Easy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Hey, I’m John Canel and today we’re making some easy, delicious chicken enchiladas. So, let’s get started.

Preparation

First off, preheat your oven to 350 and we’re going to grease a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. I also have a tiny bit of prep work to do. Grab one medium yellow onion and we’re going to give it a chop.

Chicken Filling

Chicken enchiladas are a family favorite at my house, and I love them because they are so easy to make. In that little bowl, I have 1 and ½ lbs of shredded chicken breast. You can boil or bake your chicken. You could also just buy rotisserie chicken from the market. Shred it and you’re good to go. It’s such a timesaver.

Give this a nice chop. That’s all chopped up. And you want about five cloves of garlic. You can mince this or just use a garlic press later, which is what I’m going to do.

Cooking the Vegetables

Now, grab a big skillet and we’re going to be on the cooktop. I’m going to pop this over medium-high heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil. You could use veggie oil, but I’m using olive oil. Either one’s fine. Let that oil get nice and hot so it’s shimmering in the pan. And then we can add the onions in. Onion goes in. You’ll also want to add half a teaspoon of salt to get things started and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. You’re going to stir this frequently for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent and then we can add the garlic in.

The idea of an enchilada goes all the way back to the Aztec Empire. Food was often consumed wrapped in tortillas. This is like the great great great grandchild of that idea with many adaptations and modifications along the way.

This recipe uses a red enchilada sauce. I made a big batch of it using the recipe that’s on the blog, but you can totally use a nice store-bought one instead if you prefer. If you’re using store-bought enchilada sauce, you’ll need two 10 oz cans.

My onion looks nice and translucent. I’m going to pop my garlic in. Remember, I’m using a press, but if you wanted to, you could have minced it by yourself by hand. Make this recipe your own. If you want, you could add bell peppers, mushroom, zucchini. So many options as long as you have it on hand and it’s something you enjoy.

Combining Chicken and Sauce

After garlic cooks for about a minute, you’re going to add the shredded chicken in. Move it around right away so that the onions aren’t burning and the chicken is warming up. I’m also adding ⅓ of a cup of my red enchilada sauce in. Cook the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes just to warm it through while gently mixing it. Now you can take it off heat because this is getting very hot. This is a great time to take a taste and see if your chicken is bland or salty, needs more spices, needs more pepper. Take a look. For me, a little bit more salt. Things are hot, so grab some mitts or towels. And we’re going to transfer this to our work area.

Assembly

It’s time to assemble your chicken enchiladas. And here you’ll want to grab eight tortillas. If you’re using flour, you could use corn, you could use flour. Some people have very strong opinions on this. I’m using flour today because it’s less likely to crack and it absorbs the sauce really nicely. Corn will work too, but they tend to be smaller, so you’ll be using more tortillas. Up to you.

We’re going to spoon a few tablespoons of the sauce over our tortilla. Let’s get a nice thin layer going. Grab an eighth of your chicken mixture. Plop that into the center. And you’re going to finish this off with two to three tablespoons of this shredded Mexican cheese blend. Give this a roll. And you’re going to place into the casserole dish, seam-side down. Transfer and flip. There we go. Continue this process with the remaining tortillas and mixture. And this makes a nice sized portion. So you can keep those leftovers for up to 4 days. You can make it in advance and reheat it. Or you can freeze the leftovers and those will last for up to three months.

If you prefer, you could totally sub the red enchilada sauce for a green enchilada sauce, a cheesy white sauce, a mole, it’s really up to you. Anything is going to be delicious here. You just want to get the right proportions. So, as long as your fillings are there, the cheese, and a good amount of sauce, you’re going to be golden.

I mentioned some of the vegetables you could add earlier. You could also add some beans to this. It’d be really nice and hearty, but if you’re doing that, just reduce the chicken to one pound. Cheese goes on top. Give it a roll and seam-side down. If you don’t want things to get too messy when you’re transferring the tortillas in, pop them in face side up and then roll them so they’re seam-side down. If you do that midair, things can start falling out. It gets messy. And I try to avoid messes because that just means I have to clean more afterwards. I don’t want that.

Continue this enchilada assembly line until your casserole dish is full. Now, I am just using cheese and chicken with my enchilada sauce, but you could add some grilled veggies or peppers. Like, the world is your oyster here. So, totally feel free to make these your own with flavors that you love. And here you can see I have a little trick for getting these into the pan. I just finish the roll once they’re in the casserole dish. That way they don’t fall apart. My last enchilada went in. Feel free to push these to make some more room if it’s getting crowded.

Baking

We’re going to pour the rest of the enchilada sauce all over the top and then get some cheese. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce all over the top. Spread it out with a spoon. And once that’s all spread out, we’re going to add the remaining shredded cheese over. And yes, if you went liberal on the cheese inside, you could add a little bit more.

My enchiladas are ready to go into the oven. 20 to 30 minutes at 350 or until the cheese is all melty and the enchiladas are really nice and warm inside. In you go.

Serving

You can garnish this with sour cream, cilantro, avocado, chilies. It’s really up to you. And just like that, they’re ready to enjoy. Hearty, cheesy, full of flavor, and not dry at all. I hope you had a chance to make this delicious recipe.