Skip to Content

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Sharing is caring!

These Easy Chicken Enchiladas make for a quick and filling weeknight meal that the entire family will enjoy!

With only 6 ingredients, you can whip these up the night before and pop them in the oven when you get home from work!

These enchiladas are definitely one of our favorite meals!

I love diving into a plate of warm Creamy Chicken Enchiladas — saucy, creamy, and flavorful goodness.

I once thought that because they were so delicious, they certainly must be difficult to make.

I was so happy to learn that one of my favorite meals was quick, easy, and one that my family loves to share with me. 

These Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas only have 6 ingredients and are ready to serve in just 35 minutes!

Because there isn’t much to do and it doesn’t take long to make, this makes for a perfect weeknight meal. This is the best Chicken Enchilada recipe around! 

 

 

What’s in these Creamy Chicken Enchiladas? 

To make the best Chicken Enchilada Recipe you need six key ingredients: 

  • Sour Cream: You’ll need sour cream for your Creamy Chicken Enchiladas sauce you’ll roll up and cover the enchiladas with. But you can always save some for a fresh dollop on top! 
  • Cream of Chicken Soup: This is the main base for our homemade enchilada sauce.
  • Green Chiles: These provide a lot of great flavor, and they aren’t spicy! 
  • Flour Tortillas: Enchiladas are traditionally made with corn tortillas, but I like to use flour tortillas because they are easier to roll and soak up the sauce!  
  • Cheese: I tend to use mild shredded cheese, but if you prefer a Colby Jack mix or Mexican Cheese blend, or even Pepper Jack cheese to give it some extra magic, then go for it! 
  •  Chicken Breasts: You could also use a rotisserie chicken if you want to cut down on prep time! That makes these enchiladas even easier and faster to prepare! 

 

 

How to make Creamy Chicken Enchiladas: 

  1. Make the Sauce: The sauce is everything!  
  2. Coat your Pan: To prevent the enchiladas from sticking to the pan, I like to spread a little sauce on the bottom before adding my enchiladas.
  3. Create the Enchiladas: Now is the time to add your sauce and chicken to your tortilla!  Num!
  4. Top it Off: Top with remaining sauce sprinkle with cheese.
  5. Cook it Up: Because the chicken is already cooked, you simply need to bake them long enough to warm up! 

 

 

What to serve with Creamy Chicken Enchiladas:

Toppings: These Creamy Chicken Enchiladas taste great with a few extras you can customize to your own tastes!  

Sides: You can’t go wrong with a few yummy side dishes! 

 

 

How to make shredded chicken for Creamy Chicken Enchiladas: 

If you’re using fresh chicken breasts, you’ll first cook your chicken. I highly recommend this air fryer chicken breast recipe to make this step in the recipe go by quickly.

Then, take two forks and shred the chicken up by poking and pulling apart the chicken breasts. Voila! Shredded chicken! 

If you prefer the boil method, simply add 4 chicken breasts to a pot with 4 cups of chicken broth. 

Boil for 10 minutes or until center of each breast reaches 165*F. Then remove chicken from broth and shred.   

You could also use a rotisserie chicken  or canned chicken to cut down on your prep time.

If you do this, still shred the chicken with the fork method until you’ve got bite size pieces of chicken to roll into your Cream of Chicken Enchiladas. 

Can I make Creamy Chicken Enchiladas ahead of time? 

To freeze unbaked enchiladas:

Certainly! Just follow the recipe through until you get to baking! Stop there — and bake right before you are ready to eat.

You can put your enchiladas together a day in advance or even freeze them to bake in the future!

If you’re going to freeze them, make sure they’re covered well in the freezer to prevent freezer burning.  

To reheat frozen enchiladas:

Preheat oven to 375*F and bake covered with foil for 40 minutes.  Then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes. 

Stick a toothpick in the center to ensure enchiladas are cooked through.

 

 

How to enjoy these Creamy Chicken Enchiladas reheated: 

If you store these properly (fully covered, air tight container) they should last in  your refrigerator for up to 4 days!

I love to reheat them in the microwave; all of the flavors have soaked together a bit longer and taste just as good a day or two later! 

You can also pop them back in the oven, covered, for an additional 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Are Creamy Chicken Enchiladas bad for you? 

If something makes you happy, I say it’s good for you!

These Creamy Chicken Enchiladas might not cut it for a strict diet plan, but they are loaded with happiness and protein — and that is not bad for you! 

Mexican inspired Creamy Chicken Enchiladas are definitely one of my favorite meals.

I have found that this is the best Chicken Enchilada recipe because it has a simple list of ingredients and is ready in just over half an hour.

I could probably eat everything by myself, especially since these are great as leftovers — but it is certainly a bonus that my family loves them too. 

