Creamy chicken enchiladas smothered in a sour cream sauce and topped with cheese.
What You Will Need
Chicken breasts, salsa, cream cheese, onion powder, cumin, salt, black pepper, olive oil, white corn tortillas, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, green chiles, and cheddar cheese are all the ingredients you need for this simple recipe. You will need a 9×13 baking pan to bake the enchiladas in the oven, a skillet on the stovetop to warm the corn tortillas, and a crockpot to cook the chicken in. You will also need a couple mixing bowls to stir together ingredients.
Step by Step Instructions
When I need shredded chicken for a Tex-Mex recipe, my favorite way to cook the chicken is by cooking the chicken on low in the crockpot all day with a jar of chunky salsa. I am still in shock to this day how delicious the chicken is this way.
Once cooked, shred the chicken with two forks. It should just fall apart.
Remove chicken from crockpot and place in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 oz of softened cream cheese (should be smooth and mix easily) and a few dashes of onion powder, cumin, salt, and black pepper.
Stir together until well combined.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put one tablespoon (approximately) olive oil in a skillet on the stovetop and heat on low. Once the skillet is warm, place one corn tortilla in the skillet at a time and heat on both sides about 30 seconds.
Add two tablespoons (approximately) of the chicken mixture onto a corn tortilla and roll up. Place seam-side down into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Continue until your baking dish is full.
In a separate bowl, add cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, and green chiles.
Whisk together until smooth.
Pour the sour cream sauce over the enchiladas.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes. Remove the enchiladas and top with cheddar cheese. Place back in the oven and broil on high for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. Remove and enjoy!
Tips & Advice
I highly recommend using white corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas. Corn tortillas are more authentic than flour tortillas and have way more flavor. I actually didn’t understand or know the difference until the first time we went to Mexico. Ever since we returned from Mexico on our honeymoon almost 10 years ago, I very rarely use flour tortillas (only for burritos). A lesson I have learned along the way though is that corn tortillas need warmed up before maneuvering (rolling in this recipe) or else they will just fall apart. For this recipe, I get in a nice rhythm of warming tortillas while filling them. I warm one tortilla in the skillet for 30 seconds, flip, fill an already warmed tortilla with the chicken mixture and place in the baking pan, remove the tortilla from the skillet to cool a second, add a new tortilla in the skillet for 30 seconds, flip, fill that previous tortilla with the chicken mixture, etc. It’s like a choreographed dance in the kitchen.
If this sour cream sauce isn’t your thing, try topping the enchiladas with my white cheese dip or actual enchilada sauce instead.
I had just a few scoops of chicken mixture left after filling my baking dish. I ended up using it as a dip for tortilla chips and eating all of it as an appetizer while the enchiladas cooked. Whoops.
Feel free to top the enchiladas with whatever toppings you want! Lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, avocado, etc.
I highly recommend you buy a block of cheddar cheese and shred the cheese yourself as opposed to buying pre-shredded cheese. This is a simple thing you can do to make this recipe taste even better!
Printable Recipe
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts (about a pound)
- 16 oz chunky salsa
- 4 oz cream cheese (softened)
- Onion powder to taste
- Cumin to taste
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- A few TBSP Olive oil
- 12 white corn tortillas
- 10.5 oz cream of chicken soup
- 8 oz sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 4.5 oz (1 small can) chopped green chiles
- 8 oz (2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In the morning, add chicken and salsa to a crockpot and cook on low for the day.
- Once cooked, shred the chicken with two forks.
- Remove chicken from crockpot and place in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 oz of softened cream cheese and a few dashes of onion powder, cumin, salt, and black pepper.
- Stir together until well combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put one tablespoon olive oil in a skillet on the stovetop and heat on low. Once the skillet is warm, place one corn tortilla in the skillet at a time and heat on both sides about 30 seconds.
- Add two tablespoons (approximately) of the chicken mixture onto a warmed corn tortilla and roll up. Place seam-side down into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Continue until your baking dish is full.
- In a separate bowl, add cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, and green chilies.
- Whisk together until smooth.
- Pour the sour cream sauce over the enchiladas.
- Bake in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes.
- Remove the enchiladas and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Place back in the oven and broil on high for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. Remove and enjoy!
Notes
- See the “Tips & Advice” section of this recipe post for helpful information!
