Guys, these white chicken enchiladas have to be one of my all-time favorite enchilada recipes EVER! This post has been a HUGE reader favorite as well.
They’re cheesy, saucy, and truly downright divine. I promise you will really love these! All that and they come together quickly enough to work for my midweek dinner rotation.
If you love this type 0f enchilada, you might want to try creamy seafood shrimp enchiladas. My shredded beef enchiladas are absolutely heavenly and have an amazing homemade red sauce that is to die for on them. I really hope you try them!!!
If you’re looking for a more traditional chicken enchilada, try my cheesy chicken enchiladas. They’ve been in our families regular dinner rotation for more than a decade! If you’d like an easier version of enchiladas, our green chicken enchilada casserole fits the bill perfectly!
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.
Lawanda Byrd says
Made this for my family and my youngest daughter loved it said it was better than our local Mexican restaurant
Kathleen says
Lawanda! I’m so happy this was a hit in your family <3!!
Becca says
Enjoyed this recipe! Will make it again for sure!
Schvonia says
This is a family favorite at our house! “Mexican” enough for the kids but mild enough for us old folks! 😂
Kathleen says
Hi, Schvonia! That’s great news! I’m so happy this is a hit 🙂
Beck and Bulow says
Super moist chicken breasts as promised, i will always cook them like this from now on – thank you!
Kathleen says
Wow, thank you so much! I’m glad you like this enchilada! 🙂
Cathy says
This has become one of my family’s favorite meals. This week I am doing it for my church’s family night. I know they are going to love it!
Kathleen says
Enjoy, Cathy! Thank you so much 🙂
Patricia Lewis says
I added not quite a half cup of cream cheese and then cup of Colby jack cheese, pepper, garlic powder. No salts added. The broth has plenty for the sauce, so enhance your flavors with spices, cumin, onion & garlic powder along with fresh chopped cilantro & green onions for garnish.
Pat Nebelsick says
When ready to cook the frozen pan do you let them thaw first? If cooking frozen is it same temp & time?
Thanks
Kathleen says
Thaw in the fridge overnight before heating. It may need a little longer in the oven.
Joanna Smith says
I have used this recipe many times. It’s delicious! I’ve kinda become known for it now.
Kathleen says
Joanna that’s so great! So very happy you enjoy this recipe. <3
Kevin Chapman says
Hey! Do you use bleached or I bleached flour ? Thanks !
Kathleen says
Hi. Bleached. But you can use unbleached.
Heather says
Can you double the recipe?
Kathleen says
Of Course!
Hanley says
Easy to make and delicious to eat:))
Kathleen says
Thank you, Hanley!
Tracy Sheres says
Great! Used up a couple leftover grilled chicken breasts from the night before. I added green chilies and sautéed onion/jalapeño. Added garlic and cumin too. Terrific recipe!
Kathleen says
That’s amazing, Tracy! I’m so happy you like it 🙂 Thank you for sharing a positive review
Velisa D says
I love this recipe! I’ve made it multiple times over the years! I do tweek it a bit. I add cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder to my chicken and to my sauce. It definitely gives it a more authentic taste.
Kathleen says
Thank you so much, Velisa! I love your tweaks, thank you for sharing! 🙂
Holly DeSantis says
What an incredible recipe! I just made this for dinner and my husband inhaled it. I just started to cook again after doing bare minimum in the kitchen for a long time. This was very beginner friendly and impressive enough in flavor to serve to guests. Also pretty economical. The only thing I added was a sautéed pepper and onion to the mixture bc i had it, and a chopped Roma tomato on top. I used a store bought rotisserie chicken and shredded that for inside. I will make this again and again, thank you so much for a successful easy dinner!
Kathleen says
Thank you so much for your positive review, Holly! I’m so happy it was a hit 🙂
Dee says
My family LOVES this recipe! Does it freeze well? I’d love to be able to make a double batch, freeze one…make the other for dinner and then have one ready to pop in the oven in a week or two. Anyone try it? With or without sauce and how did you bake it from frozen?
Kathleen says
Hi, Dee! 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 and eat them.
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.
Elaine Luff says
I have loved all your recipes that I’ve tried and this one is one of my favorites. When I make these, I always have to share. My grandkids also love them. This is a keeper. Thank you for sharing. Can’t wait to see the next one. Thanks again
Kathleen says
Thank you so much for saying that Elaine, you made my day!
Kathy says
HI!! I wondered what other cheese I could substitute?? Thank you!!
Kathleen says
Hi, Kathy! Feel free to substitute your favorite shredded cheese in this recipe. My son loves when I use Pepper Jack instead of the plain Monterey.
Eileen says
This was great! I sauteed yellow and orange bell peppers, onion, garlic and a serrano pepper and added to the chicken and cheese mixture. Then added some sauce to that and still had plenty of sauce for bottom of pan and top of enchiladas. I agree that it’s salty from the cheese but my green tabasco cut that perfectly. Thank you for the great recipe!
Kathleen says
Hi, Eileen! How you described it made me so hungry! I’m so happy you like this enchilada! 🙂
Thank you for your positive review.
Nancy Young says
This recipe is a keeper. The enchiladas were delicious. I love that the sauce is thick, creamy, and perfectly seasoned with the chilies. My husband who says he doesn’t like “creamy” even had seconds. I will be fixing this again. Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Kathleen says
Oh my, that’s wonderful, Nancy! I’m so happy you and your husband like this enchiladas. Thank you for sharing your positive review!
Sue says
Love this recipe! Used corn tortillas for my gluten-free daughter and they were liked by everyone! Nice to have a recipe that doesn’t have a red sauce and this definitely filled the bill! Thanks!
Kathleen says
Hi, Sue! That’s fantastic. Thank you for sharing your positive review 🙂
Crystal D. says
These enchiladas are so so good! I use hot chills and add garlic and onion to the sauce. Next time I’ll try using New Mexico green chili. I’ve made this recipe several times and while it’s wonderful as written, it provides the perfect base for any tweaks you feel like trying!
Kathleen says
Wow, that’s fantastic, Crystal! I love your versions. It really is for tweaking! Thank you for your positive review! 🙂
Kim says
My husband loved these. I will definitely make them again.
Kathleen says
That’s good to hear, Kim! Thank you so much for sharing your positive review 🙂