Guys, these White Chicken Enchiladas have to be one of my all-time favorite enchilada recipes EVER — and they’ve been a HUGE reader favorite for years, too.
They’re cheesy, saucy, and downright divine, with that creamy white sauce that tastes like something you’d order at your favorite little Mexican spot. The best part? They come together easily enough to work for a midweek dinner rotation, but they’re absolutely worthy of serving to company.
If you love this creamy enchilada vibe, you might also want to try Creamy Seafood Shrimp Enchiladas — they’re rich and totally crave-worthy. Want something more traditional? My Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas have been in our family’s regular dinner rotation for more than a decade! And for an easier weeknight shortcut, our Green Chicken Enchilada Casserole fits the bill perfectly.
Looking for more dinner inspiration? Browse my Chicken Dinner Recipe collection for more easy chicken meals and family favorites.
Let’s make these!
What I Love About This Recipe
- Smothered in a rich, tangy, homemade sauce
- Quick to prepare
- Loaded with cheesy goodness!
- No Canned Soup
How To Make White Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
My decadently cheesy enchiladas recipe whips up in less than 45 minutes! A double win — delicious and quick.
- In a bowl, combine chicken and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese.
- Fill tortillas with this mixture and roll each one up.
- Arrange the tortillas in the prepared pan.
- Melt butter in a skillet. Sprinkle flour and cook for a minute.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and add chicken broth. Place back on the heat until the sauce thickens.
- Add sour cream and chilies, stir until the sauce is smooth.
- Pour the sauce over the enchiladas. Add the remaining cheese on top.
- Bake.
- Top with green onions and serve.
***See the full instructions below.
Best Chicken To Use For This Recipe
This is a great recipe to use a rotisserie chicken in. It greatly speeds up the prep time and it’s infused with great seasoning.
If you’d prefer, you can use homemade poached chicken or any leftover grilled chicken you happen to have. You can use a combo of white and dark meat or just white or just dark meat per your family’s preference.
White Chicken Enchiladas Recipe Ingredients + Notes
- Diced chiles – Our recipe calls for mild chilies. If your family likes spicy food, you can substitute hotter chilies instead. Another tasty option is fire-roasted chilies. They should be on the shelf near the other canned peppers at your grocery store.
- Chicken – You can cook the chicken according to your favorite method, such as roasting or poaching the breasts. If you’re pressed for time, using a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from your grocer is a great time-saving shortcut. Honestly, 9 times out of 10, that’s what I use.
- Shredded cheese – We love the flavor of Monterey Jack in this dish. It also helps keep the sauce white! If you have a different cheese on hand, feel free to substitute your favorite shredded cheese in this recipe. My son loves when I use Pepper Jack instead of the plain Monterey because it adds another layer of flavor and spice. It might be too spicy for little kiddos though.
- Sour cream – We strongly recommend using full-fat sour cream in this recipe. It’s an important factor in the richness of the sauce. Also, low-fat sour cream tends to separate and get runny when heated. You might end up with gloppy enchiladas!
- Green onions – Don’t have any green onions? A sprinkle of chopped cilantro on top will add a bright flavor, too.
- Tortillas – The recipe calls for using flour tortillas, but if you prefer, you can switch them with corn tortillas. I used fajita sized tortillas.
- Seasoning – I didn’t need to add any salt or pepper to this recipe. The chicken broth I used was very flavorful and had a lot of salt already in it. The chicken was also well seasoned and obviously, the cheese had a good amount of salt.
Tools For This Recipe
- A 9×13 baking pan
- A stovetop skillet
- Mixing bowls
- A whisk: The whisk is important! This helps you get the creamiest, dreamiest sauce imaginable.
How To Shred Cooked Chicken
The quickest and easiest way to shred chicken is to use a handheld mixer or a stand-up mixer. Here’s how:
- Place boneless, cooked chicken in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand-up mixer.
- Set the mixer on low and mix.
- Et Viola! Perfect shredded chicken in a fraction on the time!!
Storing + Freezing + Meake Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? If you have leftover enchiladas, store them in an airtight container to keep them from drying out. Store in the fridge for 3-4 days for optimal freshness.
- Can You Freeze This? Sour cream can tend to get runny and/or chunky in the freezer. Freezing them will change the texture of the sauce. We suggest freezing the stuffed and rolled enchiladas without the sauce. Then make the white sauce on the day you plan to reheat it and eat it.
- Make-Ahead Tips: If you meal prep at the beginning of the week, these can easily be prepared several days in advance. Store the stuffed and rolled enchiladas in a covered baking dish. Keep the white sauce separate until you plan to cook the enchiladas. This will cut down on soggy tortillas.
- If you’re making the sauce in advance, it may get a bit too thick when it’s cooled and reheated. This is easy to fix. Add whole milk or chicken stock, one tablespoon at a time, during reheating to achieve your desired thickness. Be sure to stir or whisk thoroughly to maintain the creaminess of the sauce.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out this link.
Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Serving Recommendations
What better way to serve my chicken enchiladas than with a whole Mexican feast? My favorite things to serve with this are my Mexican Rice, charro beans, jalapeno cornbread, Mexican corn salad, and my Southwest salad (my family’s favorite salad! They always eat their veggies when I serve this). All the flavors in the dishes complement each other perfectly and I have a meal on the table that everyone is happy with.
