- While the potatoes and jackfruit mixture cool off, make the avocado sauce in a high powdered blender. Combine avocado, green onions, lime juice, vegan yogurt, cilantro, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and ground pepper until very smooth.
- Assemble the flautas by placing a portion of mashed potatoes and the jackfruit mixture in the center of the tortillas, then roll over and place seam side down in hot oil in your pan. Fry in batches for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove fried flautas onto a wire rack placed over a baking sheet.
- You can serve the avocado sauce in a bowl for dipping, or place flautas on a large platter. Drizzle or spoon the avocado sauce over top of the flautas and garnish with finely chopped red onion, cilnatro and radish slices if desired.
Lauren Toyota
Lauren is a plant-based powerhouse, a former TV host turned wildly successful food creator, best-selling cookbook author, and the woman responsible for making vegan comfort food a thing worth craving. Through her blog and YouTube channel, hot for food, she’s amassed a dedicated following by recreating all the nostalgic, indulgent dishes we love—mac & cheese, burgers, cinnamon rolls—but making them entirely plant-based. No compromise on taste, no weird ingredients, just damn good food.