 

 

Other Mexican Recipes You’ll Love…

 

Yield: 6 servings

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas - enchiladas on plate with lime wedges and cilantro

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas – These simple non-traditional enchiladas are a huge hit with our family. 6 ingredients and 30 minutes is all you need for an awesome meal!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pint sour cream
  • 1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, diced
  • 10 flour tortillas
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 3 chicken breasts pre-cooked & cut up or use a Rotisserie Chicken!

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
  2. Combine sour cream, soup and chilies in a bowl.
  3. Take 3/4 cup of soup mixture and slather the entire bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. This will be a thin layer that will help the enchiladas from sticking to the bottom.
  4. In each tortilla, layer soup mixture, cheese & chicken.
  5. Roll up and place in casserole dish.
  6. Top with remaining soup mixture and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly and cheese is melted.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 333Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 368mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 22g
Recipe from Brenda Williams in the Laura’s Legacy Cookbook

Originally posted: April 24, 2014

Photos & Text Updated: April 24, 2020

Sharing is caring!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Laurie Loo

Thursday 27th of July 2023

This is the original recipe I used way back in the 1900s, LOL 1980s, if I recall correctly. Everybody likes it, just don’t mention the (gasp!) 😁 soup can!, even little kids won’t ball at “too spicy!@, but it’s got a great little kick and creaminess everybody likes a lot, and it’s so simple to do.

I bake it at 375F until the cheese is speckled on top with little roasted browned cheese spots, the rest creamy good. You can add to it m, sliced olives, stir in some good homemade quick red enchilada sauce, too. I found some very flavorful (hard to find here) cherry tomatoes that I cut in half and mashed up and stirred in here, too.

And yes. I know; everyone hollers due to a canned soup, but really that’s ridiculous unless you’re eating it every day! (These are so nummy, so quick and simple, you just may, lol!) I’ve tried it subbing a white sauce adding bullion but it’s just bland!

Thanks for posting this. I’d forgotten the amounts and come to think of it, the OG recipe I had used whole canned green chiles, sliced lengthwise in half, using one half per enchilada.

I just made them right now, using leftover roast chicken, I’d roasted three! - the cherry tomatoes stirred in, only 8, some sliced olives on top, extra cheese 😁 - and it’s smelling like dinner will be a bit early today! 😀👍😊

Thanks. Old memories of family dinners midweek.. 👍😊

Janelle

Sunday 1st of October 2023

Thanks for sharing your version Laurie!

Erica

Monday 17th of July 2023

This was really good! I needed it to be fast and easy, and it was very fast and easy! I used two cans of cooked chicken, so that helped make it even faster. Also, I drained the canned chicken into a measuring cup, added a bit more water to equal two cups, and used that to cook a package of Knorr Rice for a side dish. Thanks for the recipe!

Janelle

Saturday 30th of September 2023

Great suggestions Erica! Thanks for the comment. I'm sure others will also find it helpful!

Barbara LaGrow

Tuesday 16th of August 2022

How much chicken in cups is used? I have 4 cups from two large chicken breasts.

Janelle

Wednesday 31st of August 2022

4 cups is perfect!

Myndi

Friday 10th of September 2021

I always have to put my own spin on a recipe, just so I feel like I really cooked ha ha.... that being said I did 3 cans soup one being with herbs, 3 cups sour cream, but cut up baby bell peppers and half onion putting in pan with little oil and minced garlic the 2 cans chilies and heated until done with spices and then added to soup mixture. The rest is already in recipe and we loved it made enough to freeze for quick dinner nights!!

Janelle

Monday 11th of October 2021

All these changes/suggestions sound amazing! I always put my own spin on recipes too!

Candace Thompson

Monday 7th of September 2020

HELP I need to convert this recipe to serve 290 people. I thought I saw this recipe on "allrecipes.com" however I cannot find it. Can you please help me with the conversion. I need this asap

Janelle

Friday 11th of September 2020

Candance, wow, 290 people? This is NOT my area of expertise, but thinking it through logically let's break it down.

How much to make will depend on what other sides you are serving and if each person is having 1 or 2 enchiladas.

If 1 (one) enchilada per person then you'll need to make 29x the recipe as each batch makes 10 enchiladas. You can get 12 if you squeeze. So we'll just round it to 29 with 10 enchiladas per pan.

29 Pints of Sour Cream (16 ounces each) = 464 ounces sour cream or 3.625 gallons of sour cream. 29 (10.5 ounce) cans of Cream of Chicken Soup = 304.5 ounces of cream of chicken soup 290 flour tortillas 2 cups of cheese (8 ounces) x 29 = 58 cups of cheese or 232 ounces of cheese 3 chicken breasts x 29 = 87 chicken breasts - or use whole chickens / turkeys etc. The average chicken breasts is between 3 - 8 ounces. So let's average and say 5 ounces per breast (since they will shrink in cooking) so that would be 435 ounces of chicken breasts.

I make no guarantee on my calculations but this is what I would do if it were me.

If you are serving 2 enchiladas per guest, double the numbers above.

I hope that helps! Good luck!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe