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!
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 small bowl, combine chicken and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese. Fill tortillas with this mixture and roll each one up then place seam side down in the prepared pan.
- Melt the butter in a skillet. Sprinkle flour 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. Place back on the heat and cook until the mixture has thickened and is bubbly. Cool sauce for 3-5 minutes.
- Add sour cream and chilies and stir until sauce is smooth and sour cream is completely dissolved.
- Pour sauce over enchiladas and add remaining cheese over top. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until enchiladas are heated through and sauce is bubbly.
- Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is nicely golden. Top with chopped green onions and serve.
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 to Make
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 hand held 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 + MAKE-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 and eat them.
- 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.
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, 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.
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
More Delicious Mexican-Inspired Recipes
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 9 X 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, combine chicken and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese. Fill tortillas with this mixture and roll each one up then place seam side down in the prepared pan.
- Melt the butter in a skillet. Sprinkle flour 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. 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 and chilies and stir until sauce is smooth and sour cream is completely dissolved.
- Pour sauce over enchiladas and add remaining cheese over top. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until enchiladas are heated through and sauce is bubbly. Turn on the broiler and broil until the top is nicely golden. Top with chopped green onions and serve.
Very creamy and tasty!
Thank you!
I first made these Enchiladas when I was looking for a dish that would use up a rotisserie chicken
It’s quickly become a Family favorite! Which means my kids drop by whenever they know I’m making it lol
I’ve made this as laid out in your recipe several times, today I happened to have some black beans leftover so I added them to the chicken mixture and I added a little “Franks” to the sauce!
Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe!
Hi, Karen! OMG, that sounds sooo good. 🙂 I’m so happy you like this recipe. Thank you for the positive review!
Amazing and easily made we love ❤️ it.
Yaay! I’m glad you like this! Thank you for your positive review 🙂
I haven’t tried it, yet.
What size tortillas do you use?
Hi, Jen! I used fajita-sized tortillas. Like this: https://www.missionfoods.com/products/fajita-flour-tortillas/
These enchiladas are amazingly delicious!, my son’s adult son’s approval, lol, he’s super picky. I made this to exact recipe specs, although for some reason directions don’t include the 4oz green chiles as included in ingredients?, so I just incorporated them into recipe myself, sprinkled some inside enchiladas and stirred others right into sauce, used a tad more cheese and I’m my!! Served with fresh guacamole, salsa and chips on side!
Hi Rhonda. I add the chilies at step #3, along with the sour cream. They taste great anywhere in the recipe though! 🙂
My bad Kathleen, I just now saw that and how funny, that’s actually when I added them, just after sour cream was smooth and melted. Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s a keeper! ♥️
Hehe, no prob, Rhonda! Been there and done that haha. I’m so happy you like this enchiladas!
These were outstanding. I am from South Texas and I will say they are the best. I put Cilantro and sliced avocado in addition to onions on top. I like spicy food, so I will add another can of green chilies or maybe the hot chilies. I am planning to make it for my game night group next week. It is very filling. Mexican rice with tomatoes would be a good side dish.
Yum! I love your tweak, especially the sliced avocados! Thank you for sharing your positive review 🙂
A very simple and delicious recipe. If anyone has suggestions to avoid soggy tortillas, please let me know.
Hi, Cyndi! Keep the white sauce separate until you plan to cook the enchiladas. This will cut down on soggy tortillas.
This has become one of our favorites! We take it for meal trains after babies or surgery, and people ask for the recipe. So delicious! Being from Texas but living north now, I long for Tex-Mex, and this definitely hits the spot! Yum!
That’s so awesome, Kim! Thank you so much 🙂
I was curious what brand of chicken broth do you use with this recipe? you mentioned it was flavorful
Generally Swanson’s low sodium chicken broth.
When do you add the chicken broth??
<3
Love this recipe. I’ve made it as is several times but also tweak it here. This go around I added some rice and softened cream cheese I had in the fridge in with the chicken. So great!
That so yummy! Thanks, Brittney 🙂
I’m glad you like this enchilada 🙂
I sprinkled some tomatillo salsa on top before popping it in the oven. Added some color and acidity to a pretty perfect dish.
Yaay! Thank you so much!
I add a block of cream cheese and a can of diced green chilies to the filling and it is amazing! A family favorite for sure!
Yaaay! I’m glad you liked this enchilada! I love your tweak. Thanks for your positive review!
The sauce is so simple and velvety, especially using homemade stock. You can spice up the chicken or turkey however you like. I LOVE this recipe. Thank you so much. I make it often.
I’m so happy you like the enchiladas, Amy!
These turned out amazing! I added some green enchilada sauce to the chicken just for some extra flavor. Even my picky kids loved them. We will definitely add these to our monthly dinner menu plan. I also love that it’s easy to double to recipe for a larger crowd.
Audrey, so happy this was a hit in for your family! The green enchilada sauce sounds like a great addition!
Making this tonight. I watched the video and it didn’t show you adding broth??
Can I substitute the flour tortillas with corn tortillas?
Yes, you absolutely can. You will have more enchiladas, likely need a large baking dish, and will need to shallow fry the corn tortillas before assembly so that they’re flexible enough to roll.
Made this for my hubby last week and he loved it. He has requested it again this week. I wouldn’t change a thing, but he wants me to put a little red enchilada sauce in the tortillas with the chicken and cheese. I’m all about making him happy so I’m gonna give it a go. I’ll let you know how it goes. Happy cooking!!!!
Yaaay! That’s awesome, Dana! I’m glad it was a hit 🙂
This is the best I’ve tasted in a very long time. Honestly there is nothing I can think of to improve it. Just outstanding!
Thank you, Donna!!!
I made it for the first time tonight, it’s seriously so easy and so stinking good! My family loved it and told me to definitely make it again! It’s certainly sticking around this household. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Courtney! I’m glad it was a hit 🙂
When I made this I sprinkled garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and rosemary on both sides of the chicken. All three of the guys in my house really liked this and my husband told me to add it to the list to make again.
Sounds like some great seasoning, Shannon! Yum!!
I’ve been making this for a couple of years now. I should have left a review long ago because these are sooooo good! I had tried so many other “white enchilada” recipes that just weren’t it. This one is great! My kids love them and always ask me to make them. So glad I found it! Thanks, Kathleen!
Oh my, Cerissa. Thank you so much for your positive review! 🙂
This is a great recipe. Just fine tune it to the way you like it we jalapeños as well as green onions and chopped cilantro. I use three bags of cheese, as we like it cheesy
Thank you so much, Michael!
Thank you so much for this recipe! This is the only way to cook enchiladas, so good and creamy, we all love it! Too many online recipes don’t have the vital roux step, so happy to have found this
So happy you enjoyed these enchiladas, Mel!!