This is actually my OWN recipe. I read some recipe online for cubed, cooked chicken enchiladas and really changed it up until it morphed into this. I’m pretty picky about my Mexican food. I do Tex-Mex and real Mex. I like them both. Being from Texas, I have been eating it since I could sit up in a high-chair. This is a really quick and easy chicken enchilada meal that will please your picky eaters. It isn’t the most awesome recipe creation I’ve ever eaten… but it works when you are short on time and can’t spend the afternoon in the kitchen doing it the old fashioned Mexican-mama way. It is also easy on the pocket-book. In my life, lately – that’s one of the most important considerations in making it from the recipe book to the table!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can of green enchilada sauce (I used a generic grocery store brand)
- 1 small can of canned chicken
- 1/2 container of sour cream (small)
- finely chopped tomato
- small can of finely chopped green chili peppers (optional)
- finely chopped red or green bell pepper (in place of chili peppers if you don’t use them)
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 2-2.5 cup(s) of cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend) grated
- cooking spray
- chicken taco seasoning OR generous dash of the following dried spices: cumin, paprika, garlic salt, grated coriander, chili powder
- salt and black pepper to taste
- corn tortillas (we use white corn)
- oil (for cooking tortillas)
Drain chicken breast can, place meat in medium sized bowl – use fork to seperate and chop until stringy. Add seasonings. Chop vegetables (onion and bell pepper – not canned chili peppers) and add to meat and seasonings. Heat small frying pan on medium high. Fry meat and veggie mixture until onions and peppers are soft, chicken is seared and spices are fragrant. Remove from heat. Set aside.
Drain chili peppers (if you are using them) and mix into cooked meat… WARNING: they will add spice/heat… be sparing if you want your kids to eat the enchiladas.
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large frying pan, heat the oil and fry one or two corn tortillas at a time. You will have to add additional oil as the tortillas soak it up while frying. Be as sparing as you can without letting the tortillas burn. Don’t let them be too soft or they will melt into mush while you bake them later. Not too hard, not too soft. Set them aside on a paper-plate lined towel as you go. Cook as many as ten and as few as six (depending on how far you want your meat mixture to go and how many enchiladas your family will eat). I usually cook 8 or 9 (we have a family of four and usually eat at least two enchiladas each). Then we fight for the last one!
Open your grated cheese bag (or grate your cheese yourself – you GO GIRL!) and pour it into a small bowl. Make an “enchilada-making assembly line”. A bowl of cheese (only use 1/2 of it inside the tortillas as you’ll use the other half on top of them), a plate of tortillas, a small pan of chicken & veggies, a 1/2 container of sour cream, an enchilada-baking pan (or large foil throw-away pan – we have one we continue to use and wash!).
TORTILLA STUFFING PROCEDURE: Open one tortilla, smear a line of sour cream down middle, use spoon to drop a line of meat and veggie mixture down middle, put line of Mexican cheese down middle, ROLL and place seam-side down on baking pan. TIP: If tortillas don’t cooperate, have a kid hold them down until the pan gets full and there are enough to fill it and keep rebellious tortillas from popping open! REPEAT PROCEDURE for all of your tortillas.
TORTILLA TOPPING PROCEDURE: Dribble a line of sour cream over the mid-section of all your tortillas. Pour green enchilada sauce over the entire thing starting with a line down the middle. It’s ok if there seems to be too much sauce. Some of it will bake out in the oven. Sauce is your friend. Top the whole thing with as much cheese as you can stand (or the second 1-1.25 cup/s if you’ve been trying to be precise).
Bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is) or until bubbly.
Goes great with a can of black beans and Spanish rice…. But then, is there anything that doesn’t go well with Spanish rice?
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