How to Make Easy, Chicken Enchiladas
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Ingredients
I love enchiladas and a good friend of mine taught me the simple steps that he follows to make a scrumptious Mexican meal.
1. Buy a rotisserie chicken from your neighborhood deli department.
2. Buy one (14 – 16 oz.) can of enchilada sauce.
3. Buy a block of cheddar cheese or already shredded cheese
4. Buy a (7 oz.) can of black olives
5. Buy a (8-16 oz.) carton of sour cream
6. Buy a package of instant rice, Spanish flavor
7. Buy a package of (8-10 count Large) flour or multigrain tortillas
8. Buy one small yellow or red onion
9. Buy one bunch of fresh cilantro
10. Have on hand salt and pepper
Make Mexican Night Easy:
Notes
The ingredient size varies depending on how many people you plan on feeding. I base this recipe on a family of four. I happen to like the multigrain tortillas, but not everyone does and my nephew actually prefers the flavor of the flour tortillas.
While I was living in California I was able to get the green enchilada sauce, which had more ‘bite’ to it, but here on the East coast I’ve only been able to find the red, mild sauce.
You can add hot peppers to the ingredients by chopping up several ‘hot’ banana peppers and mixing them with the other ingredients before rolling up. I don’t add these to mine, although if there is a special request I will chop them and add them to a ‘specially marked’ enchilada or two.
The large tortillas work best, but when in a pinch, I have substituted the eight inch tortilla shells.
Filling: Unless you are feeding a larger crowd, I separate the chicken breast from the dark meat and set this aside for another meal. Usually that will take the form of anything from chopped chicken salad; open faced hot chicken sandwiches; or, my all-time favorite, chicken pot pie.
I use the rest of the meat for the enchiladas because the spicy sauce and mixed flavors will hide the stronger flavor that often accompanies the dark meat.
An alternative to the chicken would be ground beef. Obviously, this would then be called, ‘Easy Beef Enchiladas’.
I use a brown rice to add to the mixture if I do not have a large amount of chicken. If there is plenty of chicken to go into the shells I serve Spanish rice on the side.
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Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees
2. Cut the chicken away from the bones and chop or slice thinly
3. Cook the rice and add to the chicken in an equal measurement: ½ c to ½ c. or whatever proportions you plan on using.
4. Add 1 c of enchilada sauce
5. Add ½ c of shredded cheddar cheese or a combination of cheddar, and Monterey Jack.
6. If the mixture is too saucy add more chicken and / or rice.
7. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit more sauce
8. Chop 2 T – ¼ c onion and add to the mixture
9. Chop 2 T fresh cilantro and add to the mixture
10. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper
11. Slice ¼ c black olives for topping.
12. Mix everything together thoroughly.
Photo preparation
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Instructions
- Lightly spray a 9 X 13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. On each tortilla shell place between 2 T to ¼ c chicken mixture and roll up, placing in the casserole dish, seam side down
- Add a sprinkling of cheese on top of each roll, usually in the center.
- Sprinkle the olives over the cheese.
- Pour the remainder enchilada sauce over the shells and place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese melts.
- Serve with remainder rice, banana peppers and sour cream.
- The prep time should take less than 30 minutes, so dinner would be on the table in less than one hour. These make a great lunch the following day...if there are any leftovers!
The Finished Product:
Comments
Denise,
Those look fantastic. Awesome Hub. JT
Looks yummy. I haven't made enchiladas before but ought to give it a try. Will keep this in mind next time I'm craving something Mexican
Yummy! I do something similar with ground beef but I'm going to have to try it with chicken.
Jl- I had to laugh out loud when I read your comment. I'm glad this inspired you to get those enchilada shells. Enjoy! Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hi Jt-thanks for taking a moment to read through my meanderings with this recipe. :)
Danette-I'm amazed you haven't tried them. Well, you know the recipe came from Glen who used to make them for me until I FINALLY had to learn the way to do it so I could make them myself! LOL Learn or starve, right?
Hey Cara-saw you were online. I'm going to bed now...talk with you a bit later Sunday. :) Thanks for reading and commenting.
