These Easy Chicken Enchiladas with green sauce are a delicious way to use up leftover chicken and your favorite taco toppings. Great dinner recipe for busy nights when you need a quick and easy meal.
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One of the things we buy each week is a rotisserie chicken from Sam's or Costco. I love how inexpensive they are, and I don't have to heat up my kitchen roasting it. Win, win.
I keep bags of already shredded chicken in our fridge and freezer for easy weeknight dinners like chicken ole for our family. I'm all about saving time in the kitchen when it comes to dinner prep.
These enchiladas are a delicious way to use up leftover chicken and your favorite taco toppings. They are quick enough to make that you can make them any night of the week.
Why Make This Recipe
Enchiladas are so easy to make, and you can customize them with your favorite fillings. It's also a delicious dinner for Cinco de Mayo.
These are so easy to make because you can make the filling and sauce for these green chicken enchiladas ahead of time. Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble dinner.
In minutes you can transform taco night leftovers into an easy and flavorful enchilada casserole. The layer of sauce and cheese bakes up all melty and bubbly.
Ingredients Needed
One of my favorite meals are chicken enchiladas with green sauce. The sauce comes together so easily in a blender and adds so much flavor to the loaded enchiladas.
- Green Sauce: Make these easy sauce by mixing butter, flour, chicken broth, cilantro, sour cream, cumin, and pepper in a blender.
- Chicken: You can use any leftover chicken for these green chicken enchiladas. A rotisserie chicken is also a great option. In a pinch, canned chicken breast will even work.
- Filling: Black beans, corn, tomatoes with green chiles, and taco sauce is what we like in our enchiladas. Feel free to substitute your favorite filling ingredients.
- Cheese: We like to use shredded Mexican style cheese that you can find in most grocery stores. Pepper Jack is another one of our favorites.
- Tortillas: Flour tortillas are what we prefer in this enchiladas recipe, but corn will work too. The corn tortillas are smaller, so you can fit more in the pan. Looking for a low carb dinner? Use an egg wrap or low carb tortillas instead.
BRUCREW TIP: Save time on dinner prep the next day by making the filling and green sauce the night before. Refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the chicken enchiladas.
How to Make Chicken Enchiladas
These green enchiladas are an easy and delicious choice for busy nights. The filling and homemade enchilada sauce come together in minutes.
- Stir together shredded chicken, veggies, taco sauce, and cheese in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Add chicken broth, cilantro, sour cream, and spices to a blender and pulse until creamy.
- Melt butter in a heated skillet. Stir in flour and cook for one minute. Whisk in chicken broth and heat until thickened. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Add thickened sauce to the green sauce in the blender and pulse again. Pour some of this blender sauce in a 9x13 baking dish.
- Lightly fry tortillas in an oiled pan to warm them up and crisp the outside slightly.
- Assemble the enchiladas. Fill a warm tortilla with spoonfuls of the chicken mixture and roll up. Place the seam side down in prepared dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Pour remaining sauce over the filled enchiladas and top with shredded cheese.
- Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings.
Tips and Tricks
- Keep bags of store bought shredded chicken in the freezer for quick meal prep.
- These easy chicken enchiladas with green sauce are delicious on their own, but adding extra toppings takes them over the top.
- Some topping ideas are shredded monterey jack cheese, diced tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, green onions, and chopped cilantro.
- Use half the chicken in these easy chicken enchiladas, and the other half in this BBQ chicken quesadilla later in the week.
Storage Recommendations
To Store - Place the cooled enchiladas in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
To Freeze - Cool completely. Place in freezer safe container and freeze for 1-2 months. Thaw in fridge overnight before reheating.
To make a Freezer Meal - Place sauce in freezer bag and freeze separately. Place filled enchiladas in a disposable tin foil pan. Cover tightly.
Freeze without the sauce for 1-2 months. Thaw both in fridge 24-48 hours ahead of time. Top with thawed sauce and shredded cheese and bake as directed.
Make it a Meal
Recipe FAQS
Pull the hot chicken off the bones, and placed it in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn it to one of the lower speeds for 20-25 seconds. The mixer does all the work of pulling the meat apart for you.
It's really a matter of preference. Corn tortillas are traditional for Mexican chicken enchiladas recipes, but flour tortillas also work well. We like to use 10 inch flour tortillas when we make these creamy chicken enchiladas.
Make sure you are using fresh tortillas. Old or expired ones will crack when rolled. Corn tortillas are also more pliable and easier to roll if you heat them up first. You can warm them up on a warm griddle for 20-30 seconds, wrap a stack in a damp towel and microwave until warm, or you can wrap a stack in foil and heat in a 325° oven.
