Chicken Enchiladas

Why Enchiladas are the best:

Who doesn’t love enchiladas, especially chicken enchiladas! They are the best. This will soon become your go to recipe when someone has a baby, moves into a new place, for thanking someone or to just to feed a ton of family or friends. It also will easily become your all-time favorite entertaining recipe because you can make it a bunch of different ways. Enchiladas freeze well and can feed 6 to 12 people with one pan if need be (if you include sides and dessert). This is the recipe I get asked to make the most. This dish has evolved over the years and surprisingly, it’s origins did not come from my Latin based parents! I know shocker. It came from a friend’s mother…

My Enchilada Story:

In my early twenties, I had a friend coming into town and request all of his friends come over to his mother’s house for enchilada night. It’s all my friends talked about for weeks leading up to the dinner. Finally, the day came when I got to try these AMAZING enchiladas and I can tell you these lived up to the hype. Not only was the food great but my friends mother was so welcoming and really enjoyed making this dish for her son’s friends. The experience for me was not just about the food, but about the experience for me, the togetherness, and the laughter….so much laughter!  From that moment, I knew I wanted to share this experience and thus started my journey into entertaining and my small obsession with perfecting my enchiladas. Thanks Michelle!!

I learned a valuable lesson that day…enchiladas = togetherness 🙂

Enough talk! Let’s get cooking….

I find this chicken enchilada recipe super easy. Set the crock-pot on high and leave the top off while it heats up. Then add the oil, onion, garlic and cilantro, while you cut up the chicken into cubes for faster cooking (Quick-tip, if you’re in a pinch but still want quick chicken enchiladas, grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store-add fresh ingredients and continue from the post crock-pot phase). I also like to put the chili powder directly on the chicken just before I add them to the crock-pot. Then I stir all of the ingredients and it should look like the picture below.

It’s all about the Sauce:

You can find cans of enchilada sauce at your local grocery store or attempt to make it homemade, I enjoy doing both depending on how much time I have. However, my go to is always Frontera, not only is Rick Bayless one of my favorite chef’s, I’ve come to grow fond of all of his products and brand. Not to mention he lives in Chicago!

Once the chicken is cooked (2 hours on high), it should be easily shredded with a fork (extra tip-if you are short for time, a food processor will shred the chicken with just a few pulses). Once the chicken is shredded, add the cheese to the crock-pot, and leave for 20 minutes or until cheese is fully melted and there are some juices showing. At this time, I usually pre-heat the oven to 375.

Roll them up!

Grab your large tortillas one by one and I usually grab a huge spoon and fill each one with two to three big scoops. Once filled, I grab one side and slightly tuck it under the chicken and roll the rest of the filled tortilla into place. Continue until the pan is full and then you can add the second bag of Frontera (can’t find the sauce in the grocery store? Click on the bold lettering to purchase from Amazon) sauce on top. I usually grab the back of a spoon and glide the sauce in between and on the top of the enchilada until it looks similar to the picture below.

After you have the sauce in place, add the second portion of cheese and your favorite toppings. I usually go for fresh cilantro and jalapeno.

Pop the dish in the oven and cook for the final 20 minutes, or cook until cheese is fully melted and slightly golden like a pizza, then serve. So yummy!

 

So easy you can make them for dinner tonight!

 

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