Traditionally, in my family, chicken enchiladas were prepared with corn tortillas that were filled and then rolled tight. They were be served to order, individually onto your plate, topped with enchilada sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. The fillings were simple, either a lightly seasoned poached chicken or a crumbled queso cotija or queso fresco with sliced onions. They were rarely ever baked in the oven. Although, I do enjoy that cheesy version too!
Crumbled Cheese Or Melted Cheese?
Whether you are a more traditional crumbled cheese or a melted cheese enchilada person, a good sauce and good corn tortilla are key too! It really depends on my mood, but I lean towards the crumbled cheese enchiladas. I will share with you a few variations on how to prepare enchiladas.
Once You Try Homemade Sauce, It’s Hard To Go Back!
To save time, you could use a store-bought rotisserie chicken for this recipe. Many times, my mom would take a little help from the market and purchase store bought enchilada sauce. It was not available to me, until recently, so I learned to prepare my own. And after trying the homemade version, I really enjoy it. Here is a basic sauce recipe that I use all of the time. It freezes well and can be used for various dishes that call for a chile sauce.
I love cheese, but sometimes I really just want to enjoy the flavor of the sauce with the corn tortillas.
Before the cotija cheese…. If you are serving the enchiladas on individual plates, you probably will have leftover sauce. More Mexican food the next day!
Basic Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3 boneless chicken breasts or 5 boneless thighs 2 pounds
- 5 cups of water
- Salt
For the Enchilada Sauce: (Ranchero Sauce)
- 2 ancho chile peppers stems and seeds removed
- 8-9 guajillo chiles stems and seeds removed
- 4-6 chile de arbol peppers optional
- 1 large Roma tomato sliced in half
- ½ white onion quartered
- 3 large cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup avocado or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 3-4 teaspoons Knorr chicken bouillon optional
- 4 cups chicken broth from poaching the chicken
- Salt to taste
You Will Also Need:
- 16 corn tortillas
- avocado or canola oil
- 8 oz Monterey Jack or Chihuahua cheese shredded
- 8 oz queso fresco or cotija crumbled fine
- Shredded lettuce thinly sliced onion, sliced tomato and sliced jalapeño
- thin sliced onion
- thin sliced tomato
- Mexican crema
- Avocado slices
Instructions
Directions:
- Add the chicken to a sauce pan and cover with 5 cups of water. Season with salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat and poach for 45 to 50 minutes or until tender and easy to pull apart with a fork. Remove chicken and shred while still warm, cover and set aside. Strain the broth and reserve for making enchilada sauce.
- Combine the dried chiles, tomato, onion and garlic in a medium sauce pan. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and heat to medium. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring often. Cover with 4 cups of broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until tomatoes are tender and peppers are soft and start to turn red. Let sit for 10 minutes. Using tongs transfer all the solids to blender first. Carefully pour in all the broth from pan. Add oregano, cumin, peppercorns and bouillon. Pour in another 1- 1 1/2 cups of broth(if available). If not use water. Blend on high until smooth, taste for salt.
- In the pan you cooked the peppers in, add 2 tablespoons of oil and preheat on medium for 2 minutes. Strain the sauce through a wire strain directly into the pot with hot oil. If using a power blender, like a Vitamix, no need to strain. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 15-20 minutes.
- For Family-Style: In a 13×9 pan, spread 1 cup of enchilada sauce evenly to cover the bottom of the pan, set aside. In a skillet, preheat 1/2 cup of oil to medium heat for 3-4 minutes. When oil is hot, fry the tortillas for 30 seconds per side, just to soften them. Stack on to a plate, cover with foil paper.
- In a bowl, combine the shredded chicken breast with ½ cup of enchilada sauce, stir well to combine. Now you are ready to start building your enchiladas. Take one tortilla and fill with about 2 tablespoons of chicken, roll shut to resemble a flute. Lay the enchiladas in the baking pan with the sauce already in it. Once you have filled and rolled them all, top with the remaining sauce and jack or chihuahua cheese. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Serve and garnish with queso cotija, onion, avocado, crema and fresh toppings!
