Chicken Enchiladas
Featured Comment
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Tried this tonight — it was DELICIOUS! Will make it again for sure! Thank you! ~ Christine”
I’ve been making enchiladas for many years and have made dozens of variations with just chicken alone. I’m not even counting all the beef enchiladas and seafood enchiladas, and even the breakfast enchiladas. After all these different enchiladas, classic chicken ones are still number one in our heart.
There is something so magic about biting into cheesy, spicy, soft chicken enchilada that just melts your heart. No wonder it’s one the the best comfort food dishes out there and it’s certainly a favorite in my house.
- It’s so simple to make and you can take many shortcuts with preparing sauce and chicken ahead of time.
- You can even prepare the whole enchilada dish ahead of time, just don’t skip the homemade sauce.
- This homemade enchilada sauce is what makes these enchiladas so good.
- You can also easily control the spice lever with homemade sauce.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredient Notes
These chicken enchiladas are made with a few simple components: a rich homemade enchilada sauce, tender shredded chicken, soft tortillas, and plenty of melted cheese:
- Enchilada sauce: The sauce is the heart of this recipe and what really sets these enchiladas apart. It’s made with tomatoes, chipotle in adobo, and warm spices for a smooth, bold flavor with just the right amount of heat. You can absolutely adjust the spice level to your liking, but I highly recommend making it from scratch if you can, it makes a big difference.
- Chicken filling: I use baked chicken breasts that are shredded and mixed with some of the sauce to keep them juicy and flavorful.
- But this is also a great place to save time if you need to: use rotisserie chicken just not the lemon pepper one.
- You can also use Instant Pot salsa chicken for an easy, flavorful shortcut that pairs really well with the enchilada sauce.
- Tortillas: Flour tortillas are soft and easy to roll, which is why I usually reach for them here. If you prefer corn tortillas, you can absolutely use those instead, just make sure to warm them first so they don’t crack.
- Cheese: A shredded Mexican cheese blend melts beautifully in enchiladas and adds that classic gooey finish. You can also use Monterey Jack or a mix of cheeses if that’s what you have on hand.
Tips For Making Chicken Enchiladas
- Your first step would be making enchilada sauce and then, you are all good to go. The sauce will take about 20 minutes and then you can use it to make the enchiladas right away or store it in the refrigerator for to use later.
- Adjusting spice level: you can adjust the spice level by either adding more of less chili powder I don’t recommend adding more chipotles is adobo sauce because that makes the sauce more bitter.
- When baking the chicken breasts, make sure to season the chicken on both sides and then, nestle it in sauce. Don’t worry, you won’t waste the sauce, you can use it to mix with the chicken after it’s done.
- TIME-SAVING TIP: If you’re in a pinch to make chicken enchiladas quickly but don’t have cooked chicken, you can use rotisserie chicken. Just shred the meat and mix in some enchilada sauce with it.
- Shred cooked chicken either using two forks or a hand-held blender. Just be careful when using a blender: keep it at low speed and do it in a large bowl to prevent splatter. Add the remaining sauce in the baking pan after chicken is shredded.
- When stuffing the enchiladas: spread some chicken in the tortilla, in one line and closer to one end. Add some more enchilada sauce and some shredded cheese over the chicken. Roll up the enchilada and place it in the prepared baking dish seam down.
Make Ahead Instructions
- From start to finish, this dish takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to make. It’s not a long time but for a weekend meal, but I like to stick to 30 minutes or less for weeknights.
- Partial Preparation: To save some time, make the sauce ahead and keep it in the fridge, in an air-tight glass jar. You can also cook chicken ahead or time, shred it, and keep it in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Once you have the sauce and the chicken, enchiladas will only take 30 minutes to make.
- Another way to go: You can follow the recipe all the way up to the baking step but instead of baking, cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake. When ready to bake, take the dish out of the fridge and discard plastic wrap. Let the dish sit on the counter while the oven is pre-heating or start preheating the oven with the dish in it. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.
Chicken Enchiladas Recipe FAQs
Personally, I side with the flour tortillas in most enchilada recipes. But there is no need to debate, it all comes down to personal preference.
Flour tortillas are softer and sturdier, white corn tortillas do have a tendency to break and crumble. There is also a noticeable flavor and texture difference between the two types of tortillas, that is mostly where personal preference comes in.
You can absolutely use corn tortillas if that is what you love or use flour.
If you want to use corn tortillas for enchiladas, it is important to soften them! Trying to roll cold tortillas will be frustrating because they will be breaking.
To soften corn tortillas, lightly brush or spray them with some oil and place them on a sheet tray. Bake at 325° for 3-5 minutes. After they’re warmed, stack them and cover with a damp warmed clean towel to keep them soft while rolling enchiladas.
