Mexican pinwheels are the perfect bite-sized appetizers for your next gathering. Made with seasoned chicken, cheese, and salsa, these fiesta pinwheel rollups are a crowd-pleasing snack. Whether you're planning your Cinco de Mayo menu or a casual Mexican food night, this recipe will be a hit with everyone!
About Mexican Chicken Pinwheels
Mexican chicken pinwheels look so pretty, don't you think? These eye-catching bite-sized treats are a delightful combination of flavour, colour and texture. Cooked and diced (or shredded) chicken is mixed with cream cheese, grated Mexican cheese, sour cream, salsa, and chopped bell peppers. This mixture is spread onto soft tortillas, rolled up tightly, and sliced into perfectly swirled pinwheels. What's not to love?!
More ideas for a Mexican themed party: Mexican deviled eggs, Mexican street corn salad, jalapeño poppers, and 7 layer dip cups.
Ingredients
INGREDIENT NOTES
1. Boneless chicken: You can go for breast or thigh meat, but do chop it into tiny pieces first. A tip to better control the chopping is to semi-freeze the meat and then cut it. Fully thawed chicken is a little difficult to cut into such small pieces.
Note: Another way to prep the chicken is to cook the breasts or thighs first, then shred the meat with a fork.
2. Salsa: Two choices here. Use your favourite jarred salsa or make your own! Making your own salsa is easier than you think and will ensure freshness every time. Here is a post on making your own Mexican salsa with roasted tomatoes, if that's what you are inclined to do.
3. Cheese: Go for a Mexican cheese blend if you can find it. For this recipe, I grated a block of sharp cheddar cheese because that is all I had. Both work quite nicely in this recipe.
4. Tortillas: I used big-sized flour tortillas, but you can go for corn tortillas as well or any of the fancy tortillas made with different ingredients available these days, depending on what you like.
Instructions
These Mexican pinwheels come together in 3 easy steps:
1. Prep the tortillas: Brush the tortillas with some cooking oil and cook them on a hot frypan for a few seconds until brown spots form on both sides. This really enhances the taste of the tortillas.
Tip: Make sure to work quickly here. Don't take too long with the tortillas or they will turn too crisp. You don't want crisp tortillas here, just slightly cooked ones. If they crisp up, they won't roll up!
2. Pre-cook the chicken: You can do this in two ways. Dice a chicken breast into very small pieces and sauté in a frypan until cooked OR cook the whole chicken breast first and dice it or shred it once it is cooked. Totally up to you. Don't forget to season it with salt and pepper, regardless of the method.
3. Make the filling: Put the cream cheese, sour cream, Mexican grated cheese, taco seasoning and sea salt in a bowl and whisk until smooth and lump-free. Spoon in the salsa, chicken, and diced bell peppers. Mix everything well, and just like that your filling is ready.
4. Assemble: Spread the filling on one tortilla, leaving the edges free, and roll up tightly into a cigar shape. Wrap the tortilla roll in some plastic wrap. Repeat with all the tortillas, then chill the rolls in the fridge for 2 hours or more.
You are chilling the tortillas because it's easier to slice into a cold roll than a freshly made one. Your pinwheels are in danger of disintegrating if the tortillas are not tightly rolled up and cold.
Tip: Allow the tortillas and the chicken to cool down completely before proceeding. You don't want to put a warm filling onto warm tortillas as they will become soggy later.
5. Cut the rolls into pinwheels: Once the tortillas have spent some time in the fridge, take off the plastic wrap and cut equal-sized portions, slicing firmly into the rolls with a sharp knife. And that's it! Your pinwheels are ready to be served.
6. Broil the pinwheels in a hot oven (OPTIONAL): If you want the pinwheels to be slightly crispy now, arrange them in a baking tray and stick them in a hot oven on the 'broil' setting for 1-2 minutes only. Go ahead and top the pinwheels with some extra cooked chicken or diced peppers or cheese if you want before putting them in the oven. The pinwheels will taste even nicer!
Top Tips
1. Don't cook the tortillas on low heat. Make sure the frypan is hot before you put the tortilla and just cook it for a few seconds each side. As soon as it starts to brown, remove it from the pan.
2. Both the tortillas and the filling should be cooled down before assembling. You don't want to put warm filling on a warm tortilla. This is to prevent them from going soggy later.
Mexican Chicken Pinwheels
Equipment
- 1 small frypan for cooking the chicken
- 1 large frypan for cooking the tortillas
- 1 medium bowl for making the filling
- Plastic wrap
- 1 Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 4 flour tortillas big
- 2 tbsp oil for brushing the tortillas
- 13.4 oz boneless chicken diced into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil for cooking the chicken
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 8.4 oz green bell pepper ½ bell pepper, diced
- 8.4 oz red bell pepper ½ bell pepper, diced
- 2.8 oz cream cheese ½ cup
- 2.8 oz sour cream ½ cup
- 2.8 oz Mexican blend grated cheese or grated sharp cheddar - ½ cup
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup salsa store-bought or homemade
Instructions
Preparation
- Put one tortilla on a clean surface or platter and brush a little oil on both sides until lightly coated. Heat a large pan to medium-hot and cook the tortilla for a few seconds on both sides until light brown spots form. Repeat for all the tortillas. See note #1 about doing this correctly.
- Dice the chicken into small ½" pieces.
- Heat the oil in a frypan and add the diced chicken. Add the salt and pepper too. Sauté for 2-3 minutes on medium heat until the chicken is soft and cooked through with no pink. Add a splash of water if required during the cooking. Take the chicken out in a bowl and allow it to cool down completely.
- Dice the green and red bell peppers into ¼" pieces and keep aside for now.
Making the filling
- Put the cream cheese, sour cream, Mexican grated cheese, taco seasoning and sea salt in a bowl and whisk until smooth and lump-free.
- Spoon in the salsa, cooked chicken, and diced bell peppers (red and green). Mix all the ingredients very well. The filling is ready.
Assembling
- Put one tortilla on a clean surface and spread a dollop of filling evenly on the surface, leaving the edges free.
- Starting from one end, roll the tortilla tightly. Now, wrap this rolled up tortilla in some cling foil (plastic wrap) as snugly as you can.
- Repeat the above two steps for the remaining three tortillas as well and chill them in the fridge for about 2 hours or more if possible.
Cutting the pinwheels
- Take the tortilla rolls out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Taking a sharp knife, slice firmly through each roll to get 16 equal-sized pinwheels from all the rolls. Serve as a cold appetizer.
Broiling the pinwheels (optional)
- If you want the pinwheels to have slightly crisp exteriors and more intense flavour, top one exposed surface of each pinwheel with extra diced chicken and bell peppers (you'll have to reserve some if you are planning to do this). Brush with some oil, place on a baking tray, and stick the tray in the oven (preheated on broil) for 1-2 minutes. The pinwheels will emerge all browned and crisped-up! Not a necessary step, but if you have extra time, this is an option.
Notes
- Important: Don't cook the tortillas on low heat or for more than a few seconds, or the tortillas will become too crisp and hard. You want the tortillas to remain soft, so you can roll them up easily later. Once cooked, keep them covered with a clean kitchen cloth so they don't dry up.
- Important: Make sure both the tortillas and the filling are at room temperature and not even slightly warm when assembling them. If either of them is warm, the rolls will become soggy later.
- Chilling time is not included in the total time as this can vary. Do be patient and keep the tortillas in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. If you skip this step, the freshly rolled up tortillas might fall apart when you are cutting them to make the pinwheels.
- The number of pinwheels you get depends on the thickness of the pinwheels. If you want more than 16, slice the rolls at closer intervals.
- If there's extra filling left, you can freeze this for later use. If planning to use up soon, the filling can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days at least.
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