These deliciously creamy chicken enchiladas are one of my family's most requested dishes. Filled with simple but flavorful ingredients, they never fail to please.
Of all of the dishes that I make, this creamy chicken enchilada dish is the one for which I get the most recipe requests. My friend Terri introduced me to the idea of white enchiladas over 15 years ago. I loved hers, and I've been making them ever since. I've tweaked the recipe over the years and this is the way I currently make them.
⏲️ Time needed
If you have prepared ingredients in the freezer and thaw them ahead of time, this meal can be ready in about 40 minutes. If you need to do your chopping and sautéing as you prepare, add at least 15 minutes for that.
🥘 Ingredients
- shredded or chopped cooked chicken
- cream of chicken soup
- chicken broth
- sour cream
- chopped & sautéed onion
- chopped & sautéed bell pepper
- Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
- green chilies
- cumin
- Adobo or garlic salt
- tortillas
- shredded Mexican blend cheese
- non-stick cooking spray
📋 Instructions
Make the basis for the filling and the sauce by combining the soup, chicken broth, and sour cream. Set aside ½ of this mixture for the sauce if you like to add sauce on top; if not keep all of it together for filling.
To the remaining filling mixture add the chicken, sautéed onion, sautéed bell pepper, drained chilies, drained Rotel, and spices to taste.
Add half of the cheese.
Place about ½ cup of the chicken mixture onto the center of each tortilla, rolling each one up and placing it seam side down in a prepared 9x12 pan.
If you reserved some of the filling to use as sauce, pour it over enchiladas. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over enchiladas and cook at 350°F for about 25 minutes or until bubbly.
💭 Tips
I rarely start a recipe by sautéing chicken or browning ground beef. I'm a big believer in doing as much preparation as possible before I need to start cooking so that dinnertime is low stress (enjoyable, even!).
For this recipe I use fast ingredients from the freezer—cooked chicken, sautéed onion, and sautéed bell pepper—to speed up my preparation time.
It takes less time to sauté or grill (my preferred method) several pounds of chicken once than to cook one pound at a time multiple times. The same is true with browning ground beef, sautéing chopped onions, and sautéing chopped bell peppers. Typically we do huge batches of peppers and onions in the summer when bell peppers are plentiful.
The "prep it before you need it" method is the crux of the Secrets of a Busy Cook and the biggest key in cutting down on prep time. Using pre-cooked ingredients saves me lots of chopping, cooking, and clean-up time in the evening when I am tired and everyone is hungry.
📖 Recipe
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
- 1 condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 can chicken broth
- 8 oz. sour cream
- 1 onion, chopped & sautéed
- 1 bell pepper, chopped & sautéed (any color)
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained
- 1 can diced green chilies, drained
- ½ tsp. cumin
- Adobo or garlic salt
- 6 flour tortillas, 8"
- 2 cups Mexican blend cheese, shredded
- non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- Chop and sauté the onion and bell pepper in the vegetable oil.
- Combine soup, chicken broth, and sour cream. Set aside ½ of this mixture for the sauce if you like to add sauce on top; if not keep all of it together for filling.
- To the remaining mixture add chicken, sautéed onion and pepper, chilies, Rotel, and spices to taste. Add half of the cheese.
- Place ½ cup of chicken mixture onto each tortilla, roll up, and place the tortillas seam side down in a 9x12 pan.
- If you reserved half the sauce, pour it over enchiladas now.
- Sprinkle remaining cheese over enchiladas.
- Cook at 350°F for about 25 minutes or until bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition per serving
🥗 Side dishes
I like to serve these enchiladas with refried beans (topped with red enchilada sauce and shredded cheese like they do at Taco Bell) and a salad or slow-simmered green beans.
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Joan G.
I really liked this recipe as did my daughter. I will make again.
Mary Ann
I'm so glad you liked it. This is one of my top 5 favorite recipes, and it's so easy to put together if you do the bulk cooking of ingredients so that all you have to do is put everything in a bowl and mix instead of sautéing it all that night. Thanks for the feedback!
Mary Ann
That would be easy, Angela. I've actually put the filling with rice as well.
Angela W
You know what would make this recipe even simpler? Instead of putting the filling inside the tortillas and rolling it up. Just layer it! I do this all the time when I make enchiladas. Still delicious, still serve-able, but a lot less headache getting all the stuff inside.