Make-Ahead Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce
When I subscribed to the paper version of Cook's Illustrated this year (I used some of my birthday money!), I got a bonus in the form of a free issue of Cook's Country.
In that issue was a recipe for low-fat enchiladas, covered in a sauce made with chipotles in adobo sauce, and topped with avocados.
I don't have a thing for low-fat recipes (given the crop of super slender youngsters in my house).
But I DO have sort of a thing for avocados. And chipotles in adobo sauce.
So, I made the recipe. And I ignored some of the low-fat recommendations.
(Sour cream may have been was ingested.)
Anyhoo, they turned out to be super delicious (high praise coming from me, since I normally prefer creamy enchiladas) and since they can be mostly made ahead of time, they've been coming in pretty handy on days when I'm busy around dinnertime.
A lot of enchilada recipes called for a can of pre-made sauce, but this homemade sauce is super simple and it doubles as a cooking liquid for the chicken (which simmers right in the sauce.)
A couple of notes:
- I used flour tortillas instead of corn
- I used full-fat cheese.
- I used more than a teaspoon of oil for sautéing my onions.
- Chipotle chilies in adobo sauce are pretty spicy, so if you and yours are a little heat-phobic, you may want to use less than the recipe calls for. I've used a little less than a tablespoon most times.
So. First you're going to saute some onions in a ½ teaspoon salt and little oil. A teaspoon seems stingy to me, so I use more than that.
Next, you're going to add a bowl full of deliciousness, aka garlic, cumin, chili powder, and chipotles in adobo sauce.
And after about 30 seconds, you're going to stir in tomato sauce and water...
to make a sauce, which you'll bring to a simmer.
Next, you'll need a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Add them to the sauce, and bring it back up to a simmer. Continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken registers 160 ° F.
Depending on the size of your chicken breasts, this could take more or less time, so use a thermometer to check!
Once the chicken is done, remove it from the sauce, let it cool a bit, and then shred it into bite sized pieces.
Combine the chicken, ½ cup of the sauce, plus cheese, cilantro, and onion to make the filling. You're supposed to use white onion, but I didn't have enough when I last made these, so I used green onion.
It worked out just fine.
Spread your tortillas out on the counter, and spoon ⅓ cup of the filling down the middle of each.
Spread ½ cup of the red sauce in a 9x13 inch pan. Then roll up your tortillas tightly, and place 'em seam side down in the pan.
If you're baking your enchiladas right away, go ahead and cover them with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle 'em with cheese.
Buuut, if you want to wait, put the sauce into a jar, hold off on the cheese, cover your bare-naked enchiladas with foil (or a lid), and refrigerate them until later.
When you're ready to bake, pour the sauce over the enchiladas, and sprinkle cheese over top.
Cover them with foil, and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20-25 minutes. If your enchiladas were refrigerated, they'll probably need a little more baking time. Just keep them in the oven until they're nice and hot.
Sprinkle cilantro and chopped avocado over the enchiladas and serve them with sour cream on the side.
If you're lucky enough to have some left over, they make quite a delicious lunch the next day.
I hope you love these as much as we do!
(By the way, I added this recipe to the handy-dandy main dish index.)
Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce
Printable Make-Ahead Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
1 cup chopped onion
½-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon (or less) minced canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup minced fresh cilantro
12 6-inch flour or corn tortillas
In a large saucepan, combine ½ cup chopped onion, oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook over medium high heat until softened and lightly browned, about 5-8 minutes.
Stir in chipotle and adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, and chili powder, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce and water and return to simmer. Add chicken and return to simmer.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 10-15 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.
(My chicken took a little longer than 10-15 minutes, so test your chicken with a thermometer!)
Off the heat, transfer chicken to a plate, and let it cool. Shred into small pieces. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup cheddar, plus the cilantro, shredded chicken, ½ cup sauce, and remaining ½ cup onion. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350° F.
