Crispy Chicken Alfredo Rolls
I am a big fan of anything that looks like a takeaway but comes out of my own kitchen, and these crispy chicken alfredo rolls are exactly that. Soft tortillas rolled up with creamy, garlicky chicken and mozzarella, then shallow fried until the outside goes golden and crisp.
The filling does all the work here. The chicken gets a proper marinade first, with paprika, garlic, onion, a little Cajun and lemon, and half an hour is all it needs to make a real difference. Then it is cooked until it has colour on it before it ever meets the sauce.
And the alfredo is made from scratch in the same pan, which takes about five minutes. Butter, garlic, flour, cream and milk, with the Parmesan stirred in at the end. No jar, no fuss, and it tastes like the real thing.
Then everything goes into the tortillas with a good handful of mozzarella, and they get fried seam side down until golden. The cheese melts, the outside crisps, and whatever sauce is left over is for dipping. Warm out of the pan, nothing else needed.
Preparation Time 20 minutes
Marinating Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Yields 6-7 rolls
Ingredients
Chicken
450 grams chicken - cut into pieces
Salt - to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons oil - for the marinade
1 onion - diced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
To Assemble
6-7 medium tortillas
1 cup mozzarella cheese
Oil - for shallow frying
Alfredo Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 cloves garlic - minced
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt - to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Parmesan - freshly grated
1 teaspoon parsley - chopped
Instructions
Marinate the chicken. Put the chicken pieces in a bowl with the salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, lemon juice and oil. Mix it all together and leave it for 30 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Cook the chicken for 5-7 minutes until it is cooked through and has colour on it. Add the diced onion and sauté for another 2 minutes. Take it all out and set it aside.
In the same pan, melt the butter and add the garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds until it smells lovely, then add the flour and cook it out. Pour in the heavy cream and the milk slowly, stirring as you go so no lumps form. Add the salt, the black pepper and the garlic powder. Simmer for 2 minutes until it has thickened slightly. Take it off the heat and stir in the Parmesan and the parsley.
Add the cooked chicken back into the sauce with some of the mozzarella and toss it all together so everything is coated.
Fill the tortillas with the chicken mix and a little more mozzarella. Fold the sides in and roll them up tightly.
Heat a little oil in the pan and cook the rolls seam side down for 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp. Turn them so both sides get colour.
Serve straight away with the remaining sauce on the side for dipping.
A Few Things To Remember
Get the pan properly hot before the rolls go in. If the oil is not hot enough the tortilla soaks it up instead of crisping.
Seam side down first, every time. That seals the roll shut so the filling stays in when you turn it over.
Do not overfill them. Two or three spoonfuls of filling and a pinch of cheese is plenty. Too much and they split in the pan.
The sauce thickens as it sits. If it gets too thick while you are filling the rolls, loosen it with a splash of milk.
Cook them in batches and keep the finished ones warm. Crowding the pan steams them instead of crisping them.
If you give these a go, let me know how you got on!
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