Green Chicken Enchiladas
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Green chicken enchiladas are made with salsa verde, green chiles, leftover rotisserie chicken + Monterey Jack cheese! The best weeknight meal!
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Why you’ll love green chicken enchiladas
- Super simple recipe. These green enchiladas are incredibly easy to assemble with a killer salsa verde sauce that’s bright and slightly tangy (a fun twist on traditional red enchiladas). You can also make this ahead of time, assembling the night prior for the easiest weeknight meal (great for entertaining company too!).
- Repurposes leftovers. This is a great recipe to repurpose leftover rotisserie chicken, a time-saving shortcut while adding pre-seasoned juicy meat right into your enchiladas.
- Leftovers are even better. If you are graced with any leftovers, the leftovers taste even better the very next day, reheating so easily.
- Meal prep magic. You can whip up a double batch to store leftovers and freeze for later. They also make for wonderful meal train meals for new parents, those recovering from surgery, or new neighbors moving in.
Key Ingredients
- Tortillas: 8-inch flour or corn tortillas
- Filling: shredded rotisserie chicken, green chiles, and salsa verde
- Aromatics: onion, garlic, oregano, and cumin
- Cheese: shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Toppings: sour cream and fresh cilantro leaves
How to make green chicken enchiladas
- Sauté the aromatics. Cook the onion until translucent and tender in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Then stir in the garlic, oregano, and cumin until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the green chiles.
- Mix the filling. Combine the green chiles and onion mixture, leftover rotisserie chicken, salsa verde, cilantro, cheese, salt, and pepper.
- Assemble the enchiladas. Lay a tortilla on a flat, clean surface, and spoon about 1/2 cup of the filling in the center. Roll the tortilla tightly around the filling.
- Transfer to a baking dish. Place the rolled tortilla seam-side down into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, repeating with the remaining tortilla and filling.
- Top and bake. Top the enchiladas with salsa verde and sprinkle with cheese in an even layer. Bake at 375°F until the cheese melts and bubbles, about 35-40 minutes.
- Serve. Serve warm with desired toppings and garnishes.
Make-ahead, freezing, and storage
Prep
To make ahead, cover the enchiladas tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate up to 24 hours. To bake, let the enchiladas sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and bake as directed.
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Reheating
Reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through, about 15-20 minutes.
Freeze before baking
Cover the enchiladas tightly with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Label, date, and freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, remove the plastic wrap and bake as directed, adding a few more minutes of cook time as needed.
Freeze after baking
Let the enchiladas cool completely; cover tightly with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Label, date, and freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil until heated through.
what to serve with enchiladas
Tools For This Recipe
Green Chicken Enchiladas: Frequently Asked Questions
Both green enchilada sauce and salsa verde are made with tomatillos and green chilies, but green enchilada sauce is cooked and typically served hot, while salsa verde uses raw ingredients and is served cold (or at room temperature).
Yes! I use this IP rotisserie chicken and this 6-ingredient lemon herb rotisserie chicken interchangeably.
Absolutely! You can use corn or flour, it really just depends on personal preference. Flour tortillas are traditionally used for enchiladas as they maintain their structure a little more (less cracking and tearing when rolled) but either option will work great here.
Sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, and cauliflower are all excellent options.
I prefer Monterey Jack but Cheddar, Colby Jack, Pepper Jack and Mexican blend can also be used.
Add your filled enchiladas to the bottom of the pan first, then pour the sauce on top to prevent them from soaking too much sauce (hence, soggy enchiladas).
Yes! Enchiladas is a great dish to make ahead of time and assemble the night before, letting it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes prior to baking.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, reheating in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil, until warmed through.
Green Chicken Enchiladas
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 (4-ounce) cans diced green chiles
- 4 cups coarsely shredded rotisserie chicken
- 2 cups salsa verde, divided
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 8-inch flour tortillas, warmed
- ¼ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- Heat canola oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano and cumin until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in green chiles.
