Good Mexican cuisine, I’m talking about the really authentic dishes, take a long time to make, and often require chiles, spices, and cheeses that I don’t readily keep on hand. Case in point…enchiladas, which to do them right, can be a production. Enter this recipe—Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas—which is a total game changer. It isn’t a classically Mexican cuisine. For starters, it has cottage cheese as one of the ingredients in the filling. Also, it calls for canned (gasp!) green sauce. The trade off? You get to enjoy a home cooked meal and keep your family from dining on yet another takeout dinner.
Start with basics that are readily available in most grocery stores.
Basic Ingredients
- Chicken
- Cottage cheese
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sliced black olives
- Corn tortillas
- Green enchilada sauce
The stuffing for the enchiladas is made of primarily chicken, which you slow cook (6 hours on low/4 hours on high). This simple fact alone makes it a weekday-worthy dinner.
Once the chicken is cooked, shred it, and mix up cheddar cheese and cottage cheese to your liking. I have my amounts listed in the recipe, but you can play around here a bit to suit your tastes. You can even omit the chicken entirely, making this a vegetarian meal.
Make sure you put in some canned diced chiles, olives, and a little green sauce to bind the ingredients together.
You roll up this stuffing mixture into heated tortillas, and place into a greased casserole dish. When finished rolling your enchiladas up, you smother them in the remaining green sauce, and top with cheese–again the amounts are to your liking. Then bake for 30 minutes.
The result? Cheesy, chicken-y enchiladas with just the right amount of green chile flavor.
Serving Suggestions
- Over bed of romaine or spinach
- Top with sour cream or Tapatio sauce
I serve these enchiladas over a bed of spinach or kale blend, with a little bit of sour cream, avocado, and Tapatio sauce on top. Delicious!
The amounts I list are for two (3-quart) casserole dishes. I needed a third dish because I roll my enchiladas a little big, but you can get away with just two dishes if you are careful.
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Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
Equipment
- (2) 3-quart glass casserole dishes (13"x9")
Ingredients
- 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about a pound and a half)
- 6 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 6 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 30 ounces green chili enchilada sauce (about 2 cans)
- 6.5 ounces canned diced green Ortega chili
- 6.5 ounce canned sliced black olives
- 30 king sized corn tortillas
- cooking spray
- 1/4 cup flat-leafed cilantro chopped
Instructions
Slow Cook the Chicken
- In a slow cooker, put water, spices, and 6 cups of water. Turn on high for 4 hours.
- When finished cooking, remove chicken to a large bowl and, using a fork, shred while hot. (It's easier to shred while hot.) Set aside.
Assemble and Bake
- Turn on oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare the casserole dishes with cooking spray.
- When chicken is cool, add cottage cheese, 4 cups cheddar cheese, chiles, about half of the black olives. Pour about a cup of green sauce over the mixture, enough to moisten and bind. Set aside.
- Take a clean kitchen towel, moisten with water and wring out. Working in batches of 10, place corn tortillas in the towel and microwave for about 30 seconds, or until they are warm, soft and very pliable. (If you don't do this, they will be stiff and crack when you roll them up.)
- Take one tortilla in your hand and with the other, take about two tablespoons of filling and spread on one side of the tortilla. Roll up and place in the casserole dish. Repeat until the casserole dish is filled with about 12 enchiladas.
- Depending on how big you made your enchiladas, you may need another casserole dish. If so, it doesn't matter what size as long as the remaining enchiladas will fit. Spray with oil and continue making enchiladas using the method previously described.
- When finished, top each casserole dish with about a cup of shredded cheese. Then, pour the remaining green enchilada sauce over the dishes so that they are completely wet. Then, top with any remaining black olives and sprinkle with cilantro.
- Cook both dishes for about 30 minutes. Cool before serving.
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