Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce
January 16, 2012 in chicken
I don’t know what it is about January that makes me disappear from the internet. It happened last year and I blamed pregnancy & preparing for the husband to leave for a few months but it’s happening again. Maybe it’s because we’re preparing for him to leave again soon. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been spending too much time painting mine and the dog’s nails. Who knows. Bear with me, posting will return to normal soon.
Anyway.
It’s no secret that I’m digging Mexican food these days so when I saw these enchiladas pop up on a few “year end favorites” blogs I knew I needed to make them soon. They taste just like the enchiladas you find at a Mexican restaurant. I love the weird enchiladas but sometimes you just need a regular ol’ enchilada that you would find at your favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican place. And these are those enchiladas.
adapted from Tide and Thyme
Ingredients
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400F.
- Heat olive oil over medium low heat. Saute onion and jalapeno in oil until the onion is translucent. Stir in garlic, chili power, cumin, and sugar and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water, bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the thickest part registers 160 degrees on a meat thermometer, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate; set aside to cool. Strain the sauce through a medium-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing on the onions to extract as much liquid as possible. Place onion mixture in a large bowl and set aside. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-sized pieces. Add to the bowl along with the onion mixture. Add in ¼ cup of your tomato sauce sauce, 1 cup cheddar cheese, and the cilantro. Toss to combine.
- Stack the tortillas on a microwave-safe plate, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40 to 60 seconds. Spread the warm tortillas out over a clean work surface. Place ⅓ cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each tortilla. Tightly roll each tortilla around the filling and lay them seam-side down in a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup cheddar down the center of the enchiladas. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the enchiladas are heated through, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove the foil and continue to bake until the cheese browns, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
I love enchiladas. I made something similar to this a few weeks ago and man, they were so delicious. Made the entire house smell like a Mexican restaurant! Yours looks so perfect!
You can make me mexican every day and I would come back for more!!
One of our favorites, without a doubt. Yours look perfect!
ha… painting the dogs nails. I think it’s a general loss of mojo in January. We get all wrapped up in Dec baking and then the holidays are just suddenly over. These look fantastic though. I love how they’re wrapped so perfectly and covered with cheese on top!
I absolutely love enchiladas, and have been making them for as long as I can remember. But I have never made my own sauce. Printing this now, and make soon!
These look so delicious, I love enchiladas!
I love enchiladas! They make for a great dinner but I love them as leftovers, trying to save money by bringing lunches from home more and more!
I love Mexican food! I’ve been looking for some Enchilada recipes to cook at home. This looks great. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I feel like I have really been slacking in January too! I think it must be that after the holidays you just want to do nothing after running around with your head cut off for 2 months! Anyway, your enchiladas look so flavorful and perfect!
Maybe I need to take a hint from you, because I feel like I need a little break for January, not bringning the A game and all. Sadly, I have no real reasons like yours. #Fail.
These enchiladas though, well, you know how I feel about that. <3
I totally hear you – my mojo has disappeared this month. I am WAY behind on commenting but slowly getting back into things. Your enchiladas look awesome! They’re one of my faves but I haven’t made them in forever. Definitely going on next week’s menu!
This looks amazing. I’m going to pin it now.
Made this tonight and it was pretty awesome. Just posted about it on our Facebook wall. 5 out of 6 family members (1 pretty much doesn’t like anything — so you did great) loved it. Thank you!