Homemade Chicken Enchiladas
These Cheesy Homemade Chicken Enchiladas are an Indianapolis favorite. Shared in our Junior League cookbook, Winners, they’re always a hit!
Homemade Chicken Enchiladas
We love anything Mexican or Tex-Mex at our house! From Smothered Burritos to Tacos and Enchiladas, the family is happy when any of these are on the menu.
Slightly spicy and super cheesy. Hands down, these are our favorite enchiladas. Yes, your kitchen may look like a disaster area after you’re through making the enchilada and smothering sauces and filling and rolling your tortillas, but the taste is definitely worth the effort. Just ignore the dirty pots, empty cans, and tomato splatters on your countertops and savor the deliciousness of these super cheesy chicken enchiladas.
Tips for Making Chicken Enchiladas:
- I can usually eek out a few extra enchiladas, making closer to 14 than 10.
- Since they freeze well, I just put half in another baking dish, cover well, and store in the freezer for a quick meal on a busy night.
- I typically grate my own cheese but found pre-shredded cheddar Jack which streamlined the preparation a bit. Unfortunately, I left 2 of the 4 packages in the fridge, so these weren’t ultra cheesy, but still super tasty (actually, nobody noticed)! So if you’re watching fat and calories, you may elect to do the same. But it may be the two pounds of cheese that make this such a winning dish!
Homemade Chicken Enchiladas
Super Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas from the Junior League cookbook , Winners
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce:
- 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 12 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Smothering Sauce:
- 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
- 1 1/4 cups stewed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup green chiles, chopped, drained
Chicken Filling:
- 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups stewed tomatoes, drained
- 3/4 cup green chiles,chopped, drained
- 3/4 cup sliced black olives, optional
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 10-14 flour tortillas
- 1 pound cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 pound Monterey jack cheese, grated
- Sour cream and guacamole, to serve
Instructions
- To make enchilada sauce, combine tomato sauce, oil, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a medium-size saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Combine 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, tomatoes and chilies to make smothering sauce.
- Combine chicken, onion, tomatoes, chilies, olives , chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Assemble by brushing inside of tortillas with 2 tablespoons enchilada sauce. Top each tortilla with 3-4 tablespoons of chicken mixture.
- Mix grated cheeses. Place 2-3 tablespoons cheese on each tortilla and roll.
- Place rolls, seam down, in 9x13-inch baking dish. Add any remaining enchilada sauce to smothering sauce and pour over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream and guacamole as toppings.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1276Total Fat: 74gSaturated Fat: 34gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 33gCholesterol: 207mgSodium: 7382mgCarbohydrates: 89gFiber: 9gSugar: 14gProtein: 66g
60 Comments on “Homemade Chicken Enchiladas”
This post just reminded me it is lunch time…and now I want mexican. This looks so good!
oh Lizzy Look delicious and here’s time lunch soon!!! xxxgloria
what? no brownies today?!
good thing i love mexican food too 🙂
Thanks for this recipe – I’ve never actually made enchiladas cause I wasn’t sure how – just had a blank about it – your recipe is bookmarked – thanks for making it straighforward and totally delicious!
Mary x
Great Enchiladas! I love Mexican, and enchiladas are one of our favorites. I have never made my own sauce though (gasp!). I will have to try next time though!
I am watching weight. I want the cheese. These beautiful enchiladas would be a big hit here – bookmarked.
You know, I just had breakfast and now I’m CRAVING these for lunch! With how much I love cheese, I probably would be covering with a full 2 lbs, but yours look plenty cheesy…
Nice, never made this before. I didn’t realise Enchilada Sauce was that easy to make.
Beautiful pictures! It makes me crave Mexican food immediately 🙂
Lizzy,
Your enchiladas look fantastic, with all the cheesy, saucy goodness. We make a similar recipe, and they do freeze well.
Yum, yum, yum! We just made red lentil enchiladas last night so I had enchiladas on the brain. Good to know that they freeze well. These sound great!
Yum. These look so delicious that I immediately had to pin and stumble them. I love the freezing idea too. I never think to do that.
You know, I’ve often found that the Junior League cookbooks — from anywhere — have some of THE very best recipes. I’ll tolerate a dirty kitchen for these!
Perfect Lizzy, more spicy and plenty of cheese on top will be all better for me, tempting enough.
I love enchiladas and this looks like a yummy recipe! Might try tonight!
The photos and the colors are enough to say – gimme.
Was hoping to catch your post before leaving for the week for Retail Christmas meetings… Boy am I glad I did! I love Mexican food, this one is a great recipe, bookmarked to try! thanks
Another great recipe from you,i bet guacamole adding great taste to it,,,YummY.
Ridwan
They must be delicious..as your Baked Donuts…
Looks like a great easy recipe. Thanks for sharing!