How about some dessert? We like this with our margarita cake (totally nonalchoholic!), pineapple upside down cake, pig pickin cake, or pineapple sheet cake.
If you want to pair this with cocktails, try our pink margarita, pineapple margarita, or our old-fashioned mocktail, lime rickey!
More Delicious Mexican-Inspired Recipes
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
White Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 8-10 small flour tortillas
- 3 cups cooked chicken shredded or chopped
- 3 cups Monterey jack cheese shredded-divided
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilies mild
- 2-3 tablespoons green onions sliced
Instructions
- Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- In a small bowl, combine chicken (3 cups) and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese. Fill tortillas (8-10) with this mixture and roll each one up then place seam side down in the prepared pan.
- Melt the butter (3 tablespoons) in a skillet. Sprinkle flour (3 tablespoons) over melted butter and whisk to combine. Cook for 1 minute to remove the flour taste. Remove the skillet from heat and whisk in broth (2 cups). Place back on the heat and cook until the mixture has thickened and is bubbly. Cool sauce for 3-5 minutes. (Don't skip this step- if the sauce is too hot and you add the sour cream it will curdle it-yuck!). Add sour cream (1 cup) and chilies (1 can) and stir until the sauce is smooth and the sour cream is completely dissolved.
- Pour sauce over enchiladas and add remaining cheese over top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the enchiladas are heated through and the sauce is bubbly. Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is nicely golden. Top with chopped green onions (2-3 tablespoons) and serve.
Just curious if corn tortillas would work too?
Hi, Nicole. Yes, you can switch them with corn tortillas. I used fajita sized tortillas.
Loved these enchiladas. Made two and we ate half one each.
Very filling.
So happy you enjoyed these enchiladas, B. Thanks so much for leaving a comment and the 5 star rating!
My mom used to make these. She didn’t use the chiles, but my kids love this. Add some coriander and it just does something to it. It makes me miss my mom.
Hi Cheyenne. I love and hate recipes that make me miss my mom! I have so many of them. I’m very happy your kids like this version. Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
These were delicious & my family loved them. I also added black beans to the chicken mix & was great. Will definitely make again!
Im so happy these were a hit for you and your family! Thanks for leaving a comment and the 5 star rating!!
I have this as my go to enchilada recipe! Many compliments on them when make for a crowd!! I usually dbl the recipe and freeze half! Love to pull them out when I’m not in the mood for cooking and once again a delicious meal! Have also made to send to others when making meals for friends/family! Never do I hear any disappointed recipients!!!
Hey Cherrie! I love hearing that. So happy this recipe has been a hit for you. Thank you for leaving a comment and the 5 star rating! Hope you find lots more recipes you love hear!
What’s the best way you’ve found for heating frozen?
These are wonderful enchiladas. I have made them several times, double portions because my family and friends love them. Mmmmmmh so yummy.
Hey Elizabeth! So happy to hear that these enchiladas are a hit for your family and friends. Thank you so much for leaving a comment and the 5 star rating!!
Made the enchiladas it was very good, I will be making this alot.
Yaaay! We’re glad it’ll be on repeat. Thanks for the positive feedback and 5-star rating!
SOOOO GOOD! I subbed some blended cottage cheese for the sour cream for more protein and added additional can of chilies and cumin per others reviews! This is a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy! Thank you 🙂
Delicious! Added cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder and doubled the chiles. Great recipe!
Thanks so much Alli! I appreciate your feedback and the 5 star rating! Hope you find a lot more recipes you love here!
My family loves this recipe. I typically double it so we have leftovers for lunch/dinner for a few days. Such a simple recipe and so good.
Hey Libby. I’m so happy your family loves these enchiladas! Thanks for leaving a comment and 5 star rating! I think making 2 pans is really smart. My family loves these the next for lunch, too!
Delicious!!! My only thing is, I really didn’t get the green chilies taste. I’ll use medium or spicy ones next time. Delicious sweetheart, thank you!
Thank you Nora! So happy you enjoyed the enchiladas.Thanks so much for leaving a comment and for the 5 star rating!
One of my favorite go-to meals! I make like 10lbs of shredded chicken in the crock pot, this meal is first (Not brave enough to freeze dairy) and then divide the chicken into packs for soups and pot pies. I add an extra can or two of green chilies to the sauce and some Rotel to the chicken mix.
I haven’t made your recipe yet however I realized I bought bigger flour tortillas… how would I adjust the recipe? Will it still work out ok?
Hey, Shannon! That’s alright. Enjoy!
can this recipe be frozen
Hi Mary. Yes, they can! For optimal results, I freeze the stuffed enchiladas, store them flat in 1 gallon ziplocks so you can stack on them, and then I make the sauce the day I want to serve them. The sauce can technically be frozen, but there will be changes to the texture and I don’t like it with the changes.
First time I’ve ever made enchiladas and this is my favorite. Easy and delicious!
I use a rotisserie chicken.
Yaaay! We’re glad you like this enchiladas 🙂 Thanks for the positive feedback and rating!