- For Serving Individual plates. Make sure your sauce and chicken are warm if you are serving individually. Fry, fill and roll the enchiladas and place them onto individual plates. Ladle a generous amount of warm sauce on top, sprinkle on melting cheese and heat to melt in the microwave for less than a minute. Garnish with cotija cheese and with any of the fresh garnishes listed. This was how my Mom served them at home.
Notes
The red corn tortillas remind me so much of the simple cheese enchiladas that they serve in Monterrey, Mexico. I have prepared my own, but they are never as thin as these store bought tortillas. I found these while I was visiting my family in Austin. My sister in law was nice enough to mail me a few packages.
I cook my chicken in the pressure cooker or slow cooker for the best shredded chicken. I enjoy breast meat, but the boneless thighs are so much more flavorful.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Trackbacks
-
[…] rellenos is my “go to” enchilada sauce I prepare for chicken enchiladas. Click Sauce to see the full recipe on site. The sauce freezes well and can be used for many other recipes. To […]
Would Love to Hear From You
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Made tonight! YUM!
Thank you for posting this sauce recipe! I had asked in a comment section of one of your posts awhile back. I just don’t care for that bitterness in the canned sauces I have tried.
Yes, I remember you asked. I did add some links for you. I am so happy you tried the recipe. Yeah, the canned sauce is just not quite the same when homemade is so easy to prepare. Thanks for letting me know.
I made these last night and my family loved loved them. I made a small dish and brought to share with my work friends. Recipe is great! thank you. I also made your cocido on Saturday and loved it too! Thank you for helping me build my Mexican.
Thank you for sharing with me Diane! I am so happy you enjoyed the recipes. And that’s wonderful that you shared with friends!
Just made your red sauce for some calabacita enchiladas! Sauce is rich and full of flavor!
Hi Jerry!!! So happy you like the sauce recipe. It truly is one of my favorites for a basic red enchilada. Thank you so much for the feedback. I appreciate it.
Just made these and my family continued eating even after they were full. So good! I have a question though. I doubled the sauce recipe and still had just barely enough to make 1 9×13 and 1 8×8 dish full. Is that normal? I thought I would have a ton left over.
To be honest Stephanie, when I shared this recipe, I had my mom’s version of enchiladas in mind. She never prepared enchiladas in a baking pan. They were served on individual plates with some sauce ladled over the top. Rarely any melted cheese, but just some crumbled Mexican cheese or maybe shredded when crumbled was not available. I still prepare enchiladas like this at home. I may have been a bit off in my quantities if you were preparing the recipe in a 9×13 pan. Sorry for the inconvenience. I will have to visit the recipe again very soon and update the post. Thank you!
Oh it wasn’t an inconvenience at all! I just wanted to know if that meant I did something wrong. So much stayed behind in the strainer and I kept wondering if I should have blended it more.
I only recently purchased a Vitamix blender and what a difference it makes when blending chile sauces. There is practically nothing left when it comes to chile skins. I love it that I don’t have to strain as much as I use to. Some people are not bothered by the chile skins left behind, but I prefer a smooth sauce when it comes to enchiladas.
Ok, I had to leave a comment again because I made them again. Delicious AGAIN! I figured out why I had so little sauce last time. I used a flour sifter to strain it. This time I used a blender instead of my nutrabullet and I strained it with a strainer not a sifter. I had TONS of sauce this time. How funny that I didn’t think of that the first time. I guess I’m too used to baking.
I just prepared a huge batch of the sauce for a special dinner yesterday! Wished I would had some leftovers! Lol!
Hi Sonia! I loved this recipe! Soo good!! And better than the store bought sauce.
How can I avoid soggy tortillas when I bake my enchiladas? I usually cook my tortillas on the comal for a second and then roll them. I’m trying to avoid frying the tortilla (my mom doesn’t bake- fry, roll and serve style is what we grew up with). Should I cook on the comal for longer?
Thank you!!
Hi Lori! I avoid frying too most times. But what I will do is brush the tortillas with oil and then cook them on the comal. I stack them covered in foil paper and let them sit and steam for a few minutes before filling and rolling them.
Best enchilada sauce recipe I found online, hands down! We make it all the time. Well, I do, and my family eats it lol. Thank you!
Wow! Thank you so much Kali!!!! Thank you for taking the time to write! I really appreciate the feedback on the recipe!