These green chicken enchiladas are so simple to make. With salsa verde, shredded chicken, sour cream, cheese, and cilantro, these enchiladas are a tasty, quick, and easy dinner.
Watch the video
I love enchiladas with red sauce, but my all-time favorite is green chicken enchiladas made with salsa verde. Salsa verde is a green salsa made from tomatillos, garlic, onion, and green chili peppers.
You can buy salsa verde (I like the Hatch brand) or make it yourself. Our recipe for salsa verde calls for roasted tomatillos and chili peppers (highly recommended!). We love it with these green enchiladas!
Key ingredients
These easy chicken enchiladas are spicy, creamy, and cheesy. Our recipe below serves four, but it’s easy to double or triple for more people. I do this when attending family potlucks all the time. These are always a hit.
You will need cooked and shredded chicken. Use leftover chicken or cook chicken in advance using one of these easy methods:
Since these are green enchiladas, we need salsa verde, which can be homemade or store-bought. For enchiladas made with red sauce, see our recipe for red enchiladas.
Salsa verde tastes fresh and vibrant. It can sometimes be a bit spicy, so we tone down our green enchilada sauce with some sour cream and cheese. We also add garlic and cilantro to the sauce for extra fresh flavor. You may not need the extra garlic if you’ve made your own salsa verde.
To roll the enchiladas, you will need tortillas. You can use corn tortillas (more authentic) or flour tortillas. You can buy them or make them. Here are two homemade tortilla recipes: homemade corn tortillas and homemade flour tortillas.
How to make green chicken enchiladas
Our creamy salsa verde enchilada sauce could not be easier to make. Start by warming your salsa verde with garlic, then stir in sour cream and fresh cilantro.
Next, stir in shredded cooked chicken and a handful of cheese. Adding the chicken to the warm sauce gives it a head start on heating through. The chicken absorbs so much flavor. I could stop here and eat the whole skillet!
To make the enchiladas, add a spoonful of the chicken and creamy green sauce to the tortillas and roll them up. Place your rolled enchiladas seam-side-down into your baking dish so that they stay in place.
Corn tortillas vs. flour tortillas
As mentioned above, you can use flour or corn tortillas to make these enchiladas. Corn tortillas are the more traditional choice, but it depends on what you have on hand and the texture you’d like.
Flour tortillas soften in the oven, while corn tortillas will hold up a bit better. If you use corn tortillas, look for thicker ones since they hold up better.
If you use corn tortillas, you want to soften them before filling and rolling. Frying them in a bit of oil softens them and enhances the corn flavor of the tortillas.
More recipes with salsa verde
We love salsa verde and love making our own. It’s excellent with homemade tortilla chips. I love serving it alongside guacamole, pico de gallo, and red salsa. Or use it to make nachos!
You can use salsa verde as a sauce for chicken as we do in this Instant Pot salsa verde chicken. The chicken is fantastic served over cilantro lime rice.
Easy Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas
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These green enchiladas with salsa verde, chicken, sour cream, cheese, and cilantro are easy. Salsa verde is a green salsa made with tomatillos, green chili peppers, and garlic. You can make it yourself (here’s our recipe for salsa verde) or buy it from the store. There are some great options. Look for a salsa with medium heat.
Makes 4 Servings
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 cups shredded cooked chicken, see how we make shredded chicken
2 cups (16 ounces) salsa verde, store-bought or homemade, try our roasted salsa verde
1 teaspoon neutral flavored oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped, plus more for serving
1 cup shredded cheddar, Monterey Jack or Mexican cheese blend
6 (6-inch) flour tortillas or corn tortillas, see notes
Directions
- Make Enchilada Sauce
1Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, then cook garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2Stir in the salsa verde and cook for 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat, and then stir in the sour cream and cilantro. Taste for seasoning, adjusting with salt, pepper, or more sour cream if the sauce is too spicy.
3Set aside about 1 cup of the sauce for assembling the enchiladas.
- To Finish
1Heat the oven to 350° F (177° C). Grease a 2-quart baking dish and spread a little reserved sauce on the bottom. Add about 1/3 cup of the chicken filling to the middle of each tortilla and roll into a cylinder.
2Repeat, lining up tortillas, seam-side down, tightly in the dish. Spread the reserved sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
3Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes longer, until the cheese melts. Serve with cilantro on top.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Meatless Version: Swap the chicken for vegetables such as zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, onion, and winter squash. Add them to the creamy sauce cooked, but still with some crunch since they will continue to cook in the oven.
- Tortillas: Use flour or corn tortillas. Flour tortillas soften much more than corn. If you use corn tortillas, look for thicker ones since they hold up better. Before filling and rolling, soften the corn tortillas up a bit. Frying them in a little oil softens them and enhances the corn flavor of the tortillas — this is not necessary with flour tortillas.
- Make-ahead: As the enchiladas sit, they absorb more and more of the sauce, which can make them softer and a little soggy. I prefer making these the day of and don’t recommend making them ahead of time or freezing them. (That said, I’ve been known to chow down on the leftovers the next day without complaint.)
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
Nutrition Per Serving
Calories
460
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Protein
33 g
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Carbohydrate
31 g
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Dietary Fiber
3 g
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Total Sugars
7 g
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Total Fat
23 g
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Saturated Fat
11 g
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Cholesterol
113 mg