Spread ½ cup sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. If using corn tortillas, stack tortillas on a plate, cover with a damp towel, and microwave until soft. Flour tortillas shouldn't need to be microwaved.
Lay tortillas on the counter, and spoon ⅓ cup chicken mixture across center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas tightly and arranged in dish, seam side down.
Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheddar. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until enchiladas are hot, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool for ten minutes.
Serve with sour cream, diced avocados, shredded lettuce, and lime wedges.
To make ahead: Follow recipe through arranging tortilla in dish, but do not top with sauce. Cover enchiladas with foil and refrigerate. Cover sauce and refrigerate. When ready to bake, remove foil, cover enchiladas with sauce, and replace foil. Baking time will be longer than 25 minutes due to the enchiladas being cold.
Do you think there is a way to make this a freezer make ahead meal? My hubby and I are expecting our first baby in December, and I'm trying to stock our freezer with some easy, filling recipes for when I don't feel like cooking!
I think everything except the cilantro would freeze well (I believe the cilantro would be sort of slimy after thawing, but I'm not positive). So maybe make 'em as directed, but leave out the cilantro. Freeze the pan of enchiladas without the sauce on top (just freeze the sauce separately), and then when you thaw the enchiladas, you can add the sauce right before you bake them.
I'm not positive, but I think if you froze the enchiladas with the sauce already on the top, they might get a little soggy while thawing.
With a lot of frozen items, you really do not want to 'thaw' before cooking... ie frozen pizza, lasagna, etc due to the fact that they would get quite 'soggy'. By taking them out while your oven is pre-heating and adding the sauce/cheese, then popping them in the oven, you shouldn't have any problem with 'sogginess'. Just have to make sure they cook/warm long enough... usually about 2-2.5x longer than the normal cooking time. Hope this helps!
Oh, ok! I'm not an experienced freezer cook, as you can tell.
But make you are aren't ding this in a glass casserole dish! You could end up cracking the glass from the temperature shock. This cheap aluminum pans from the Dollar Tree are a great option if you are going to be stocking up the freezer. I always put them on a cookie sheet when I put them in the oven because they aren't as string as regular pans.
sorry, one more thing, if the cilantro is minced small enough, and you take the enchiladas from freezer to oven, you should be able to add with out any problem. I end up freezing alot of my herbs (basil, parsley) in a method where I mince, coat in olive oil and then freeze in either ice cube trays or mini muffin pans.... then pop them out and bag them. With that method, you get fresh tasting herbs for most of your cooking and the little bit of oil doesn't hurt the recipe of what you are making. Don't mean to keep yammering on, but this is what I found out htrough the years of cooking/baking/freezing foods! Happy Wednesday!
Oh, no, I'm glad to have your input, because this is definitely not an area where I'm an expert.
Yup, I'd keep the cilantro in. It's just like using its cousin parsley. It won't be slimy and will still taste good. Another way to use it up, because it comes in big bunches and it does not keep well, as you've noted in the past.
Great minds think alike... although I am looking at baking them in a crock pot, so when I am doing extended day at my son's school, they can be warming and ready to go when I get home. As for freezing them, I saw that you could make individual enchiladas (along as you don't put things like avocados in them and roll and freeze them on a cookie sheet. When frozen, you could bag them, and store in freezer. This way you could take out the number you want, place in pan, add sauce/cheese and cook at 350 probably for about an hour (til heated through). You probably could freeze in pan (disposable, so you don't use up your pans, but hate to use anything disposable) without the sauce, then when you are ready, pull from freezer, throw on the sauce and proceed as usual. I know I freeze my enchilada sauce in containers that have enough per recipe, so I can just use that... don't have to worry about making the sauce as well. Anyways, happy enchilada day ... ok, so I made that up, but it must be on people's minds! Have a great Wednesday!
Lisa
Every day should be enchilada day. 😉
those look delish
With 1T chipotles, how spicy would you say it is? Medium?
I'd say medium hot. If you and yours are super sensitive to heat, you could start with less and then adjust next time you make them!
