Skip to main content

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas


We love Mexican food at our house.  Well, Tex-Mex.  Er, Tex-Mex that you get around here.  See, in Texas, there are about as many different styles of Tex-Mex as there are restaurants, and what you get in North Texas won't be the same as what you get in South Texas, or anywhere else for that matter.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant is a locally owned place (dive?) that we've been going to for years.  They've seen our family grow larger, and we never need a menu when we go in.  This place cooks with a lot of green chiles, and enchiladas with green sauce tend to be my favorite.  This isn't exactly an attempt to replicate a particular dish there, but rather a combination of some of my favorite things! 

For some reason, I tend to prefer making chicken enchiladas with flour tortillas instead of corn.  The flour tortillas soak up the sauce and almost puff up during baking.  While you can definitely use store-bought tortillas for this recipe, try getting some from a local tortilla factory if at all possible.  Or you could certainly make your own, which brings me to a funny story.

The Munchkin, my 8 year old, is taking a class at a local museum this week, called the "Taste of Texas".  Yesterday they just happened to make their own tortillas in class.  We actually did this at home when he was younger, but not lately.  I've been slacker-mom lately, with the two little ones around, when it comes to doing fun stuff and getting them involved in the kitchen.  I've resolved to do better with that...  But, anyway, back to the story!  When I stopped to pick up some tortillas on the way home, he said "but you haven't even tried the one I made yet!"  He was quite offended that I was buying tortillas.  It was really quite cute.  I explained that I needed more than one for the enchiladas, but I was certain his was good and we'd share it after supper.  And you know what?  It was really quite good.  He gets tortilla making duties from now on!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

2 Tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14 oz) can green chile enchilada sauce (I prefer the Hatch brand)
1 small can chopped green chiles, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup chicken stock
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
salt
pepper
2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup sour cream
4 oz. Monterrey jack cheese, grated
4 oz. white cheddar cheese, grated
8 (6") flour tortillas
fresh cilantro, optional

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the enchilada sauce, chopped green chiles, cumin and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then add to the pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400'F. Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

When the chicken is done, remove and shred with 2 forks.

Mash together the softened butter and flour to make a smooth paste. Add to the sauce in the pan. Raise heat to medium and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally, 5-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add the sour cream, and stir until heated through. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, about 1/3 of the grated cheese (just eyeball it), and 1/2 cup of the green sauce.

Pour about 1 cup of the sauce in the prepared baking dish, just enough to coat the bottom of the dish with a thin layer. Spoon some of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of a tortilla (they will be full -- I like substantial enchiladas!). Tightly roll the tortilla around the filling and place seam-side down in the baking dish. You may need to warm the tortillas slightly in the microwave to get them pliable enough to roll without tearing. 

Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce* and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake, uncovered, until the sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, and top with freshly chopped cilantro, if desired.

Makes 8 enchiladas.

*I had some extra sauce. You don't want to overfill the baking dish; you want to add just enough to come approximately half-way up the sides. I added my extra sauce to some leftover plain cooked rice and heated through. Very good!
 
Enjoy!  :)

Comments

Megan said…
You are awesome - I was just thinking about what to make for dinner tomorrow night - and this is it! Cool!

Popular posts from this blog

Thick and Chewy Snickerdoodles

I admit, I love snickerdoodles.   Cinnamon and vanilla?   Yes, please.   What’s funny is that I never really had them much as a kid, just occasionally in the school cafeteria.   I know, ew. Anyway, snickerdoodles were one of the first cookies that the Munchkin helped make when he was little.   He could help dump everything in the mixer (or “loud noise” as he would call it!) and then it was fun for him to roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar before putting them on the baking sheet. Even since then, my go-to recipe for snickerdoodles has been this one by Emeril.   It’s a great recipe, baking up a thin, crispy cookie (at least when I make them!).   However, I was looking for something different this time, something thicker and chewier.   I found this recipe from the blog How Sweet it Is .   I decided to try it, and while I did keep the ingredient list the same I changed up the method a bit to suit me better.   The result?   What I was looking for – thick and

Homemade Cinnamon Dolce Latte

I recently professed my love of coffee and fancy coffee drinks.  After the success of the Peppermint Mocha , I decided to tackle the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, another one of my favorites.  According to the Starbucks website, it has flavors of "cinnamon, butter and brown sugar".  Well, I covered the cinnamon and brown sugar components, but left out the butter.  And you know what, I think it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself!  I honestly wasn't sure if the cinnamon flavor in the syrup was going to be strong enough, but it was.  I will admit to being impatient and not letting it steep for very long, so the cinnamon flavor might develop more if you do actually let it sit and cool off first.  If you wanted it to be even stronger, you could always add a tiny bit of cinnamon oil to it as well.  But be careful -- a little of that goes a long way! How much to make depends on how much you'll actually use.  I just made a single batch this first time, but considering

Hello Dolly Cookie Bars

Several years ago, my mom gave me an old cookbook, it was hers but I'm not sure she ever used it, Favorite Recipes from Southern Kitchens:  Desserts .  I love this cookbook!  I thought it would be great to go through it and pick a recipe or two to use for this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats series.  For this week, I chose a super easy one, Hello Dolly Cookies.  I have absolutely no idea where the name came from.  I'm really not sure I've ever eaten one before, though the ladies I shared the finished product with knew about them!  I did an internet search too, and it seems they go by a lot of names, including Magic Layer Bars.  Honestly, they are so easy to make.  There's no mixing required.  Kids could absolutely help with these.  The cookies smelled divine while they were baking, and I barely waited for them to cool before trying one. At first I thought "these taste almost like German chocolate cake", then "or definitely like a ca