They look delicious. Mexican is my favorite cuisine. Nice recipe.
What a wonderfully quick and easy recipe! Perfect for dinner on busy days.
In a word: YUM! :)
They look so yummy Denise. My mouth is watering already. I only tried it once, but after seeing your recipe I think I'll try in again. Voted up and useful.
Tasty hub! Quick and easy too! I'm planning to make turkey enchiladas this week (with those Thanksgiving leftovers), and I'm going to use your recipe. Thanks.
Those look so yummy! My husband loves Mexican food. I think I will have to add these to my ever growing collections of recipes.
We are into Mexican food, too. Good hub.
heh ..wowo, i am hungry now .
Hola,
Senoritaa, Beth Pipe, Reprieve26,Carol3san, Truckstop Sally, Cindy, f, and dressline thank you for reading anc commenting.
I hope that you will give the recipe a go and let me know how it works for you. It's become one of our family favorites. Thanks for stopping in. I appreciate your comments.
Great recipe seems yummy but some of the ingredients are not available at my end
These enchilada's look really good. I'm going to try and make them this weekend. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Hi Susan-they are soooo delicious. I was craving them last week and asked my friend who house shares to please make some for dinner. My mouth was watering and my stomach was waiting for this wonderful mixture of flavors only to discover he had changed up the recipe and added chopped HOT peppercinis to it. I couldn't take a bite without getting a mouthful of crunchy spice. He kept asking, "how are they?" and I couldn't bare to say, "I HATE them! These aren't what I envisioned." LOL I just gratefully nodded and thanked him for making dinner.
My advice: unless you like a spicy crunch-DON'T add peppercinics to the recipe. (2nd advice-don't hand off the cooking to someone else if you have something particular in mind, LOL)
Hope you make them and they turn out SCRUMPTIOUS!
Denise, Wanted to let you know that I made these last night and they were delicious. The entire family enjoyed them. I will be making these again soon. Thank you for the recipe!
I'm laughing right now, Denise, because I read this recipe, loved it, pinned it and then came back to discover that you were the author! Of course, I shouldn't have been surprised! The instructions are simple, the photos are mouth watering...yummy!
Anyway, this looks great, and I can't wait to try it next time we're in the mood for Mexican food!
I would vote it up if I could! I looked for the ratings capsule, but didn't see it...this looks like a 5 star recipe to me.
All I can say is "Yummy" - I love enchilladas, just love em so I would happily sit down to eat this with a nice crisp green salad.
Many thanks, voted up!
These look completely absolutely delicious :) I'll have to make these for sure. Thanks for the recipe.
Denise, you've got yourself an uninvited guest who will pop around for some of those utterly delicious enchiladas. Yeah, ME!I am salivating just looking at those pictures. Great recipe, easy to follow and sumptuous pictures to accompany. This is a model hub on how to write recipes! voted up, awesome, and I wish we had a button that said scrumptious!!!
Hi Susan-thanks so much for your feedback following your dinner! :) It's a favorite in our house.
Hi Stephanie, LOL that is funny. Thanks for sharing and pinning, BTW!
Hi Jools-thanks for reading and commenting. I hope you do give them a try. That added side salad sounds great, too.
Hi Emily-YUM, be sure to let me know how your family likes the meal. They are so delicious.
Awww, that's sweet, Docmo. Hey-you are welcome ANYTIME! I love simple recipes. :)
Okay, Susan and Stephanie-I just edited this hub to update it into the 'recipe' hub form. The 'rating' scale is there if you are interested in doing that.
Thanks everyone for your interest here. I hope if you do try it you leave me a message. :)
Jlbowden 6 months ago
Hi Denise:
It looks like I am coming to your home for dinner and there won't be any leftovers-I gurarantee it (: Just wanted to thank you for sharing this food article with all of us. I voted up as well as awesome. The combination of either brown, spanish rice with olives and chicken is one of my favorites. Haven't had this dish in awhile, so now you have given me an idea of what to have for dinner tomorrow nite. And will make sure to place it in a whole wheat enchillada shell. Take care.
Jl