These creamy chicken enchiladas were a total experiment and they turned out so good! So many of the things in this recipe were just sort of happenstance. Like, “heck, let’s just try it and see what happens” and it worked! Next time I will definitely add more to the filling to stretch it a bit more. I am thinking corn, black beans, and adding onion to the crock pot as I cook the chicken.

NOTES:

I made this recipe so it would make enough enchiladas to freeze some or feed a crowd. I got 18 enchiladas which I divided between 4 containers. You can absolutely half this recipe, but you might as well make the whole batch and freeze some, or invite friends over for dinner. They also taste great the next day.

You will also notice that the chicken is cooked in the crock pot. I suggest doing that first thing in the morning or even the day before so it is ready to go when you begin to assemble the enchiladas.

Here is something you need to know about enchiladas as well: they are pretty darn hard to mess up. Tortillas and chicken and cheese really work so well together. Don’t get too bogged down in specifics. They tend to turn out just fine 🙂

YOU WILL NEED

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 chicken breasts
• 16 ounces green enchilada sauce, divided
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 2 medium red bell peppers, sliced thin (you can sub yellow or orange)
• 24 ounces salsa verde
• 2 cups sour cream, divided 
• 1, 15-ounce can corn, drained
• 1, 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 18-20 medium (8-10”) flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
• Optional toppings: avocado, cilantro

TO MAKE

Step One: To a small bowl, add cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper; stir to combine. 

Step Two: Season chicken breasts with cumin mixture. Add the chicken to the crockpot with 8 ounces of enchilada sauce and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

Step Three: While the chicken cooks, saute your onion and peppers and make your salsa verde sauce. For the onions and peppers, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and sauté the onions and peppers until soft. Set aside.

Step Four: For the salsa verde sauce, combine 1 cup sour cream, 24 ounces salsa verde, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and blend. (This part was a total experiment. It is delicious and really puts the creamy in the recipe title).

Step Five: Once the chicken is cooked, turn off the crockpot and remove the chicken breasts. Shred the chicken with two forks.

Step Six: To the crock pot, add remaining 1 cup sour cream and remaining 8 ounces enchilada sauce and whisk to combine

Step Seven: Return the shredded chicken back to the crockpot, along with the corn, black beans, and sautéed onions and peppers; stir to combine.

Step Eight: Assemble the enchiladas. Pour a small amount of salsa verde sauce into the bottom of each container you are using. Just enough to coat the bottom.

Step Nine: Fill each tortilla with a scoop of the chicken filling (approx. 1/2 c per enchilada but you don’t really need to measure) then line them up one by one in your dish, seam side down so they don’t unfold. Get them nice and close together.

Step Ten: Pour more of the sauce over the top of the enchiladas but not too much – just enough to lightly cover the tops of the enchiladas.

Step Eleven: Cover with shredded cheese.

Step Twelve: Repeat steps 8-11 until you run out of tortillas or filling. If you have extra sauce you can toss it, or store it in a jar for another meal. I think the extra sauce would be delicious over a sweet potato.

Step Thirteen: Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes so the cheese can get nice and bubbly.

TO FREEZE: Allow the enchiladas to cool, then cover each container with a layer of plastic wrap (this will help with freezer burn), followed by a layer of foil.  Label the containers, making sure to note the need to remove the layer of plastic wrap before baking.

TO BAKE: You can defrost overnight in the fridge then bake as directed in step 12 above, or bake from frozen by adding 20-30 minutes to the covered cooking time.