This meal has flavor in every bite and is creamy, cheesy, and full of texture. The tortillas are nice, and the chicken is moist and tender. The acidic, spicy enchilada sauce pairs perfectly with the creamy, rich filling. Because it can be entirely assembled in advance or even frozen and cooked later, this is also excellent for entertaining. Serve with extras like avocado, cilantro, salsa, sour cream, and jalapenos.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 2 teaspoons chili powder, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin, divided
- 12 (6 inch) flour tortillas
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 small yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (such as RO*TEL®)
- ½ (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- 4 ounces sour cream
- 4 cups shredded Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend, divided
- 1 cup refried beans
- 1 (15 ounce) can red enchilada sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Place chicken on a large sheet of foil and season with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Seal the foil around the chicken and place the packet on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until tender and no longer pink in the center, about 50 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Shred cooked chicken and set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- While chicken cooks, prepare tortillas. Spread both sides of each tortilla lightly with butter.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Toast each tortilla, about 10 seconds on each side, and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, poblano pepper, and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add remaining salt, chili powder, and cumin and cook, stirring frequently, until veggies are very tender, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in tomatoes and cream cheese. Cook, stirring constantly, until cheese has melted. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and 2 cups Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend. Fold in shredded chicken.
- Spread about 1 tablespoon refried beans, if using, in the center of a tortilla. Add about 1/4 cup chicken filling and roll up to seal. Repeat with remaining beans and filling. Pour 1/4 cup sauce in the bottom of 9×13-inch baking dish. Arrange enchiladas in a single layer over the sauce. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top and spread to evenly coat. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving with desired toppings.
- Using refried beans and enchilada sauce is optional.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 827 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 53 g |
| Cholesterol | 163 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 47 g |
| Saturated Fat | 28 g |
| Sodium | 2147 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 47 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Absolutely delicious- I’ve made it several times now and don’t change a thing. Always have extra filling that I save to make a separate smaller batch.
Fantastic flavor. Becoming a family favorite! Only negative is prep time (little longer than referenced). However, it is worth the effort!! I use green chile sauce instead of red enchilada sauce. Just our families preference.
This is a family favorite. The only suggestion is if there are only 2 of you prepare the filling and only make enough tortillas for one meal at a time. The tortillas get soggy and it isn’t as tasty the day after.
This recipe was delicious! I was looking for a recipe to use up some left-over rotisserie chicken so I was able to skip the part about cooking the chicken and just used 3/4 of the total seasoning when sauteing the vegetables up. I also skipped the step about heating tortillas in butter. I made it with the red enchilada sauce as listed, but prefer green enchilada sauce so I think I will try that next time, but I will definitely make this again. Served with sour cream. Thanks!
I feel this was incomplete instructions. I used a lot of ingredients for this. Not sure but I think I should have added the chicken to the pepper cheese mixture. I didn’t do that because after reading this 5 times I followed the instructions. Unsure how this will taste.
I made this almost exactly as written except for prepping the chicken. For the chicken. I boiled the breast in chicken stock, a cut-up onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and a bit of salt for 20 minutes. I let them cool slightly and used my hand mixer to shred it. Everything else I followed the recipe. I subtracted a star because the recipe is a bit hard to follow and in my opinion it could use a bit more spice.
Enchiladas This was supper yummy. I made my own enchilada sauce. I am Mexican so I had to do my own homemade sauce. I used habanero rotel tomatoes to kick it up a notch. I would consider these wet burritos, enchiladas in my home are made with corn tortillas. Thanks for this recipe!
These are hands down the best enchiladas I have ever made! I have tried several times to get the enchilada ‘thing’ right but was never successful in making them. The tortillas were always too dry and would pull away from the filling. This recipe taught me the secret to making the tortillas soft and like they are supposed to be….cooking them in butter first before assembling the enchiladas! The recipe is indeed the “ultimate creamy enchilada” and the filling is delicious. This is now my go-to for homemade enchiladas! In fact, going to make this using leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
I really enjoyed these! I only like using corn tortillas for my enchiladas (more flavor), but that’s the only change I made. I served with some diced white onion, diced avocado, and salsa verde available for optional toppings.
We really enjoyed this recipe. I made 8 enchiladas and put them in a 9×9 pan and froze the rest of the filling for later so we will see how that works out. It did make quite a bit of filling. I cut the salt in half since the cheese and the enchilada sauce are both salty. I used half Cheddar and half Monterey Jack because that’s what I had on hand. Super easy. Will definitely make this again.
These were the most delicious enchiladas. I added the optional refried beans and used cheddar cheese instead of Monterey Jack. I agree with the other ratings. I made 14 enchiladas and still had enough filling for about 6 more. I would definitely make these again
Very good! I used cooked I already had but the flavors blended well. I used the enchilada sauce. I will make it again.
I really liked this recipe but I found several questionable ingredients/instructions. The bake time for the chicken was too long. Maybe I just didn’t see it, but the instructions never indicated when/where to incorporate the chicken into the filling. I thought that there was too much salt, so I used half as much. Unfortunately, it was still too salty. Lastly, there is way too much cheese used to top off the enchiladas (and I am a big big fan of cheese!)
I made these as suggested and added green enchilada sauce… best enchiladas I’ve ever had.
This was a bit more work than it seemed but it was very tasty, even the next day!!!
Excellent recipe. I had no leftover ingredients unlike other reviews. Replaced diced tomatoes with fresh cut tomato. Love it
Made recipe nearly identical to this last week. Was good, however prefer the old standby. Boil thigh meat and reserve broth to make gravy. Shred the meat, make the gravy, about 2 cups, add in meat, mix, add in Hatch green enchilada sauce and mix well. Mix in shredded Mexican cheese blend. Fill and roll. Season to your tastes.
Haven’t made this but have to chime in that enchiladas not not traditionally made with flour tortillas; they’re made with corn tortillas.
Great. Cheesy and chickeny
Delicious recipe! I didn’t use the poblanos and it was plenty spicy. The recipe left out that the chicken should be added to the vege mixture. I made 10 enchiladas and have enough filling to make at least 6 more, which is fine because it’s delicious! I’ll use less enchilada sauce next time because I don’t think it needs it. Served with a dollop of sour cream & slices of avocado on top.
This was absolutely delicious! I had a rotisserie chicken, so I used that. I used about half the amount of salt. Also about half the amount of shredded cheese and it was still rich and cheesy. Although I used the enchilada sauce, I should have used non-stick spray on the pan. I used the optional refried beans – I thought that was a good addition. The directions weren’t totally clear after step 5. I assumed the chicken is added to the vegetable cheese mixture to create the filling.