Chicken Enchiladas

Do you remember my last post when I made Slow-Cooker Chicken Tacos? And I told you that I make something fantastic with the leftover chicken? 

I got the Leftover-Chicken-for-Enchiladas idea from Cristina Ferrare. She was on Oprah and you know how I LOVES ME SOME OPRAH! Anyway, Cristina makes whole roasted chickens and then uses the cooked chicken for all sorts of recipes. It's kind of awesome. I knew my leftover chicken from the Chicken Tacos would work perfectly!

So I changed her recipe a little, and I'm pretty proud of my version:

Yum! Yum! Here we go!


Chicken Enchiladas

16-28 ounce can enchilada sauce (red or green)

12-18 corn tortillas

1 can refried beans

1 jar salsa (regular red or salsa verde)

1 small can diced green chiles (optional)

3 cups shredded cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

Leftover slow-cooker chicken, shredded

Garnishes: Sour cream, avocado, cilantro, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce - whatever you like!

A note about the ingredients:

I use the leftover chicken from my slow-cooker chicken tacos, but you can use any cooked chicken that you have on hand.

How many enchiladas you make will depend on how much chicken you had left over and how much stuff you pack into each tortilla. If you have a lot of chicken left over (2 cups or more), go with the bigger can of enchilada sauce (you can always freeze any extra sauce). I had so much chicken left over that I was able to fill a 9" x 13" baking dish to serve now and a small 8" x 8" baking dish that I froze for a later meal.

I also had some leftover taco garnishes (cheese, cilantro, and onions), so when I packed up my leftover chicken on taco night, I mixed them in, too. I packed up my leftover lettuce separately to serve on the side.

For these enchiladas, I used green enchilada sauce and salsa verde.

Make It:

Heat oven to 400°. 

Pour the can of enchilada sauce into a large bowl or small casserole dish. Warm it up in the microwave for a minute or two. Dip tortillas in the sauce to soften them.

On a cutting board or plate, gently spread refried beans on one side of each tortilla. Add enough leftover slow-cooker chicken to cover the beans. Sprinkle with cheese. Add chiles and salsa. 

This is a messy step! Your hands and enchilada prep plate are going to get messy messy messy, so make sure you have all your ingredients for this step accessible and easy to grab with your messy hands.

Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down in a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Blend the sour cream into the remaining enchilada sauce in the tortilla-soaking bowl. Pour over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly. OH YUM. 

You could definitely eat your enchiladas just like that, with rice and beans on the side, or...

You could cover them with your favorite garnishes. Sour cream, avocado, cilantro, lettuce - I refuse to eat my enchiladas without sour cream. Really, what's the point? And I love the creaminess of the avocado and the freshness of the cilantro and the crispness of the lettuce. 

And I love diced tomato for its cool sweetness and extra beautiful color:

And if you're like me, you drizzle the whole thing with TAPATIO hot sauce! Spicy deliciousness!

Enjoy!