Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas loaded with lots of chicken,  gooey cheese, sour cream and mild green chilies. Delicious and healthy~always a family favorite. Use a rotisserie chicken and dinners a snap! 

Easy Chicken Enchiladas.

I think I’ve made this recipe more than any other recipe I have.

Seriously, I love these Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas!

This has been a family favorite at our house for over 20 years.

We all love Mexican food and these Shredded Chicken Enchiladas are one of the dishes that always makes everyone happy!

Serve with a simple green salad and you’ve got a healthy, hearty, super yummy dinner that everyone will enjoy. They’re easy enough to whip up for a weeknight and delicious enough to serve to company.

Recipe Notes:

General~

This is a really easy chicken enchilada recipe.  They’re a snap to put together. Here’s a general overview of what I do:

The first thing I do to make these enchiladas is to saute 1 cup chopped onion until it’s soft, sweet and translucent. While they’re doing their thing in the pan, I shred or cut the cooked chicken. When the onion is done, I add the diced green chilies along with any juice in the can, an envelope of taco seasoning, a little water to soften and combine the spices, and then the shredded chicken. Toss it all together until it’s evenly mixed. Simmer it all a few minutes, then cover with a lid, take it off the heat, and let all the flavors blend together while you combine the cheese mixture.

So, to make the cheese mixture, all I do is mix together all the cottage cheese, half of the cheddar, half the Monterey Jack, and all the sour cream.

Now you’re ready to roll them up. Spread a generous 3-4 tablespoons of the cheese mixture in a line down the center of the tortilla. Top with a layer of the chicken and onion mixture, then roll them up. Spread 1/2 cup of the Enchilada sauce in an 11 X 14 inch baking dish. Place filled tortillas seam side down in the baking dish, then top with enchilada sauce and the remaining cheese. Bake then get ready to  have a mexican fiesta at your dinner table! WooHoo!!!

Chicken~

I like to make these with a rotisserie chicken.

The chicken is moist, tender and fabulously seasoned. Not only does it taste great, but it makes fixing these a snap! If you grab one from Costco, you know you can’t begin to beat the price! An uncooked whole chicken is generally more expensive than a rotisserie chicken from Costco! Gotta love it!

Tortilla~ 

Authentic Chicken Enchiladas are typically made with corn tortillas.

For some reason, I really LOVE all of my enchiladas made with flour tortillas. Well, no surprise, I make these enchiladas with flour tortillas. The results are deliciously wonderful!

Another advantage in using flour tortillas is that they don’t need to be fried to make them pliable before you stuff them. If you make the recipe with corn tortillas and skip the step of frying them to make them pliable, the tortillas may crack when they’re stuffed and baked. Not necessarily a big deal, just one of those things that’s good to know, especially if you’re serving these up to company.

If you like corn tortillas better, feel free to use them. Since the corn tortilla’s are smaller you’ll need more of them than I used of the flour.

Enchilada Sauce~

You can use a 28 ounce can of enchilada sauce, but I strongly encourage you to try making your own.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce is a snap to make. It literally takes less than 10 minutes to make and, let me tell you, it’s so, so, SO much better than anything you’ll get in a can.

You can customize the spice level to make it either mild or super spicy.

Check out my recipe for Homemade Enchilada Sauce Here if you want to give it a try. I made these Enchiladas with the homemade sauce. I think you can see in the pictures that it’s a little darker and thicker than canned sauce.

Sour Cream~ 

All I can say is, absolutely! Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas are da bomb!

Of course, this recipe has sour cream in it:)

If you’d like to lighten up the calories in this recipe you can use nonfat sour cream.

Cheese~

This recipe uses cottage cheese, Monterey Jack, and Cheddar.

I use plain Monterey Jack some of the time and then sometimes I use Pepper Jack. To be honest, it just depends on my mood.

When I first saw this recipe I was unsure of the cottage cheese. Frankly, I’m not a huge cottage cheese fan. I think it’s the texture.

In this recipe, I think the cottage cheese is amazing. When it’s mixed with the other cheeses and sour cream then baked inside these enchiladas the mixture is ooey gooey, creamy and rich. It doesn’t really have anything in common with the taste of the cold plain version of cottage cheese.

The cottage cheese also adds a lot of protein to this dish.

Yes, of course you get protein from the shredded chicken as well. The double dose of protein makes this dish nice, hearty and filling which is great for growing kids!

The cottage cheese lightens up the texture of the protein, so these aren’t overly heavy! They’re hearty but not super heavy.

If you want to make a lower calorie version of these enchiladas, you can use lowfat or nonfat cottage cheese, nonfat sour cream and just a small amount of the shredded cheese. Whenever I make the lower calorie version for my family, I leave out the cheddar and Monterey Jack in the cheese filling altogether, and just use about 1/3 cup of just cheddar on the top.

Cilantro~

I like to top these, like most of my Mexican food, with fresh chopped cilantro. I use it as a final layer of additional flavor as well as a garnish.

The herbs add a little freshness, great flavor, and also an appetizing pop of color.

I know some people don’t care for cilantro. If you’re one of those people, you can substitute the cilantro with either fresh chopped parsley or sliced green onions.

Optional Toppings~ I think these are perfect just as I photographed them. If you want a little extra something, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa are always delicious.

Make-Ahead~If you want to make these ahead of time and freeze them, I find it’s best to roll them and freeze them without any sauce or cheese topping. I defrost them, then top them with enchilada sauce and bake.

Here are a few more of my Mexican Food Favorites:

White Chicken Enchiladas~Recipe Here~Amazing Green Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Sour Cream White Sauce–No Soup. These are easy to make and off the charts delicious! Super Cheesy, Lots of Chicken and a Creamy Rich Sauce!

One Pan Burrito Bowl~Recipe Here~Made with beef or turkey, rice, beans and roasted corn, then deliciously spiced and made in only one pan in about 30 minutes. Top with fresh tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, and cilantro. Super quick and really yummy!

My Favorite Tortilla Soup~Recipe Here~ Warm chicken-y broth with a hint of lime……lots of chicken…….chunks of avocado……and crunchy tortilla strips!

Chicken Tortilla Casserole– Always a hearty family favorite, Chicken Tortilla Casserole makes the most of convenient ingredients while packing tons of rich flavor in every creamy bite!

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Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Cheesy chicken enchiladas loaded with lots of chicken, gooey cheese, sour cream, and mild green chilies. Delicious and healthy~always a family favorite.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time50 mins

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

• 3 cups chicken cooked and shredded
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 1 (4-ounce can) green chilies diced
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• salt
• black pepper
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 cups extra-sharp cheddar cheese shredded, divided
• 1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese shredded, divided
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 12 (8-inch) flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped
• 28 ounces red enchilada sauce

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Add oil to a large skillet and saute onion until it's translucent and soft. Add diced green chilies,  taco seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and water and stir to combine. Add shredded chicken and toss to evenly coat with onion and seasoning mixture. Remove from the heat, cover, and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, stir together cottage cheese, 3/4 cup cheddar, 3/4 cup Monterey Jack and sour cream until evenly combined.
• Coat the bottom of an 11 X 14-inch baking dish with 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. On a clean, flat work surface, spoon about 3-4 tablespoons of the cheese mixture down the center of a tortilla the top with an equal amount of the chicken mixture. Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Cover the rolled enchiladas with enchilada sauce and sprinkle evenly with the remaining cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven until the enchiladas are heated through, the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted, about 20-25 minutes. Top with cilantro and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 921kcal | Carbohydrates: 102g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 2490mg | Potassium: 466mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 26.4% | Vitamin C: 6.2% | Calcium: 53.8% | Iron: 39.7%

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