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.
These are a go-to recipe on busy nights. I do use corn tortillas, it’s tastes so much better. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll through in sautéed onions and fire roasted corn. Certain brands of tortillas are easier to work with than others. Also microwaving a stack for 30 seconds helps soften them as well.
Hi. I am thinking of making these as a freezer meal-prep for a friend who is having surgery. Can these be frozen, either before or after baking in the oven, and then re-heated successfully?
That should be fine, I’d freeze before baking.
Muy delicioso! My husband loved. these and he is a very picky eater… thank you for another great recipe. Definitely a keeper.
Can I prep the day before and bake the next day?
You can wrap up the chicken in the tortillas and put it in the pan, but I’d wait to add the sauce until right before it goes in the oven.
We used siete almond flour tortillas (10 to a pack) & only 1/2 cup sour cream & 2 cups cheese. I accidentally made less chicken so only used 3.5 cups. I appreciate how you stated how much sour cream filling went in each enchilada. I ended to with extra filling due to only 10 tortillas so just sprinkled some on top. Delicious! My whole family loved them. With changes one enchilada is 286 calories, 15.5 fat, 15.5 carbs, 1.5 fiber, & 18.5 protein.
Thank you for teaching me successfully how to make enchiladas. We love green chili in this house, but I needed something new to fix besides my regular Chili Relleno Casserole. I used rotisserie chicken which was top notch and everything else was wonderful. Next time I think I’ll add more chilies or may even put a whole one down the length of the tortilla for more chili flavor. I also used to buy the “Mexican” cheese blend, but I really prefer the cheddar and Monterey jack blend. I served mine with Herdez brand guacamole salsa and it was delicious.
HANDS DOWN BEST ENCHILADA RECIPE!!! So easy and came out delicious! This is for sure my go to recipe for these now!
Our family absolutely loves these!
If I were to do a double batch, could you freeze these?
Enchiladas are one of our favourite dinners and these sound absolutely divine! I am definitely putting these on the meal plan for the week!
This is one of those classic meals everyone needs to make! It’s so good! The family loves it!
This is such a great recipe to make for a get together with my girlfriends! As soon as we’re out of this lockdown, I’ll be cooking it up pronto!
I love making these when I have leftover chicken and adding in a couple diced jalapenos from our garden. So yummy!
Yummy! These look so tasty and flavorful! Can’t wait to give this a try! So excited!
Love these enchiladas! They’re a staple in our weekly rotation. We season some chicken breasts with olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, and bake them and they turn out great in these enchiladas. Thanks for the recipe!
I had 4 under the age of four have you tried quesadillas for a quick lunch? 2 flour tortillas Monterey cheese add left over chicken and salsa put in a place heat until cheese is melted and there you have it easy quick very little clean up. You heat tortillas on a placa or heat in a cast iron skillet
A great dish it can be used as breakfast or brunch heat left over enchiladas fry a couple eggs and add on top of enchiladas …vico. I was taught to cook old mexican dishes. as a kid. You have to try Atole
This was easy to make and so delicious. My husband said to put it in our rotation of favorite recipes. As a side I made basmati rice with black beans, salsa and the same spices as the enchiladas. Thank you for a great recipe.
Good morning!
I’m making these tonight, the recipe is very clear, I’m just a little confused about one detail.
The ingredient list calls for 14 tortillas, but it appears there are only 7 in the photo – do you need two 9×13” bakers to bake all 14?
I shopped last night, I bought a package of 6” tortillas.
Need clarity please, thank you!
It’s just a smaller pan in the photo, the 14 tortillas in a 9×13 is correct!
Thank you Sara! I arranged them in two columns short side ways (7 per column). I used every inch of my dish, but all 14 did fit. They were delicious, will definitely make again, thank you!!
I made this with kirkland brand canned chicken chunk and Hatch green chiles. Made about 20 enchiladas using 6in corn tortillas and took about 35mun the oven to brown the cheese. Being in Arizona i have tried a lot of enchiladas and these were fantastic.