Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

My family's FAVORITE chicken enchilada bake drenched in queso cheese made with tortillas stuffed with a creamy filling of tender flavorful chicken and taco seasoning.

I am about to present to you the best enchilada recipe. Ever. I’m not even kidding. And there’s no cream of chicken soup or sour cream. The filling is made with moist, flavorful poached chicken, cream cheese, sauteed onions and green chilies all flavored to perfection with taco seasoning.

Also? It’s made with the secret ingredient the Mexican restaurants use in queso: white American cheese. Still not kidding! That's what Mexican restaurants use to make queso dip: white american cheese and cream. That's it!

Want to hear something else that will blow your mind?? Guess where I got this recipe? From Husband’s ex-wife. And I’m STILL not kidding!

But she did tell me if I put this on the blog she'd haunt or hunt me - whichever came first. HA! She was kidding though. I think. I'm pretty sure she was kidding. Right??

I think this is more like a burrito bake since it's made with flour tortillas and there's no enchilada sauce but I'm not into picking fights so I'm leaving the name alone.

One of these days I'll update this post with better pictures but every time I cook it, it gets devoured so fast so I'm never able to take pictures!

I am so very grateful for this recipe because it really, truly is one of my family's favorites and we eat it at least once a month!

Be sure to scroll down to the end of the post where I have my recipe for restaurant-style Mexican rice shared below.

Enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Yield: 6 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

prep time: 20 Mcook time: 40 Mtotal time: 60 M

My family's FAVORITE chicken enchilada bake drenched in queso cheese made with tortillas stuffed with a creamy filling of tender flavorful chicken and taco seasoning.

ingredients:

• 3 large or 4 small chicken breasts
• Water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese
• 1 1-oz. package taco seasoning
• 1 4.5-oz. can green chilies
• 6 10-inch flour tortillas
• 1/2 lb. white American cheese, shredded
• 2 cups whipping cream
• Salsa or pico de gallo

instructions:

How to cook Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

1. Poach the Chicken: Place chicken in a large pot and cover by one inch with water. Add salt. Heat on medium-low heat, covered, until water begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and let chicken simmer (do not let water reach a full rolling boil) for about 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside. Reserve cooking liquid for rice if desired.
2. Make the Filling: Sauté onion in olive oil until tender. Add cream cheese, taco seasoning and green chilies (with liquid) to onions. Reduce heat to low and stir until all ingredients are combined and cream cheese is melted.
3. Remove skin and bones from chicken if applicable (I highly recommend using bone-in breasts with skin any time you can as they are so much more flavorful and make a richer stock). Shred chicken with two forks then add to cream cheese mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Assemble Enchiladas: Spray a 13x9 backing dish with cooking spray. Fill tortillas evenly with chicken mixture and roll into enchiladas. Place enchiladas in prepared baking dish, seam-side down.
5. Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over enchiladas. Pour whipping cream over cheese. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove aluminum foil and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until cheese has started to brown.
6. Serve with salsa and/or pico de gallo.

NOTES:

When I make this I add cilantro, black peppercorns and smashed cloves of garlic to season the poaching liquid because I make fresh pico de gallo when I serve this and have all those things on-hand but salted water will work too.
Absolutely no substitutions for the white American cheese! This is what they use to make queso dip at the Mexican restaurants. REALLY. You can find Land o’ Lakes White American cheese in the deli at Wal-Mart and Publix. You’ll need about 2-3 cups of shredded cheese.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2012/12/cheesy-chicken-enchiladas.html

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Mexican Rice
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken stock
¼ teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste

Sauté onion and uncooked rice in butter over medium-high heat until rice has started to brown (about 5-7 minutes). Add garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Combine rice mixture, chicken stock, chili powder and salt to taste* in a small casserole dish and cover with a fitted lid (I use my little 1-quart pyrex casserole dish with clear glass lid). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or microwave on high for 10 minutes then on 50% power for 10 additional minutes.

Fluff with a fork before serving.

*The amount of salt needed really depends on the stock or broth that you're using. Once you get everything mixed up, taste the stock and add salt to taste. You want the stock to be as salty as you'd like your finished rice.