Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos and Avocado Sauce
Welcome to my life in L.A.! We have thought about moving from Los Angeles many times, but the thought of moving from here kinda makes me sad. The food scene here is just too good! When in L.A. a trip to Olvera Street is a must for their authentic Mexican food! Since 1934 Cielito Lindo has been dishing out the best taquitos in L.A! Today I am trying their famous recipe! This is the actual recipe from their website! Check out how I make Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos and Avocado Sauce at home!
From their humble little stand, in the heart of Los Angeles, they are always serving the most delicious taquitos, tamales and burritos, day and night. We used to travel from the San Fernando Valley, to L.A. for these delicious bites, whenever we had a craving for authentic Mexican taquitos!
Recently, I began my late night recipe hunting journey, and down the rabbit hole I went. At 3 am, I found the recipe online for Cielito Lindo Taquitos, and their famous Avocado Sauce, and I had to try this recipe for myself.
Now, this recipe calls for frying the taquitos in pure lard. You can use oil, but the lard, is what really sends you to flavor town. And on our last trip to Cielito Lindo, the cook himself, confirmed that the lard is what gives the taquitos their amazing taste and wonderful crunchy texture.
The great thing about this recipe, is that the beef filling can be made in the slow cooker; And if you don’t have a slow cooker, a stock pot or Dutch oven, will do just fine.
I cooked the shredded beef in my slow cooker for about 9 hours on low, and it was super tender, but I have also made chuck roast for 6 hours on high, and it was still super tender. I have also cooked chuck roast in a stock pot for 3-4 hours and it was beautifully tender as well, so, you definitely have options.
My favorite Slow Cooker
My Favorite Cast Iron Skillet
Other items that will come in handy for making these delicious Taquitos at home!
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Plastic Meat Shredder for shredding cooked meat easily!
BPA free Slow Cooker Liners for easy clean up!
Blender for Avocado Sauce
Ingredients for Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos:
Machaca filling (shredded beef):
2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
2 tablespoons salt
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
Water
In a large slow cooker, I added in chuck roast, then add in salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and garlic. I add in enough water to just cover meat in slow cooker. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove beef from slow cooker, let cool a bit, and shred.
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You can definitely half this recipe for the beef filling if you prefer. I am cooking for 5 adults and this recipe amount was perfect for us.
I also added in a bit of my favorite Jocko’s Santa Maria seasoning for a bit extra taste. This seasoning is amazing in any recipe. But this is completely optional.
While the beef was cooking, I prepared the accompanying ave sauce.
Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos and Avocado Sauce
I made these both with traditional store bought white corn tortillas, and also low carb tortillas, for a keto option. Of course, the white corn tortillas stole the show.
Tips and advice for Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos and Avocado Sauce:
1: I personally found that placing the corn tortillas in the microwave on a paper plate to warm up for about 40 seconds, really helped to soften them before filling and frying. Otherwise they tend to break while rolling them with filling.
2: secure each taquito with a toothpick to keep the filling inside before I fry them, then I carefully remove the toothpicks before serving.
3: make sure to season the taquitos with salt as soon as you remove them from frying. This is the best time to get the salt to adhere to the taquitos, as they will still be wet with frying oil, or lard.
4: While I found that lard worked best for me, regular vegetable oil is perfectly fine for frying as well.
Pro Tips:
When frying these taquitos, I found that a cast iron skillet outperformed my standard frying pans. Cast iron really distributes the heat so evenly, and it is what they use at Cielito Lindo to fry up their famous taquitos.
Dash a bit of salt on the taquitos immediately after removing them from frying.
Remember to remove the toothpicks after frying.
On to the Avocado Sauce!
I begin making this Avocado sauce while the beef is slow cooking, then i set it aside.
This Avocado Sauce is amazing! And surprisingly simple to come together. I had always thought that avocado sauce from Cielito Lindo Olvera Street, was a painstaking process, probably taking hours to perfect, but it really is very quick to make deliciously.
You will need a blender for this avocado sauce. This sauce is pretty spicy, but sooooooooo good! I think I can put this sauce on anything! I have gotten so many ideas for this avocado sauce. I even drizzled some on my eggs for breakfast! I will soon be making green burritos with this sauce as well.
Ingredients for this Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Avocado Sauce:
1 1/2 quarts of water
1 small avocado chopped
2 cloves of garlic
6 tomatillos husks removed and chopped
3 yellow chilies (chili guero)
1/3 cup of fresh chopped cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon of salt
In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, the yellow chilies, garlic, cilantro and tomatillos in 1 1/2 quarts of water, then lower the heat to medium/low, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the ingredients from the water, but make sure to reserve the water.
Pour mixture into a blender, and add begin to add in small amounts of the reserved water in blender at a time to create a sauce texture. Blend until there are no chunks, and sauce is thin, yet coats a spoon. Salt to taste to your liking and refrigerate until needed.
To begin making the taquitos, warm up the white corn tortillas in the microwave for 40 seconds.
Fill each taquito with about 1 oz of shredded beef, near the end of the tortilla, brush the other end of tortilla with a bit of lard, then roll and secure with a toothpick. Repeat this process until you have filled all desired amount of tortillas. Set aside.
In a large cast iron pan, or frying pan, add in enough lard or oil to cover 1/2 the depth of the rolled tortillas. Fry taquitos in batches, on high heat for 1 minute per side, or until golden brown. Remove with tongs to a paper towel lined plate, and season with salt. Serve taquitos with a side of avocado sauce!
I also made them LOW CARB by making some using these Cut Da Carb wraps!
Try this amazing recipe at home and let me know what you think!
Want to check out this authentic Mexican eatery for yourself?
Cielito Lindo is located at E-23 Olvera Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012Check out the their website to find out more!
Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos and Avocado Sauce
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos Machaca filling (shredded beef):
- 2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Water
- Ingredients for this Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Avocado Sauce:
- 1 1/2 quarts of water
- 1 avocado chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 6 tomatillos husks removed and chopped
- 3 yellow chilies (chili guero)
- 1/3 cup of fresh chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- And White Corn Tortillas to prepare taquitos
Instructions
- Instructions for Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Taquitos Machaca shredded beef filling:
- In a large slow cooker, add in chuck roast, then add in salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and garlic. Add in enough water to just cover meat in slow cooker. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove beef from slow cooker, let cool a bit, and shred.
- Instructions for Cielito Lindo Olvera Street Avocado Sauce:
- In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, the yellow chilies, garlic, cilantro and tomatillos in 1 1/2 quarts of water, then lower the heat to medium/low, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the ingredients from the water, but make sure to reserve the water.
- Pour mixture into a blender, and add avocado. Begin to add in small amounts of the reserved water in blender at a time to create a sauce texture. Blend until there are no chunks, and sauce is thin, yet coats a spoon. Salt to taste to your liking and refrigerate until needed.
- To begin making the taquitos, warm up the white corn tortillas in the microwave for 40 seconds, to soften them up. (Optional)
- Fill each tortilla with about 1 oz of shredded beef, near the end of the tortilla, brush the other end of tortilla with a bit of lard, then roll and secure with a toothpick. Repeat this process until you have filled all desired amount of tortillas. Set aside.
- In a large cast iron pan, or frying pan, add in enough lard or oil to cover 1/2 the depth of the rolled tortillas. Fry taquitos in batches, on high heat for 1 minute per side, or until golden brown. Remove with tongs to a paper towel lined plate, and immediately season with salt.
- Remove toothpick from each taquito before serving.
- Serve taquitos with a side of avocado sauce
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