Our best chicken enchilada recipe has tender shredded chicken mixed with homemade enchilada sauce, wrapped in corn tortillas, and topped with cheese.
These easy chicken enchiladas are pure comfort food to me. I can’t tell you how happy I am when I see the baking dish full of hot, cheesy enchiladas in the oven. If you love enchiladas as much as we do, you might also enjoy our green chicken enchiladas, which swap the red sauce for salsa verde. Or, for a meatless meal, try our veggie enchiladas.
Our red chicken enchiladas are easy to make with a simple filling of shredded chicken, cheese, and our favorite homemade enchilada sauce. We roll the chicken filling up in tortillas–corn tortillas are the most authentic, but if you prefer flour tortillas, use them!
How to make chicken enchiladas
You will need cooked and shredded chicken. Use leftover roasted chicken or cook chicken in advance using one of these easy methods:
Since these are red enchiladas, we need red enchilada sauce, which can be homemade or store-bought. We have two enchilada sauce recipes on Inspired Taste (that’s how much we love enchiladas!). You can use either of them in this chicken enchilada recipe.
- Authentic Homemade Enchilada Sauce: For my favorite sauce and the most authentic option, we start with dried whole chili peppers softened in warm water. Then we blend them into a thick, delicious sauce with garlic, onion, and spices. It’s rich, flavorful, and absolutely fantastic with the chicken in these enchiladas.
- Quick & Easy Enchilada Sauce: This is our quickest sauce since it takes about 15 minutes to make. It swaps traditional dried chilies for chili powder and spices you already have in your kitchen. The sauce tastes different from the more authentic version shared above, but it’s still delicious!
Adam and I love both sauce recipes and are happy to use either to make a batch of enchiladas. We’ll use the sauce to coat our shredded chicken and to soften our tortillas.
Prepping the tortillas for enchiladas
For the best, most authentic enchiladas, I use corn tortillas. I love how the corn flavor of the tortillas mingles with the enchilada sauce. Use your favorite store-bought tortillas or make your own. Here’s our recipe for soft corn tortillas. Or, if you prefer flour tortillas, here’s our recipe for flour tortillas.
Since corn tortillas tend to crack when cold or even at room temperature, we lightly coat them in oil and then bake them to warm them up before rolling them with the filling.
Another popular method for prepping tortillas for enchiladas is to fry them in oil in a skillet. If this works for you, great! It takes a bit longer than I’d like. By “oven frying” the tortillas, we can make a large batch all at once.
When the tortillas are warm, I quickly dip them into my enchilada sauce and then fill them with the shredded chicken and cheese. From there, I roll the tortilla up as tightly as possible and place it seam-side down into a baking dish coated with extra enchilada sauce.
When the rolled enchiladas are in the pan, I spoon a bit more sauce on top, add some more cheese down the middle, and then cover with foil or parchment paper. Bake the chicken enchiladas covered for 15 minutes, then uncover them and bake them for another 10 minutes.
Make ahead tips
- The sauce and shredded chicken can be made and frozen. We provide freezing instructions in their recipes (easy enchilada sauce or authentic enchilada sauce).
- Baked enchiladas can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat before serving.
- Assembled and unbaked enchiladas can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat before serving. We recommend leaving the cheese off until you are ready to bake.
Easy Chicken Enchiladas
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PREP
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These red chicken enchiladas are easy to make with a simple filling of shredded chicken, cheese, and our favorite homemade enchilada sauce. We roll the chicken filling up in tortillas–corn tortillas are the most authentic, but if you prefer flour tortillas, use them!
We link to two enchilada sauce recipes in the recipe. We love the quick and easy sauce when we are short on time and use the more authentic sauce when we have dried whole chilies available.
Makes 12 enchiladas
Directions
1Arrange an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375° F (190° C).
2Spread 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce down the center of a 13×9-inch baking dish, then set aside.
3Add 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce, shredded chicken, and 1 ¼ cups of the cheese to a bowl, and then toss until the chicken and cheese are well coated.
4Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then place six tortillas on the baking sheet so they lie flat and barely touch each other. Lightly spray or rub both sides of the tortillas with oil. Bake the tortillas until they just start to crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the baked tortillas to a plate lined with a paper towel, and then repeat with the remaining six tortillas.
5Add 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce to a low-sided, wide bowl, and then quickly dip each baked tortilla into the sauce to lightly coat.
6Divide the chicken and cheese mixture between the tortillas, adding about 1/3 cup of filling. Roll the tortillas up and place them seam-side-down into the baking dish with sauce. The enchiladas will be nestled pretty close to each other.
7Spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and then finish with the remaining cheese scattered down the middle.
8Cover the dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper by tucking the sides and corners around the enchiladas.
9Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Uncover, then bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Our method for prepping the tortillas is a little different to other recipes since we use the oven instead of frying the tortillas on the stove. If you prefer to prep the tortillas in the more traditional way, you can.
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. We have assumed this enchilada sauce recipe for the calculations.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
2 enchiladas
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Calories
291
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Total Fat
14g
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Saturated Fat
5.7g
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Cholesterol
38.5mg
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Sodium
292mg
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Carbohydrate
30.1g
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Dietary Fiber
5.1g
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Total Sugars
3.8g
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Protein
13.7g
