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Easy Chicken Enchiladas is the BEST chicken enchiladas recipe ever! Made with homemade enchilada sauce, this Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe it packed with delicious Mexican flavor, tender chunks of chicken and tons of melty cheese!
Oh… be still my heart! If you are a fan of Mexican food like I am, this Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe is for YOU!! I admit, I L-O-V-E Mexican food and what I have learned over the years is that convenience Mexican food is no match for making real food in your kitchen and that 100% includes homemade enchilada sauce. I have always just grabbed the little can of red enchilada sauce at my grocery store but once I made homemade enchilda sauce for real in my own kitchen… well, let’s just say I’ve never grabbed that little jar of sauce from the grocery store since. These Easy Chicken Enchiladas are easy to make, quick to assemble and using the homemade enchilada sauce makes that that much tastier! Trust me.
WHAT DO YOU PUT IN ENCHILADAS?
Enchiladas are super easy to customize. Don’t like chicken? Substitute the chicken with ground beef, pork or ground turkey. Don’t like pepper jack cheese? Leave it out and add Mexican crumbling cheese or monterey jack cheese. Not a fan of red enchilada sauce, don’t worry .. you can make these Easy Chicken Enchiladas using a green sauce. Don’t worry .. it’s just food!
CAN I PREPARE ENCHILADAS IN ADVANCE?
You sure can! Simply follow the recipe below but stop where you cover the enchiladas with the sauce and the cheese. Instead, cover the chicken enchiladas with foil and move to your refrigerator. Then when you are ready to cook them (they can stay for 1-2 days), simply cover them with the sauce and cheese and bake as instructed but add on an extra 5 minutes or so to cut the cold.
HOW DO YOU MAKE EASY CHICKEN ENCHILADAS?
Easy! Start by making your Homemade Enchilada Sauce. Once done, preheat the oven to 350 degrees then add two tablespoon of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the small chunks of chicken to the skillet and stirring often, cook until browned and no longer pink inside. Add in the taco seasoning, spices, diced onion, 1/2 a cup of enchilada sauce and green chiles.
Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat. Next, line up your Easy Chicken Enchiladas ingredients and grab a large 9×13 baking pan. To assemble the Easy Chicken Enchiladas, lay out a tortilla and spread a line of beans down the middle of the tortilla along with a line of the chicken and some of the pepper jack cheese.
Roll the tortilla and place in the baking pan. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and then top with enchilada sauce and the remaining shredded cheese.
Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.
PRO TIPS FOR MAKING EASY CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
- I use flour tortillas but if you prefer to use corn, feel free.
- Always use good quality cheese and shred the cheese yourself to avoid lots of extra grease and cheese that doesn’t melt properly. Pre-shredded cheese has a lot of extra ingrediets to preserve and avoid clumping so shredding the cheese yourself is always ideal.
- If you don’t have the time to make homemade enchilada sauce, don’t worry .. storebought is perfectly fine and your Easy Chicken Enchiladas will be amazing.
Looking for more easy dinner recipes to share with your family and friends? Check a few of my favorite 30 minute meal recipes below.
MORE EASY DINNER RECIPES
- Parmesan Garlic Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs
- Spicy Thai Chicken with Coconut Lime Quinoa
- Sticky Chicken Rice Bowl
- Chicken Tinga Tostadas
Easy!!
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Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small bite sized pieces
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 4 ounce can of green chiles
- 1 pack taco seasoning .. I use the hot and spicy!
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 1/2 cups red enchilada sauce .. if not using homemade, a 10 oz can from the grocery store is fine 🙂
- 8 large Mexican flour tortillas
- 15 ounce black refried beans .. or regular refried beans if unable to find
- 2 cups pepper jack cheese shredded
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- diced onion, cilantro, sour cream for topping ... optional
Instructions
- Easy! Start by making your Homemade Enchilada Sauce. Once your enchilada sauce is done, preheat the oven to 350 degrees then add two tablespoon of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the small chunks of chicken to the skillet and stirring often, cook until browned and no longer pink inside.
- Add in the taco seasoning, spices, diced onion, 1/2 a cup of enchilada sauce and green chiles. Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat.
- Next, line up your Easy Chicken Enchiladas ingredients and grab a large 9x13 baking pan. Add a small amount of enchilada sauce at the bottom of the pan and spread out evenly.
- To assemble the Easy Chicken Enchiladas, lay out a tortilla and spread a line of beans down the middle of the tortilla along with a line of the chicken and some of the pepper jack cheese. Roll the tortilla and place in the baking pan. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and then top with enchilada sauce and the remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Can you tell me about how much onion I should have? I live in the UK and the produce here is often significantly smaller than in the US. I’ve fixed mine and have about 2/3 of a cup. Don’t wanna end up with too much onion! Thanks!
Hi!! You can use about 1/4 cup of onion.. that would equal out to about the same amount
I’m just now making the enchiladas, but the red sauce is simply amazing!
Thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed them 🙂 Your very kind comment inspired me to make enchiladas tonight to!