These green chile chicken enchiladas are made with shredded chicken and plenty of cheese, all rolled up in corn tortillas and smothered with green chile sauce. This enchilada recipe is sure to become a family favorite!
Making enchiladas at home is actually quite easy to do! These green chicken enchiladas taste like they came from a restaurant and are the perfect way to use up leftover chicken.
I happen to be an enchilada lover – cheese, beef, chicken, I love ’em all! These green chile chicken enchiladas are ready in less than an hour and are loaded with cheese, chicken and chiles. My family requests this dish constantly, it’s just that good!
How to make green chile chicken enchiladas
These green enchiladas start with cooked, shredded chicken. You can use leftover chicken, a rotisserie chicken, or cook up some fresh chicken breasts. I sometimes put some chicken breasts in the slow cooker with a cup of green salsa, then cook on low for 6 hours and shred the meat.
The chicken is combined with green chiles, spices and and cheese, then rolled up with a little sour cream into the tortillas. I use corn tortillas here because it’s more traditional, but you can absolutely substitute flour tortillas if you prefer.
The tortillas need to be softened before you roll them up, otherwise they’ll break or crack. Some people dip their tortillas in hot oil to soften, but I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to give the tortillas a good steam in the microwave.
After the enchiladas are rolled up, they’re coated in sauce and topped with cheese before they go into the oven. I use store bought green enchilada sauce here, because I find that I simply don’t have the time to make my own sauce most of the time!
You can make these enchiladas as mild or as spicy as you like by selecting a sauce and can of chiles with the heat content that you’re looking for. I use mild sauce and mild chiles because I’m feeding kids, but if you like spicy, switch to a hot enchilada sauce or chiles.
After the enchiladas take a trip through the oven, I top them with a little diced tomato and cilantro for added freshness. I serve these green chile chicken enchiladas with our favorite Mexican rice and beans for an amazingly delicious dinner that my whole family enjoys.
More Mexican favorites
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas Video
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 4 ounce can diced green chiles drained
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 3 cups shredded monterey jack cheese divided use
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese divided use
- 14 corn tortillas
- 2 10 ounce cans mild green enchilada sauce
- 1 cup sour cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: chopped fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the monterey jack and cheddar cheeses.
- In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, 1/2 of the cheese, green chilies, garlic powder, cumin, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stack the tortillas on a plate and wrap with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 1 minute until tortillas are warm and pliable.
- Lay one of the tortillas on a flat surface and spread approximately 2 teaspoons of sour cream down the center of each tortilla. Add approximately 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture, then tightly roll up the tortilla and place it seam side down in the pan.
- Repeat the process with the remaining tortillas.
- Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the pan, the top the enchiladas with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve, topped with chopped cilantro and tomatoes if desired.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Lil' Luna.
- I typically use rotisserie chicken in these enchiladas to make life easier, but leftover chicken also works great!
- I like my enchiladas on the mild side; if you like things spicy, use a can of diced jalapenos instead of the green chiles, or go for a hotter enchilada sauce.
Made these for a second time yesterday – and decided to double the spices since I thought they were a little bland the first time – and my husband commented that they had “really good flavor” so guess that did the trick.
This is my go-to chicken enchilada recipe: simple and delicious. I usually buy a whole chicken and poach the breasts with bay leaf and onions instead using rotisserie chicken. It doesn’t take much more time and I have chicken in my freezer for soup and another meal for about the same cost.