- In a large bowl, combine green chile mixture, chicken, 1/3 cup salsa verde and cilantro. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- To assemble the enchiladas, lay tortilla on a flat surface and spoon 1/2-3/4 cups of the chicken mixture in the center. Roll the tortilla and place seam side down onto prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture. Top with remaining salsa verde and remaining 1 1/2 cups cheese.
- Place into oven and bake until bubbly, about 35-40 minutes.
- Serve immediately, topped with dollops of sour cream.
Equipment
Notes
- Soften the tortillas. Warm the tortillas first so they are easier to roll. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 30 seconds. You can also fry the tortillas, in batches, in a little bit of oil (about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil) until crispy but pliable.
- Use the right cheese. Use melting cheeses such as Monterey Jack, Oaxaca, or Chihuahua.
- Do not overstuff. Size matters! Overstuffing may sound like a good idea since the filling is the best part, but this can result in ripped tortilla and overspill.
- Avoid a soggy bottom. Nobody likes soggy enchiladas! Be sure to pour the sauce on top, adding the filled enchiladas to the pan first.
Did you make this recipe?
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This is my favorite green chili enchiladas recipe. I use made it 3 times and now have requests
Omgoodness I’m a single old dude. And they turned out screaming delicious. Put the rest in bags in freezer. I added a jalapeño pepper to get my forehead to sweat. Yum.
This is by far the best enchilada recipe I’ve tried to date!
This has been in our rotation for over a year now and I still can’t get enough! Had to come back after all this time to leave a review because these are THAT good!
Excellent recipe. Great tasting enchiladas. I’ve made green enchiladas before without the oregano and cumin spices. The use of these spices really enhances the taste. I made one change tho, instead of topping the enchiladas with salsa verde, I used canned green enchilada sauce. Very good and had lots of compliments.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I can’t access canned green chilies here and was wondering what a good alternative would be? Given how much you want, I assume pickled jalapenos won’t work, so could I do a diced jalapeno and a diced green pepper?
This was a hit. The flavor was amazing!
Very good! I’m keeping this recipe.
We had some leftover chicken, and normally at our house that means soup (too hot today), salad (just did that}, or enchiladas. But we’re in peak fresh tomato season and we didn’t want tomato-based enchiladas.
This was perfect! And I like that it doesn’t include the artificialness of canned soup or cream cheese. It’s nice and creamy on its own.
Two notes on the recipe. The store I stopped at didn’t have salsa verde (what?) so I improvised with green enchilada sauce. Worked very well.
Also, I baked for twenty minutes, as I normally do for other enchilada recipes. This was enough and not too much.
Thank you for this recipe!
How far in advance can I prep these before baking?
These were delicious!
This was absolutely yummy! I used corn tortillas and no cilantro and it made 16 filled tortillas. Seemed it with black beans and rice and avocado slices. Definitely will make it again and often. Thank you
I made this and followed the recipe as written. It was damn delicious! Like other commenters mentioned, I had enough left over filling that I could have made one or two more enchiladas. All the ingredients worked well together. I also have a spicy sensitive person in the household, and they said they could taste the “spicy” flavor but it wasn’t too much (sour cream helps too). One tip: you really do need the 9×13 inch pan. I used an 8 x 11 inch pan because I didn’t want to reach up to a higher shelf and take a bunch of stuff off of my 9 x 13 inch baking dish… and it was a really tight squeeze. In conclusion, I would/will make this again. The leftovers tasted even better!
So delicious! Thanks for the recipe! Can you freeze these?
We have been given this dish by a friend twice and this is one of our favorite meals! So delicious with just the right amount of heat. So, so good!!
Really the Best!
What sauce do you use.
Delicious!
Simple, classic recipe just substitute corn for flour tortillas and you’re making enchiladas verde. The garlic and onions cooked with the oregano and cumin had such a lovely aroma and a lovely flavor. I will definitely add it to other recipes.They were definitely the star of this dish. Topped with cilantro, finely diced romas, and crema.
I have made this numerous times our family loves it
Tasty. But, I think I will cut down to one can of green chilies next time. It was just a bit too much with two cans.