White Chicken Enchiladas

I “stole” this recipe off of Pioneer Woman’s website. When I made it, I used less heat than her, but I have two toddlers to feed and a heat sensitive tween. I’m listing the ingredients as she listed them, and you can add or remove the peppers and chilies as you need to.

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Prep Time 45

Cook Time 30

Servings: 6

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Calories: 787

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

Chicken Filling

1 whole chicken, broken down and shredded to make 2½ cups shredded
2 cups reserved broth from chicken or use your stored chicken or Tasty Turkey Broth
3 tablespoons canola oil
12 whole corn tortillas
1 whole large onion, diced
3 whole 4-ounce cans whole green chilies, diced
1 whole jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
1 teaspoon paprika
½ cup heavy cream

Sauce

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons freshly ground whole wheat flour
1 cup sour cream
2-½ cups Monterey jack cheese, grated
Kosher or sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

To Serve

salsa (optional)
cilantro, chopped

Method

Preparation

Dice onion. Chop chilies and pepper. Shred cheese.
Break whole chicken down. Cover with water. Boil for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.
While it’s boiling, prepare the tortillas. If you’re making homemade, after pressing them, roll them out a little thinner so that they will roll into enchiladas well.
Whether you’re making homemade or using store bought tortillas, heat some canola oil in the frying pan and cook a few minutes on either side. You’re not trying to crisp them up, just heat them through.
When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the water (reserving the broth) and shred it off of the bones.
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Assembly

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Add onions and jalapeños and sauté for 1 minute, just to start the cooking process.
Add chicken, half of the green chilies, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Stir together. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir. Add cream and stir, allowing mixture to bubble and get hot. Turn off heat and set aside.
In a separate large skillet, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together and cook over medium heat for one minute. Pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. Whisk together and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the other half of the chilies. Reduce heat, then stir in sour cream. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and stir to melt. Add 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.
To assemble, spoon chicken mixture on top of tortillas, one by one. Top with plenty of cheese and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Pour cheese mixture all over the top of the tortillas. Top with extra cheese if you’d like.
Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle generously with chopped cilantro.
Serve with salsa, if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 787kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 38gFat: 58gSaturated Fat: 24gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 21gCholesterol: 185mgSodium: 650mgPotassium: 498mgFiber: 4gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 1308IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 399mgIron: 2mg

Notes

Play around with the peppers and chilies until you have your desired heat. My kids loved it with half of the chilies and no pepper. I personally think the extra peppers and chilies would take this from really good to exceptional, and next time I’m going to use all of them and use pepper jack cheese, too.

Next time you have chicken or turkey, you can follow the instructions in the Tasty Turkey Broth recipe to make a fabulous and rich broth that will keep for a good long while, especially if you store it using my Perfect Solution for Freezing Broth.

Very high in vitamin A.

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White Chicken Enchiladas