Chicken Enchiladas
These are the best Chicken Enchiladas and my family’s go to recipe for a comforting dinner. Flavorful, juicy chicken breast meat cooked with homemade enchilada sauce and all rolled together into a soft, flour tortilla with extra sauce and cheese. Rolled enchiladas are then nestled in more spicy enchilada sauce, covered with more cheese and baked.
What makes these enchiladas the best is the Homemade Enchilada Sauce! Try it with our Beef Enchiladas as well.
Table of Contents
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. The second my husband smells the aroma of enchiladas in the air, he comes running.
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 and seafood enchiladas, and even the breakfast ones. After all these different enchiladas, classic chicken ones are still number one in our heart.
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 sauce is what makes these enchiladas so good. I use the same sauce for my classic enchilada recipes and just make an adjustment for beef or chicken.
I use beef or chicken stock to make the sauce depending on the type of enchiladas. It’s very easy to adjust the spice level in the sauce too. Use more or less chili powder and add a dash of cayenne pepper for spicier sauce.
PRO TIP: I don’t recommend adding more chipotles is adobo sauce because that makes the sauce more bitter.
Ingredient Notes
Enchilada Sauce – I can’t stress enough that homemade enchilada sauce makes a big difference in this dish! It only takes about 20 minutes to make and you can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Chicken – we prefer chicken breast meat but you can use boneless skinless chicken thigh meat or a combination of the two.
Cheese – use Mexican cheese mix, it usually contains a mix of cheddar, Colby, Monterrey Jack, Asadero, and queso quesadilla cheeses. You can mix your own cheeses listed if you’d like.
Tortillas – we like to use soft flour taco tortillas but you can use corn instead if you’d like. You can use homemade corn tortillas or store-bought. Corn tortillas have a very different flavor and texture so it is a personal preference.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Cooking Instructions
Your first step would be to prepare the enchilada sauce and then, you are all good to go. The sauce will take about 20 minutes and then you can make the enchiladas right away or store it in the fridge until you’re ready.
Once you have the sauce, spread some on the foil lined baking sheet and place the salted chicken over it (1). Spread some more sauce over each chicken breast and bake for 18-20 minutes at 425° (2).
Shred cooked chicken (3) and make sure to retain the sauce it was cooked in. Mix the sauce that the chicken was cooked in with the shredded chicken.
To stuff the enchiladas, spread some chicken in the tortilla, in one line. Add some more enchilada sauce and some shredded cheese over the chicken (4). Roll up the enchilada and place it in the prepared baking dish seam down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Evenly spread the remaining sauce over each rolled tortilla (5) and generously top it all off with shredded cheese (6). Bake enchiladas for 17-20 minutes at 375°.
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.
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.
Recipe FAQs
There is usually quite a debate among my readers about which are the best tortillas to use, flour or corn. 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.
Spanish Rice
Avocado Corn Salad
Guacamole
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
Yes! If you are using homemade or raw tortillas, you have to pre-cook them first! It will help soften tortillas, make them sturdier, and develop the flavor.
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.
Some More Enchilada Recipes To Try
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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° 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°.
- 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° 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
- Make Ahead Suggestions: 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.
- 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.
- Flour vs Corn Tortillas: this is a personal taste 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 warm clean towel to keep them soft while rolling enchiladas.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on May 2, 2011.
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.
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