Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

A chilly Sunday afternoon with this meal bubbling away on the stove is just heavenly. I fall back on these enchiladas often because not only are they absolutely yummy, but they are actually healthy, too! The chicken is baked right in the homemade enchilada sauce and the other ingredients put into the dish are so few I feel really good serving this to my family.

Chicken Enchiladas

I’m not sure what it is about mexican-style food but it’s always my favorite go-to kind of recipe. Not everyone in my family loves it like I do but it’s easy and delicious and the leftovers are just as good!

1 medium onion (chopped fine)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. sugar
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 to mato (seeded and chopped)
Salt and pepper
1 lb. boneless (skinless chicken breasts)
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese or colby-jack
½ cup minced fresh cilantro
8 8- inch flour/corn tortillas

Combine the onion and oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the onions have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar, and cook just until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Mix in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring the sauce to a simmer, lower the heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the chicken is completely cooked through (160˚ F on an instant-read thermometer), about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside to cool.
Strain the sauce through a large mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing down on the onions and tomatoes to extract as much liquid as possible. Transfer the reserved solids to a large bowl and set aside. Season the sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste. Shred the chicken into bite size pieces and add to the bowl with the onion mixture. Add in ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce, ½ cup of each of the shredded cheeses, and the cilantro. Stir to combine.
Preheat the oven to 425˚ Add about 1/2 cup of the sauce to the bottom of the pan. Spoon some of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of a tortilla. Roll up the tortilla around the filling tightly, and place in the prepared baking dish, seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining filling and tortillas. Layer remaining sauce over enchiladas. Place in the oven, uncovered, for 7 minutes or until the tortillas start to brown slightly.
Reduce the oven temperature to 400˚ Remove the enchiladas from the oven and pour the sauce oven the top. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is browned. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I used flour/corn tortillas since I am not a fan of plain corn tortillas but you can really use any kind of tortillas for this recipe.