Any suggestions on something to take the place of cilantro? I'm one of those "it tastes like soap!" people. I would think one wouldn't want to use that much oregano or basil -- it would overwhelm the flavors, wouldn't it? There's enough cilantro in this recipe that I wonder if it would not be noticeable if one was to leave it out, volume and taste wise.
Oh, I think you could just leave it out. It doesn't provide much volume once it's all chopped up, and the chipotles give the whole dish quite a bit of flavor.
You could opt for the green onions to give it some color in place of the cilantro, though.
I used oregano and it was great!
Oh looks yummy Kristen. Is there any particular reason you swapped the corn tortillas for flour ones. Is it just preference or does it change the flavour of the dish? X
It's just a preference...we tend to like flour tortillas better, and they're what I typically have on hand too.
But either will work just fine. Use what you like!
Hmmmmm............I've never thought of making enchilada sauce with adobe chiles. I'm in Southern California and have always made my sauce from dried chilis which, honestly, usually seems like a bit too much work for my comfort. 😉 I'll have to try this!
These look really delicious!
Kristin- What Meat Thermometer do you use? Mine has recently bit the dust, and I really hate buying one that won't stand the test of time. Any recommendations?
I got irritated with thermometers that kept going kaput on me too. So a few years ago, I put a Thermapen on my wishlist and I got one for my birthday. Here's the site for them: http://www.thermoworks.com/ (not affiliated) They're expensive, but I love mine, and I think it's going to stand the test of time, thankfully.
I've made the ATK version which is way more complicated and not make ahead. It was one of my favorite recipes when I was living in an area totally devoid of mexican food. Btw, are you going to buy J. Kenji Alt's new cookbook? The food Lab. He used to be an editor for CI.
Oh yes, that name sounds familiar! I hadn't heard he was coming out with his own cookbook. Interesting!
Finally got around to trying this and it is AMAZING! I've had such a hard time finding an enchilada recipe that doesn't use a can of enchilada sauce from the grocery store (which I don't love the taste of). This is it! I left out the chipotle chili in adobo sauce so my little ones would eat it and my husband and I added siracha after it was cooked. Yum!
I love enchiladas, great camera work. I know you and Mr. FG enjoyed those. 🙂
Kristen, these are SO good!!!! I am not ashamed to say that I ate almost all the leftovers myself! I made a double batch so I could freeze one pan for later on. I did use flour tortillas because we don't care for corn, but I don't see that made any difference. Yay for Mexican food!
Do you get your canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce from Aldi? It's not a product in familiar with.
Nope, Aldi doesn't carry them, at least not in my neck of the woods. I buy them at a regular grocery store.
Wow! My husband and I made these tonight and they were AMAZING! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Yay! I am so glad.
I just made these tonight, and they're SO good. The sauce is great, and relatively simple. I added some frozen bell pepper to the sauce with the onions, and I added some frozen corn with the chicken/cheese mix (I like to add veggies wherever I can). Thank you!
Have you ever made these with chicken that's already cooked and shredded? If so, how did you alter and how did it go?
I haven't, but I imagine you could make the sauce as directed, simmer it for 10 minutes, then add the shredded chicken and cook for a few minutes, just to flavor the chicken, and then you could proceed as usual.
Thanks!
I know this thread is rather old now. But technically speaking......these are really small burritos. The manner in which they are made, is enchilada style which is some kind of filled tortilla topped with the enchilada sauce. In Mexican culture an authentic enchilada is made with corn tortilla.
I understand that people possibly don't like the taste of corn, hence sub the recipe out using flour tortillas. I just wanted to opine about this recipe since this is my culture.
May I just say, Kristen, that I have made this recipe so many times over the past few years (including tonight) and it is definitely one of my favorite dishes of all time. It's just simply delicous.
Excellent. I am so glad to hear this!
It's so simple, but so delicious anyway. I really like mine topped with chipotle sour cream. 🙂
Those are good looking burritos.