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These Enchiladas Verdes are made with chicken and covered in an easy salsa verde sauce that’s perfect to make during the week! Baked to perfection, they make a great dinner and tasty leftovers that everyone will be excited to eat!
Enchiladas are easily one of the most popular Mexican dishes in my house!
Though there are many variations involving the filling, the cheese, the tortillas, the toppings and the spice/heat level, the one thing that sets enchiladas apart from your regular old taco or burrito is that it’s covered, or in my case, smothered in an enchilada sauce!
If you like enchiladas with lots of sauce, these Enchiladas Verdes won’t disappoint!
What Makes These Enchiladas Verdes Great
- These chicken enchiladas verde are baked, great for dinner and make tasty leftovers.
- They’re made with simple ingredients. Seasoned baked chicken in corn tortillas, covered with sauce and cheese. So easy!
- They’re a classic Mexican dish that’s super flavorful!
Ingredients you’ll need
First up, let’s go over what you’ll need.
- Chicken –This recipe has instructions on how to cook it for yourself using either chicken breast or thighs, but you can also just snag a rotisserie chicken at the store if you need to save a little time.
- Tortillas – I used store-bought yellow corn tortillas,but you can use any type of tortillas you prefer! Corn, flour, low carb, paleo-friendly, they all work in this recipe! If you want to make your own, check out these recipes for corn tortillas and flour tortillas.
- Salsa Verde – I highly recommend making your own salsa verde. It’s just so easy and versatile, once you make it, you’ll wonder where it’s been your whole life! This recipe uses my easy salsa verde recipe but if you’re short on time, you can use your favorite store-bought brand of salsa verde. My personal favorite is the Herdez brand.
- Cheese – Lots of it! This recipe uses a Mexican shredded cheese blend that includes Monterey Jack, Cheddar and other cheeses. But if you’ve only got cheddar or mozzarella in your fridge, that works, too.
Once you’ve got all your ingredients ready to go,just spoon some chicken into the each tortilla, roll them up into little tacos and place them a baking dish seam side down. Cover the tortillas with the salsa verde, top with cheese and bake!
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Tips for the best Enchiladas Verdes
- Warm up the tortillas before stuffing and rolling them. I like placing them on a plate, covering them with a damp paper towel and heating them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. The damp towel will create some steam which will help the tortillas from drying out.
- Be careful not to overstuff the tortillas. Otherwise the tortillas will unroll or even rip.
- Try to cover the enchiladas as much as possible with the salsa verde. Any parts that aren’t covered with sauce (or cheese) will likely turn out crispy and/or hard.
- If the cheese starts to get too brown on top before it’s ready to be taken out, just carefully place foil on top of the baking dish for the remaining cook time to stop the browning.
Recipe Variations
- Use a different protein: While this recipe calls for chicken, you could also use cooked turkey or pork instead (a perfect use for any carnitas you have leftover).
- Make it vegetarian: You can easily make this dish vegetarian by replacing the chicken with beans. Just stuff the enchiladas with the beans, cheese and some chopped spinach, then finish according to the rest of the recipe!
- Make it spicy: Add a little cayenne pepper or some chopped jalapeno peppers or serrano peppers to the chicken to get a little more heat!
- Don’t have salsa verde? You could substitute in this green enchilada sauce or authentic enchilada sauce instead.
I like to top my enchiladas with some chopped cilantro, green onions and tomatoes. Not only does it look pretty, but I’m obsessed with cilantro!
Serving Suggestions
- Easy Refried Beans
- Authentic Mexican Rice
- Arroz Verde (Green Rice)
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Mexican Cauliflower Rice
- Mexican Pickled Jalapeno
More Enchilada Recipes
Prep: 5 minutes minutes
Cook: 30 minutes minutes
Total: 35 minutes minutes
These Weeknight Enchiladas Verdes are made with chicken and covered in an easy salsa verde. Baked to perfection, they make a great dinner and tasty leftovers that everyone will be excited to eat.
Video
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
For the enchiladas
- 1 1/2 cups Easy Salsa Verde recipe (or store bought salsa verde)
- 12 corn tortillas (soft flour tortillas can also be used)
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- optional toppings: diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro, chopped green onions, sour cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Slice chicken breast or thighs into thin strips. In a medium bowl, combine sliced chicken, olive oil, cumin, oregano, onion powder, salt and lime juice.
Place seasoned chicken onto prepared baking sheet and bake in oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and fully cooked through.
Place corn tortillas on a plate and cover them with a damp paper towel. Warm tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften them up and make them pliable.
In a 2 or 3 quart baking dish, begin to assemble the enchiladas. Spoon some of the baked chicken into a warm tortilla. Roll it up and place in the baking dish, seam side down. Continue until all tortillas have been filled.
Pour the salsa verde evenly on top of the enchiladas. Top with shredded cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble.
Serve with diced tomatoes, cilantro and green onions.
