Chicken Enchiladas

Hubs has a fantastic recipe for enchiladas. It's something he comes up with off the top of his head. The only drawback is that he uses canned sauce.

This particular enchilada recipe has been making the rounds on food blogs that I visit. The bloggers all refer to the version found on Josie's blog, Pink Parsley. I love that the sauce is homemade. I had never even thought to make the sauce from scratch. What a difference it makes! We devoured these within a day.


Chicken Enchiladas
Adapted from a recipe on Pink Parsley
Originally from America’s Test Kitchen


1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 jalepeno, seeded and chopped
1 Tbs canola canola oil
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 poblano chile, roasted and skin removed, chopped (I happened to have one already roasted; otherwise I probably wouldn't go through the effort of adding it)
3 Tbs chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1 c water
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 c corn
8 oz. cheddar jack cheese, shredded (2 c)
½ c minced fresh cilantro, divided
12 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas
Cooking spray
Salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine onion, jalepeno, ½ tsp salt, and oil in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until vegetables have softened, 6-8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, poblano chile, chili powder, cumin, and sugar. Cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring to a simmer. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 12-20 minutes. The thickest part should read 160 degrees. Set aside to cool.

Pour sauce through a colander to strain, pressing to extract as much of the liquid as possible. Transfer the onion/pepper mixture to a large bowl and reserve. Season the sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste. Shred the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add to the onion mixture, and add ¼c of the sauce, corn, 1 c of cheese, and half the cilantro. Toss to combine.

Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high until the tortillas are warm and pliable, about 40-50 seconds. Spoon 1/3c of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of a tortilla. Tightly roll and lay seam-side down in the baking dish. Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with nonstick spray. Place in the oven, uncovered, for about 7 minutes, until the tortillas start to brown slightly.

Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Remove enchiladas and pour sauce evenly on top. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil, and bake an additional 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with remaining cilantro.