Southwestern influenced cuisine has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I’m from Texas. My ex is from Colorado. His family is from Arizona. And I have family in New Mexico. So Tex-Mex, Arizona-Mex, New Mexico-Mex, or any variation of that wonderful blend of regions and cultures has been a staple in my diet and my cooking my whole life.
A lot of times I work from a recipe given to me by a friend or a friend’s family. But sometimes I just take my love of the flavors of the regions and mix it up and this is one of those recipes. I knew I wanted green chile. I knew I wanted chicken. I knew that green chile chicken enchiladas are a thing, but I didn’t feel like looking up a recipe. So I made it up as I went along. Accordingly the recipe below is mostly estimated, but don’t worry … these enchiladas are hard to mess up.
I started by roasting Hatch chiles (available in season at Whole Foods here in Atlanta), tomatillos, and yellow onions in a 500°F oven for about 15 mins, flipping everything about halfway through to get a bit of char on all sides. I peeled off the charred skin of the peppers and tomatillos and then threw everything in a sauce pan and hit it with a stick blender. I let it simmer for about 30 mins while I prepared everything else.
While the sauce was simmering, I poached 2 chicken breasts in some chicken stock and shredded them, but you could also do this with precooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken or even canned chicken breast. I shredded an 8 oz block of Monterrey-jack cheese and chopped some cilantro for the filling. And I opened a pack of white corn tortillas for filling.
I mixed about half of the green chili sauce with the shredded chicken – just enough to make it moist – and reserved the rest for topping. Then it was just a matter of spooning the chicken filling into a tortilla, adding a little cheese, rolling them up, and nestling them into baking dishes.
Oh, and don’t forget to spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish so your tortillas don’t stick.
Then spoon the remaining sauce over the rolled tortillas and top them with the remaining cheese. Bake in a 375 oven until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
Serve them with a dollop of sour cream or crema. These go quickly but if you can save a few, they’re just as good (maybe even better) the next day, reheated.
This is a super basic recipe that can be changed up any way you want to. If you don’t have fresh chiles or tomatillos, feel free to substitute canned varieties – you can even get them pre-roasted in some brands. If you want spicier sauce, add jalapenos. Add some garlic or some seasonings if you want to play around with flavors some. If you want super creamy enchiladas, you can add a little cream cheese to the filling. If you want to use pork instead of chicken, that works as well.
Use this recipe as a jumping off point for your own favorites. Enjoy!
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded chicken
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 or 5 tomatillos, halved
- 3 large Hatch chiles
- 12 corn tortillas
- 8 oz Monterrey-jack cheese, shredded
- creama and cilantro for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 Roast the onion, chiles, and tomatillos in a 500°F oven, turning once and watching closely to make sure they don’t burn (you want a little blackened char on the skin of the peppers and tomatilloes)
- Step 2 Once the vegetables are roasted, peel off the charred skin and blend the veggies into a chunky “soup”. You can also use a stick blender if you want.
- Step 3 Put everything into a saucepan over medium heat and let it simmer for 15-20 mins
- Step 4 If you’re not using precooked chicken, this is the time to poach a couple of chicken breasts and shred them, otherwise use this time to shred your cheese, pull rotisserie chicken off the bone, and set up your corn tortillas.
- Step 5 Add enough of the green chile sauce to your shredded chicken to make it moist and easy to hold together, but not runny. You can also add some chopped cilantro if you like it.
- Step 6 Spoon a thin layer of the green chile sauce into the bottom of your baking dish and begin heating the oven to 375°F.
- Step 7 Take one corn tortilla and spoon about 1/4 cup of chicken filling into the middle of it. Top it with just a little of the cheese.
- Step 8 Roll the tortilla gently – don’t worry if it splits, corn tortillas are notorious for splitting – and nestle it in the baking dish.
- Step 9 Repeat this until you run out of filling or space in your baking dish (as you can see, I used 2 dishes).
- Step 10 Spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and top that with the remaining cheese.
- Step 11 Bake at 375°F for 20 mins or until the top is bubbly and just starting to brown.
- Step 12 Serve immediately with a drizzle of crema and garnish with chopped cilantro.