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You can freeze them either before or after baking. For best results, assemble the enchiladas in a freezer-safe dish, cover tightly (2 layers is better), label and freeze. When ready to use, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake until heated through.
Some More Enchilada Recipes To Try
If you’ve made my enchilada recipe and found a lot of good information here, PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below as well. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!
Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce:
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 chipotle in adobo sauce
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce from chipotles
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp white granulated sugar
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt more or less per taste
Chicken Enchiladas:
- 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2-3 chicken breasts)
- salt
- 6 soft flour tortillas
- 10 oz shredded Mexican cheese mix
Instructions
Enchilada Sauce:
- Preheat a medium sauce pot over medium heat, add oil, and saute onion until softened. Add garlic and saute until fragrant.
- Sprinkle flour over the onion and stir until onions are evenly coated.
- Slowly pour in stock while stirring. Add can of tomatoes and all remaining ingredients. Stir well and bring the mixture to simmer. Let it simmer for a few minutes.
- Transfer the content of the pot into a food processor and blend well until smooth. The sauce is ready for making enchiladas!
Chicken Enchiladas:
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil. Grease the foil and spread a couple of tablespoons of sauce underneath each chicken breast.
- Season each chicken breast with salt and place on top of the sauce. Spread some more sauce over each chicken breast and bake for about 20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Place cooked chicken into a bowl and shred using 2 forks. Make sure to save the sauce the chicken was baked with and add it to the shredded chicken.
- Set the oven to 375°F and spread about a cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the 9×13 greased casserole dish.
- Spread some chicken in the tortilla, in one line. Add a couple tablespoons of sauce and some shredded cheese over the chicken.
- Roll up the tortilla and place rolled tortilla into the casserole dish, seam down.
- Repeat filling the rest of tortillas and rolling them.
- Evenly spread the remaining sauce over each rolled tortilla and generously top it all off with shredded cheese. Bake enchiladas for 17-20 minutes.
Video
Notes
- Storage: Store leftover chicken enchiladas in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
- Reheating: Reheat individual portions in the microwave until heated through. For best results, reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered with foil, until warmed through to keep them from drying out.
- Freezing: Enchiladas can be frozen before or after baking. Wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap and foil, or store in a freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating or baking.
- Make Ahead: Make the sauce and cook the chicken ahead of time, then store both in the refrigerator. Once ready, assembling the enchiladas takes about 30 minutes. You can also assemble the dish completely, cover, and refrigerate before baking. When ready to bake, let it sit while the oven preheats and bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.
- Flour vs Corn Tortillas: Use whichever you prefer. Flour tortillas are softer and easier to roll, while corn tortillas have a more traditional flavor but can crack.
- Tip for Corn Tortillas: Warm them before rolling to prevent breaking. Lightly oil and bake at 325°F for 3-5 minutes, then keep them covered with a warm towel until ready to use.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on May 2, 2011.
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Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Chicken Dinner Recipes, Cinco de Mayo Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Enchilada Recipes, Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes, Mexican Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
When using flour tortillas, the dish is smothered burritos.
Burritos usually also feature rice and beans. Use of tortillas is a personal taste, you can use either one you like!
Probably a 1/2 cup of the stock would thin it out
Made the Chicken Enchiladas tonight for dinner . Wonderful. I followed the recipe to the T. Sauce was a little thick to my liking. Any suggestions on how to thin ? Thanks 😊
Of course! If it was the sauce that was a little too thick, add another splash of chicken broth/stock to make it thinner. If you’re talking about the filling, thinner sauce would help there as well. I’m so glad you liked it!
Tried this tonight — it was DELICIOUS! Will make it again for sure! Thank you!
Yay! So glad you liked it, Christine!
oh i wish i had been at your house for cinco de mayo…we ate greek salad :)! these look delicious and i think your addition of grape tomatoes is inspired.
Hi Lyuba, Your Enchilada’s look wonderful and just in time for Cinco de Mayo.
So good! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Chris! So happy you liked it!
Mmmmmm! Wish I made these today instead of tacos
Yum!! I LOVE a great enchilada recipe and I’m glad to see that you use homemade sauce
Perfect! Right in time for Cinco de Mayo and what a great dinner!!
I adore enchiladas! Yummy!
These look wonderful! 🙂 Great tutorial! I am making my list to make them tonight!
Making enchiladas is time consuming…yours look wonderful and worth the effort!!
Oh, wow! This looks absolutely delish!! Thank you so much for sharing!
Looks great, I love enchiladas. We make ours with beef the most