Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
Every layer of these delicious Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce is packed with flavor!
Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
Corn tortillas filled with flavorful shredded chicken breast, homemade enchilada sauce and two different cheeses, man your going to love this!
As I said at the top of this post, every layer of this recipe has flavor. To start with, your not going to use just cooked shredded chicken breast. Your going to use chicken breast cooked in broth with spices. If your a busy momma or daddy and like to prep ahead for weeknight meals, cook the chicken the night before . Shred it and refrigerate it to use the next day. If you’re looking for a super fast dinner, you could always use a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.
Making the homemade enchilada sauce is as easy as making a homemade gravy and again, can be made a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator. You start the enchilada sauce by whisking and cooking the flour and oil together like a roux. After it’s boiled and cooked a couple of minutes, add the spices and whisk to combine. The chicken broth is added to the pan and simmered until the mixture slightly thickens. Think of it as Mexican gravy. A rich delicious combination of flavors you can make right at home.
The last flavorful layer but certainly not the least is the cheese. Melting shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheese covers the top of this delicious dish and it’s enough to make your mouth water just looking at it. The combinations of flavors in this recipe are fantastic. But the best part is, with a little planning ahead if need be, you don’t have to wait for the weekend to make Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce, you can have it tonight and ENJOY!
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Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 whole chicken breasts, uncooked
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 Teaspoon garlic powder
- one 10 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion , diced
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 4 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 Teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon cayene pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Place the diced onion, tomatoes, garlic powder, chicken broth and the whole chicken breasts in a large saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken breasts are tender enough to easily shred. Let the mixture cool. Remove the chicken breasts and shred, discard the remaining ingredients in the pot. . Spread 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce onto the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking pan. Spread about a 1/2 Teaspoon enchilada sauce onto the middle of each of 12 corn tortillas. Place 1 Tablespoon of shredded chicken on top of the enchilada sauce followed by a sprinkling of both cheeses. Roll the corn tortilla up and place in the 13x9 inch baking pan. Repeat for the remaining 11 tortillas. Top the rolled enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce and both shredded cheeses. Bake at 400 degrees, uncovered for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce directions:Place the flour and oil in a medium size saucepan under medium heat. Whisk and cook the mixture until it starts to boil, then boil another minute or two to remove the flour taste. Whisk in the seasonings until well blended. While still whisking, add the chicken broth to the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.
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So instead of discarding the tomatoes, onions and 2 cups of broth I just used all of that to make the sauce. It was delicious!!!! I used chicken tenderloins and only simmered the chicken for 25 minutes I also added black beans. Save money and perfectly good food! Great recipe!! I will NEVER buy canned enchilada sauce again!
Very easy and taste so fresh.
I am so glad it was easy to make and turned out well!
This was amazing! I made a few tweaks. I used the large burrito style tortillas, tripled the sauce, cut the chili powder and cayenne pepper in half and added corn and Spanish rice to the tortillas. This was a family favorite!
Wonderful Jen!! Ok see the corn and spanish rice sounds amazing to me in the tortillas! What a way to make it yours girl!
I did the same thing another poster did. I used the tomatoes, onions and broth to make the sauce! It was delicious and so easy to make!
If you use rotisserie chicken do you warm it in the sauce or just straight into the enchilada?
Just put it into the enchilada honey.
This dish is delicious and full of flavor! I was looking for a way to use my shredded chicken from a previous recipe and boy am I delighted that I chose this recipe. The enchilada sauce is amazing! Thank you!
Wonderful! Ali! Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment, I appreciate you!
I also used the liquid that I poached the chicken in for the sauce. I put it all in a blender (just not the chicken) and smoothed it out before using it for the sauce. I ended up with 3 cups of liquid, so I used 2 cups in the sauce and the leftover cup to make Mexican rice. The chicken was very flavorful (I tried it as I was shredding it), and the sauce was absolutely delicious. I did use less chili powder than what was written but made no other changes. These are the best enchiladas I’ve ever made. Thanks, Bunny!
WONDERFUL LisaMarie! Your so welcome sweetie!
This was delicious! I am from south Texas, and this recipe is close to how my mom made it. However, the chili powder was a bit strong so I added more broth and more flower. I also dipped my corn tortillas into the sauce to cover it completely before filling it with the chicken. My family loved it! This will be my only enchilada recipe I will use. Thank you for sharing!
Great recipe, it was a hit with my whole family. I used the chicken cooking liquid & puréed it with an immersion hand blender. Then I measured 2c of that to use in place of the chicken stock in the enchilada sauce. (Next time I may add more, to thin the sauce out a bit. The tomatoes/onions made the liquid thicker than straight chicken broth). I also halved the chili powder and it was still pretty darn spicy for the littles. The best homemade enchilada recipe I’ve found to date. It’s a keeper!
These were amazing! I am going away to a cabin with family and want to make them two days ahead of time. Would you recommend making and baking, then putting them in the fridge, or making them and putting in the fridge for two days until I’m ready to bake them? I would really appreciate your feedback:) Thank you!
I would add another spoon of flour to the sauce to make it thicker in the end. It was like water before that. Other than that a great dish! I love it
Wow this was amazing ! I used the liquid from the chicken and just purée it to make it smooth. I also halved the chili powder. My husband ate the entire pan ! So amazing thank you !
So glad you and hubby enjoyed it, Abby!
I feel like I only needed one full chicken breast. I ended up freezing the remaining half of my shredded chicken for another week. I used flour tortillas, as well, as I’m not a corn tortilla fan. And I certainly didn’t need all of that cheese. So yay for having half the recipe prepped/ready!
I’ve never commented on an online recipe before, but I’m starting with this one. These enchiladas were over the top. My wife loved them as well. Like some other posters did, I ran the cooking liquid through the blender and used it for the sauce. Absolutely wonderful.
Girl, these are the BOMB! I too used the tomatoes, onions and some broth in my sauce. Also added a finely chopped jalapeño. Doubled the cumin. I put the shredded chicken back into the remaining broth to keep it moist as my other half was running late and this helped. Red sauce was perfect! Than you for such a great recipe Bunny!!
Hi. Is it okay if I use regular tortillas instead of corn tortillas? I make my tortillas myself and corny ones’ main ingredient isn’t available here.
You could definitely try it and let us know how it turns out!
This is now a regular item on our rotation of dinner menus. We love it! I make it with canned chicken so it’s quick and easy and the sauce really makes this dish!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!❤️❤️👍🏼
I’m so glad that this is in the rotation, I appreciate it!
These enchiladas I made twice. I added olives on top to add flavor and color. They were delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe
These are soooo delicious. My other half lived in Dallas for 20 years and he said these are every bit as good if not better then he ever had there! I also used the rest of the broth for the sauce and added a chopped Jalapeño. We prefer flour tortillas but these were the only changes. Leftover chicken in the freezer so all I have to do is make more sauce. Thank you for this great recipe girl!
This recipe is sooo good! We don’t eat much meat, but I continue to use the enchilada sauce with other type of enchiladas. I can’t believe I’ve spent so much money buying canned enchilada sauce. This sauce is beyond delicious! Thanks for sharing!