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It’s important to have recipes for dishes that can be made ahead and that can feed a large crowd. That does not mean they have to be complicated or time consuming. It also doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on ingredients. My chicken enchiladas are simple to make, the ingredients are very inexpensive and they are absolutely delicious. You can make them ahead and store them in the refrigerator and just heat them up when it’s time to serve them. This is one of those dishes that you can make on the weekend and eat during the week on busy nights when you just don’t have the time to prepare dinner.

To cook the chicken, just place 4 frozen chicken breasts, two jars of chunky salsa (whatever brand you prefer) and two 4 ounce cans of green chiles in a crock pot and cook on low for several hours until the chicken is fully cooked. If you’re not ready to prepare the enchiladas, just switch the setting from low to keep warm and let the chicken sit so it’s ready when you are. You can easily add additional chicken breasts if you have a larger crowd to feed. There is plenty of liquid in the crockpot for additional chicken breasts.

Chicken Enchiladas Crock Pot

The chicken will be so tender that it will fall off of the fork when you go to pull it out of the crock pot and the salsa and green chiles give it wonderful, tomato, spicy (but not overly spicy) flavor. This chicken is also great for tacos, tostadas, quesadillas or burritos.

Next, shred the chicken using two forks. Seriously, there is no need for a knife. This chicken is so tender it’s crazy! Transfer the shredded chicken to a large bowl and add about 2/3 cup of the salsa/green chile mixture from the crockpot and about 1/2 cup of sour cream. The sour cream gives it the creamy texture and also cools down the spice a bit.

Chicken Enchilada Filling in Bowl

Stir everything together and then in the bottom of a large glass baking dish, spoon green enchilada sauce until the entire bottom of the pan is coated.

Green Enchilada Sauce

You can of course use red enchilada sauce, but I prefer the verde sauce, and it pairs very well with the chicken and corn tortillas. I prefer corn tortillas over flour, so that’s what I use.

Next, spoon the chicken/salsa/green chile/sour cream mixture in the center of a corn tortilla, roll, place in the pan and repeat until all of the mixture has been distributed into the tortillas.

Enchilada Filling

You can add cheese at this point, but I prefer to just add all of the cheese at the end. After the pan is full of rolled enchiladas, I pour verde sauce over the top until they are all covered and then sprinkle a mixture of Jack and sharp cheddar cheese over the top. I prefer to buy blocks of cheese and grate it myself. I learned this from The Pioneer Woman. She swears by freshly grated cheese and she is right, it melts so much better and it’s worth the extra effort.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and the enchiladas are heated through.

Chicken Enchiladas

Garnish with black olives, green onions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, jalapeƱos, guacamole or whatever toppings you like. I hope you will give these a try. I am pretty sure they will be added to your regular recipe rotation after one try.

If you do try them, I’d love to see your creations. Snap a photo and tag #ketchumkitchen on social media.

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18 Comments

  1. I love crockpot meals, so I’m already hooked. I also love Mexican food. Wow, this is a great recipe haha now I wish you would make some for me (:

    1. I hope you will give them a try! They are so easy and they are very tasty, if I do say so myself šŸ™‚

  2. These look great! I haven’t made enchiladas in quite awhile. They’re definitely going to be on my mind now. Thanks! šŸ™‚

  3. These look amazing. I love Mexican food and always order enchiladas when eating out. You know, I’ve actually attempted chicken enchiladas before but for some reason they always end up falling apart in the end, while trying to spoon them out of the dish and onto my plate. They NEVER keep their shape like they do in the restaurant. Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong?

    1. You might be overfilling them. I always make sure the tortillas are softened in the microwave (with water) before rolling them up and I don’t stuff them too much. They always hold their shape that way. Thanks for the comment and compliment šŸ™‚

  4. Oh yum. I LOVE enchiladas with a green sauce much better than with red sauce! The only difference I would make is using flour tortillas, ’cause I’m weird like that. šŸ™‚

  5. I rarely make enchiladas since it’s so much food for one person but they’re so yummy.

  6. My husband loves enchiladas and these look amazing! I need to try them out!

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