This Baked Chicken Enchiladas recipe is a simple way to enjoy Mexican food at home in a much healthier and cheaper way!
I’ve made this recipe so many times and I just realized today I have never added it to Chocolate Slopes!
This recipe was actually the first one Dan (my husband if you’re new here) and I made for my parents.
I’m not sure the occasion (if there was one), but it was around 2015. Crazy how that feels like eons ago.
So much has happened since then – marriage, law school, MPH school, the birth of 3 kiddos, 2 houses…just to name a few.
It’s hard not to reminisce when I look at old blog posts because I included our kids in several blog posts. And they were so little – my how time flies!
I wish I had started the blog when my oldest was a baby so I could see all of them on the blog as babies.
At least I took pictures back then, but getting them to print is an entirely different story. But I’m sure you can relate to that note.
Ingredients Needed for These Baked Chicken Enchiladas
- chicken broth, low-sodium
- chicken
- olive oil
- sweet onion
- bell pepper
- sour cream
- cumin
- salt and black pepper
- green enchilada sauce (mild)
- green chili sauce (mild)
- whole wheat tortillas
- Mexican-blend cheese
Simple Steps to Make This Baked Chicken Enchilada Recipe
For this recipe, begin by adding your chicken of choice to a skillet with chicken broth. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. I’ll discuss chicken in a future post and why I’m not as concerned about what cut of chicken I choose these days.
To save time I'll sometimes prep chicken a day in advance. I'll add one to two pounds of chicken tenderloins, 1/2 cup chicken broth, salt and black pepper to the slow cooker. Then I cook on it on high for 4-6 hours, shred it, then keep it in the fridge until ready to use.
- In the meantime, chop the onion and pepper. Then heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the veggies.
- Once the chicken is cooked, shred or slice it and add it to the skillet.
- Stir in the cumin, salt, black pepper, green chili sauce and 1 can of green enchilada sauce. Lastly, stir in the sour cream.
- Now prep the tortillas starting with about 1/4 cup of the chicken mix, topped with about 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese into each tortilla.
- Wrap each tortilla, flap side down in a baking pan.
- Once all tortillas are in the pan, pour the remaining can of enchilada sauce over top of the tortilla followed by the remaining cheese.
- Bake for about 20 minutes and enjoy!
Kids Experimenting With New Foods
As a family, we don’t go out to eat much since it gets pricey when you’re paying for a family of 5. And it’s so much easier to eat healthy when you’re cooking yourself.
And who wants to spend extra money on food that you kids may or may not eat?!
With that said, we’ve ventured to an authentic Mexican restaurant in our city a few times. This led to our my daughter trying chicken enchiladas for the first time!
My husband and I each ordered a few a la carte items for everyone to try. And the chicken enchiladas were definitely the biggest hit!
This was by far the best strategy we’ve come up with so far. I really want to expose our kids to food from a variety of different cultures and giving them a taste here and there, and not expecting them to eat anything seems to work well.
I couldn’t wait to make them at home for my daughter to try. A few days later I made this Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe I’m bringing you today and it was a hit!
Vegetarian Version
I also made a vegetarian version a few weeks ago with spinach and black beans in place of the chicken along with red and green enchilada sauce. And I was thrilled that my daughter was willing to try it with the beans. It was also delicious!
And if you love seafood like a few in my family, check out this delicious Creamy Seafood Enchiladas recipe, sure to be a crowd-pleaser!
Make-Ahead Tips
I typically like to make a few meals at a time, and rarely right before dinner time. This, however, doesn’t always work well with all recipes, like today’s Easy Baked Chicken Enchilada recipe.
Therefore, I’ll just make the chicken mix and not wrap them in the tortillas or bake the dish.
Then when we are ready to eat it, I’ll either finish putting together the tortillas and bake it, or we’ll just use it as a dip and serve it with tortilla chips. Super easy either way!
Easy Baked Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup chicken broth, low-sodium
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins, or chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup light sour cream
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 (10 oz.) cans Green enchilada sauce (mild)
- 1 (4 oz.) can green chilies (mild)
- 8-10 whole wheat tortillas (depending on the size of the tortillas you use)
- 2 cups Mexican-blend cheese, shredded and divided
Instructions
- Add chicken broth to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in skillet over medium heat until cooked thoroughly (about 10 minutes). Remove chicken from pan and chop.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat.
- Add onion and pepper slices until tender.
- Stir in chicken, cumin, salt, black pepper, green chilies and 1 can green enchilada sauce. Stir in sour cream.
- Place a tortilla in one hand and add one scoop of the chicken mixture to the tortilla, followed by about 2 tablespoons of cheese. Roll the tortilla and place it flap side down in a 13 x 9-in glass baking dish. Repeat with additional tortillas.
- Pour remaining green enchilada sauce over top of enchiladas and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
This Easy Baked Chicken Enchiladas post first appeared on Chocolate Slopes.
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