Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
These delicious Red Sauce Chicken Enchiladas are a quintessential Tex Mex dinner. Forget bland, dry chicken enchiladas. With this recipe, you'll have the best enchiladas everyone will be asking for the recipe.
Servings: 15 enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
- salt & pepper
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil + 1/4 cup
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 whole onion sliced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 15 whole white corn tortillas
- 3 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
Sauce Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups low sodium vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoons kosher salt this may be more/less depending on the stock you use
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.
- Add the chicken and sear on each side for about 2-3 minutes. You aren't cooking the chicken through, you're just searing it on each side.
- Once seared, add the broth, garlic, onion, and oregano.
- Cover it with a lid and simmer it for about 15 minutes, just until the chicken is cooked through and the internal temperature is 165°F at the thickest part.
- Remove the chicken from the broth, shred it, and set it aside.
- Begin making the sauce by adding 2 tablespoons of oil to a skillet on medium heat.
- Sprinkle in all purpose flour and whisk to combine. It should be smooth and creamy looking.
- Season it with chili powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, and dried oregano. Whisk to combine.
- Slowly pour in the broth while whisking until it's fully combined and thickened. Remove it from the heat.
- Scoop a little bit of sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, just enough to barely spread across the bottom and set it aside.
- In a separate skillet, add 1/4 cup of oil and heat over medium heat.
- Add a tortilla to the oil and heat it about 5-7 seconds per side. You aren't crisping them, you're just heating them through.
- Remove the tortilla from the oil and dip it into the sauce.
- Place the sauced tortilla on a flat surface (I use a cutting board) and add some of the shredded chicken along with about 1-2 tablespoons of cheese.
- Roll the tortilla up and place it seam side down in the baking dish.
- Repeat this for all of the tortillas. I like to work with about 3 tortillas at a time.
- Once all of the enchiladas are rolled and in the baking dish, pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, just until they are hot and bubbly.
- Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before serving and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Shortcut Tip:
The homemade sauce can be replaced with store-bought sauce. I recommend and prefer the Gebhardt brand if you aren't going to make homemade sauce.
The homemade sauce can be replaced with store-bought sauce. I recommend and prefer the Gebhardt brand if you aren't going to make homemade sauce.
- When you're heating the tortillas, you aren't frying them. They only need a few seconds on each side to heat them and make them pliable.
- Use an electric mixer to quickly shred the chicken.
- Instead of using vegetable stock for the sauce, you can use the stock that the chicken was cooked in. Just strain off the garlic and onion.
Nutrition
Serving: 1enchilada | Calories: 181kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 328mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 268IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 183mg | Iron: 1mg