The Flour Tip That Seals Tacos And Taquitos Easily
For many home cooks, getting tacos and taquitos to stay sealed often feels like an impossible task. Without the help of toothpicks, it can be quite easy for tortillas to unravel as they cook in a searing pot or skillet. Luckily, you don't have to resort to thin sticks of wood to keep your tacos and taquitos shut as they cook, as there's a simple trick that does the job just as well and only uses a bit of flour.
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To seal tacos and taquitos without the need for toothpicks, start by making a slurry with some flour and water. As the TikTok by @sofyssweetsacdemy above shows, the paste will act as a glue that will keep your food bound together. This will minimize the chances of your tacos unraveling when you either flip them in the pan or fry them under some hot oil.
While any type of flour should do the job of sealing your taquitos, you'll want to check if it has expired beforehand. Using flour past its prime could not only impart some nasty flavors into your dish but may induce food poisoning as well. You also don't want to consume the paste before cooking it alongside the tacos, as eating raw flour could expose you to harmful pathogens such as E. coli or salmonella.
Don't use a lot of water when making your flour paste
To ensure that your paste does an excellent job at sealing your tacos and taquitos, mind the ratio of flour to water. For example, using excess amounts of liquid only creates a runny slurry that won't be able to hold a tortilla together. Meanwhile, minimal amounts of water will give you a crumbly, unpliable dough that will be hard to spread thinly onto your tacos and taquitos. If you want to get exact with your measurements, approximately three tablespoons of water for every quarter cup of flour should give your paste a nice, even consistency.
Also, you don't always have to use water to make your flour paste. A dash of lime juice can easily add some tangy zest to pork tacos, while a splash of stock could really fortify the savory flavors of beef taquitos. Once you've successfully made a sticky flour paste, you shouldn't need large amounts of it to keep your tacos and taquitos closed. Lightly brushing one end of the tortilla with the slurry as you're about to close it should be more than enough to hold everything in place as it fries.
Other tips to prevent burst tacos and taquitos
To prevent your tortillas from splitting, warm them up in the microwave for approximately 60 seconds under a wet paper towel. The moist heat will soften them and make it easier for you to bend or roll them up tightly. As you begin to shape your tacos and taquitos, continue covering the remaining tortillas under the warm, damp paper towel. This will keep them from losing their moisture and becoming brittle as they sit on the counter.
As you get ready to press your tacos and taquitos into shape, try not to add too many fillings. Overstuffing can make it harder for the tortilla to stay folded or rolled up and for the flour paste to hold everything together. At most, 3 tablespoons of filling should be all you need to make a tasty, flavorful taco or taquito, so exercise some restraint while shaping your food.
Lastly, choosing whether to use corn or flour tortillas will also make a big difference in how your tacos and taquitos come out. Corn tortillas typically yield a nicer crunch when fried, but are more likely to break in comparison to their flour counterparts. Traditionally, taquitos are made with corn tortillas but feel free to use what's most convenient. Either way, the results will be delicious.