Make the enchiladas one day ahead of time and refrigerate in pan. Bring to room temperature before baking. To keep the tortillas from getting soggy, DO NOT add the sauce to the top until right before baking.
Flour tortillas will soak up any sauce that is poured on them. Pan fry them lightly in a little bit of oil. This will give them a crispy shell that provides a barrier for the sauce.
More Easy Chicken Dinners
- Sweet and Sour Crock Pot Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo Ravioli
- Buffalo Pasta
- Cheesy Chicken Pasta
- Chicken Queso Dip
- El Monterey Enchiladas
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Recipe
Easy Chicken Enchiladas
These Easy Chicken Enchiladas are a delicious way to use up leftover chicken and your favorite taco toppings. Great recipe for those busy nights when you need a quick and easy meal.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
- 1 - 15 ounce can black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 - 15 ounce can corn, drained
- 1 - 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
- ½ cup taco sauce
- salt & pepper
- 3 cups chicken broth, divided
- ⅓ cup packed chopped cilantro
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 8 - 10 inch flour tortillas
- 2 ½ cups shredded Mexican cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray.
- Combine the chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, taco sauce, and ½ cup cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Add 1 ½ cups of chicken broth, cilantro, sour cream, cumin, and pepper in a blender. Pulse until smooth.
- Melt the butter in a heated skillet. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the remaining chicken broth (1 ½ cups). Bring to low boil and cook 1 minute or until thickened. Add to the green mixture in the blender and pulse again.
- Pour ½ cup green sauce in the bottom of prepared pan.
- Lightly fry the tortillas in an oiled pan to warm and crisp. Divide the chicken mixture onto each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in the pan.
- Pour green sauce on top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top evenly. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes.
- Serve warm with sour cream, tomatoes, avocados, and cilantro, if desired.
Notes
- Recipe has been adapted from one found in The Living Room Series: Ruth: Loss, Love, & Legacy
- To Store: Place the cooled enchiladas in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- To Freeze: Cool completely. Place in freezer safe container and freeze for 1-2 months. Thaw in fridge overnight before reheating.
- To make a Freezer Meal: Place sauce in freezer bag and freeze. Place filled enchiladas in a disposable tin foil pan. Cover tightly. Freeze without the sauce for 1-2 months. Thaw both in fridge 24-48 hours ahead of time. Top with sauce and cheese and bake as directed.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 561Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 1402mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 7gSugar: 5gProtein: 33g
Nutrition facts are an estimate and are not guaranteed to be accurate. If you need special diet advice, please see a registered dietician.
*The post for Chicken Enchiladas was first published on July 28, 2013. The photos were updated in June 2017, and the post was republished on April 13, 2021.
Constanza.
I did It. Really yummy. Thanks for sharing. I LOVE your blog
Sharon Carson
If I were fortunate enough to be chosen, I would make my favorite Guiness beef stew. The sear option would definitely come in handy to brown the beef before slow cooking.
kentuckylady717
This looks like a great slow cooker, I would steam a whole chicken and then I would bake some muffins.....have you made muffins in it yet? I just wonder how they come ou? Can't imagine making muffins in a slow cooker, but definitely would give it a try 🙂
kentuckylady717
sorry left the t out of out.....need a EDIT BUTTON on here 🙂 can you give us one ? 🙂
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor
I LOVE that you used the burrito-sized tortillas for these. My husband's biggest complaint is that I make enchiladas too small. Great solution. And man, these look fantastic.
Jocelyn Brubaker
Thanks so much Kristi!! 😉
Patti
I think I would probably make a chicken.....too many things to choose from!
sarah k
I have never used a slow cooker before, so I would make a bbq pork roast or chichen.
Brenda R
this looks yummy, but I think my first meal would be Italian Beef but there's so many choices 🙂
Trina Ryefield
I think I would make Barbacoa Beef, and then use your very yummy looking enchilada sauce to pour on top!
Connie
I think I would first try a roast iwth veggies in the Ninja. Hubby broke my Cooks Essentials pressure cooker that I used to make it in.
Kathy
This is another of your recipes I'll have to try!
Jocelyn Brubaker
Yay!! 😉
Linda
I would make a pot roast! Since I don't get home from work until 6:45 this would be great!
Chels R.
I would be totally making these enchiladas! They look fabulous!!
Jocelyn Brubaker
Thanks Chels!! 😉
Monique
I would try to make this recipe! Looks yummy!
Heather B
I would make chicken and dumplings for my hubby.
marsha
I love mexican food but pork roast would probably be my first cook! Thanks for the chance to win!
Angelica
I would make Jocelyn's enchiladas
Amy
I would make some pulled pork with Hawaiian BBQ sauce!