Notes
To save time,use any leftover shredded chicken you have in the fridge or use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and shred it at home instead of baking your own. Season the shredded chicken as instructed in the recipe.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 2enchiladas, Calories: 388kcal (19%), Carbohydrates: 23g (8%), Protein: 30g (60%), Fat: 21g (32%), Potassium: 29mg (1%), Vitamin A: 350IU (7%), Vitamin C: 3.3mg (4%), Calcium: 350mg (35%), Iron: 2.9mg (16%)
Author: Isabel Orozco-Moore
Category: Mexican
Leave a Reply
Jasmine
So good! Followed the recipe and loved it. Used a store bought salsa verde (the La Victoria brand) to cut down on prep time and it was really good! Broiled mine for a few mins at the end for the cheese to get brown. Definitely going to be trying more for Isabel Eats.Reply
Charles Pascual
OK, this is about a new use for your chicken recipe I “discovered”. We had chicken tacos yesterday but instead of cooking the chicken in red taco seasoning as we usually do; I used your enchiladas recipe above. I marinated (double the amount of your recipe) four skin-on, bone-in thighs for four hours then popped them in the oven for 25 minutes. Juicy and tender (always a challenge with boneless, skinless breasts); sliced up nicely for tacos. I may have just found our go-to method for chicken tacos as well as enchiladas. Thanks again, Isabel.Reply
Ana @ Isabel Eats
Hi Charles! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for sharing!
Reply
Charles Pascual
Easy-to-follow, straight-forward recipes – both the enchiladas and the salsa verde. It’s convenient that the times to cook the salsa ingredients and the chicken are about the same so, the two prep workstreams easily come together at the same time. Didn’t have shredded Mexican cheese blend (and that’s unusual in our house) so I substituted Cotija and Oaxaca cheeses; I otherwise followed the recipes as written. Very nice dish – easy-to-make and delicious to eat. Thanks, Isabel.Reply
Ana @ Isabel Eats
Thank you, Charles!
Reply
Nick
This did not work for me, the tortilla’s were soggy and the meat seasoning wasn’t enough even though i followed the measurements, not sure what i did wrong.Reply
Ana @ Isabel Eats
Hi Nick. We’re sorry this didn’t work out for you. If you used flour tortillas, those are more likely to get soggy than using corn.
Reply
Ducky
Stacked enchilladas!! Same recipe, same taste and less time consuming. More like making a lasagna. Stellar!
Reply
Ana @ Isabel Eats
Great idea! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Reply
Becca
The amount of cumin the recipe calls for overwhelms everything.Reply
Karen
Have you ever tried this as a Mexican casserole instead of making individual enchiladas? I think I’m going to try this to save time.
Reply
I have not, but I think that’s a great idea! Let me know how it turns out! You may need to adjust the amount of salsa verde, but I’m not sure since I’ve never made it.
Reply
Sherry
Thank you for sharing this!! It is my families new favorite!!!!Reply
Marissa
This turned out to be one of my favorite meals to not only make, but to eat. It was easy but the finished product looked and tasted like it was from a restaurant. I added cotija cheese as well on the top of the enchiladas. Served with Spanish rice and black beans. It rocked!Reply
Thank you so much, Marissa! I’m so happy you liked it! Cotija cheese is always a good choice 🙂
Reply
Mary
If using shredded rotisserie chicken still add oil even though already cooked?
Reply
Ree
I found this recipe on Pinterest about a year ago and have made it at least 4 times. We had it again tonight for dinner. I go the easy route and use store bought salsa verde, and use red onion instead of green, use flour instead of corn tortillas (can never find corn!!) but it is SO good. One of my favorite dishes to make. WhollyGuacamole spicy goes so well with it, too!Reply
Blayne
Shouldn’t the tortillas be dipped in the salsa verde before they are filled and rolled? That is how I was always taught to make enchiladas. Regardless, I look forward to trying this recipe. Thanks!Reply
Hi Blayne, yes! My parents did the same thing! They also fried the tortillas though, and since I’m not frying them, I decided to just pour the sauce on top. You can dip them in the salsa instead if you prefer. Thanks – I hope you like them!
Reply
Anna
What are the measurements of salsa verde I’m suppposed to use?Reply
I used about 2 1/2 cups of salsa verde. You can use more or less depending on whether you prefer your enchiladas very wet with sauce or not.
Reply
Vicki
Made this last night and my adult daughter just raved about it. I thought it was good as well. Made some adjustments due to ingredients I had on hand. Used flour tortillas, medium-spiced salsa verde in a jar, shredded cheddar cheese, and left over taco shredded chicken. Absolutely yummy.Reply
Tara
I made this and it was delicious…the best enchiladas I have made…great recipeReply
Preet
I made this recipe. Absolutely delicious!Reply
Briana
The last time I made enchiladas, almost like your directions (minus the seasoned chicken),…they came out soggy. Did you not have this problem?
Reply
Hi Briana, the enchiladas are topped with a lot of salsa verde so it does tend to make the corn tortillas soft, but that’s actually how I like them. You could try to use 1/2 or 3/4 of the sauce next time and that should solve that problem.
Reply
Tammy Luptak
This was yummy! I also added black beans when rolling the tortillas, then put the rest of the black beans over the top before the cheese. Will definately make again!Reply
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