Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas
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Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas are everything you love about typical chicken enchiladas except taken up about 10 notches by doubling the cheese and adding an easy, homemade creamy white sauce with sour cream, butter, green chilis, and oodles of flavor.
For more enchilada variations, pop into my posts for Instant Pot Beef Enchiladas, Cheesy Spinach Enchiladas, and Sweet Pork Enchiladas.
Have you ever been in a mood where nothing but comfort food to the max will do? I’m talking oodles of cheese, creamy sauce, carbs, a bit of spice — the works? Cause I’m there guys. There’s no denying it anymore. For about a week, all I could think about was diving into a big plate of enchiladas, but not just any ordinary enchilada (though those are good too!), I wanted them completely maxed out with ALL THE THINGS.
And honestly, when I started creating this recipe I just started cooking, then wrote it all down after the fact. I knew what I wanted these chicken enchiladas to taste like and look like so I just kind of reverse engineered them.
And, not to brag, but I’m happy to report I nailed it on the first try. It satisfied all my cravings and left me in a blissful carb and cheese coma for the rest of the evening. So if this is something you feel like you need, just stop resisting, and give in. It’s completely worth it!
Here’s What You Need For These Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken
- Green enchilada sauce
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Shredded pepper jack cheese
- Flour tortillas
- Butter
- Flour
- Chicken broth
- Sour cream
- Diced green chiles
- Salt
Here’s How You Make It
Are you ready to whip together the most indulgent and delicious white chicken enchiladas I could possibly dream up?
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and then grease a 9 x 13-inch pan. Make the sauce by first melting butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the flour into the butter for a minute, until it’s mixed in and it begins to thicken. Next, gradually whisk in the chicken broth until it’s totally incorporated and the sauce is smoothed out.
- To the sauce, add the sour cream, green chilies, cheese, and salt and stir continually until the whole mixture is smooth and creamy. Take this off the heat.
- Now it’s time to assemble the decadent enchiladas! Start by spreading half of the white sauce that you just made onto the bottom of a prepared pan.
- In another bowl, stir together the shredded chicken, green enchilada sauce, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, and then another ½ a cup of the pepper jack cheese.
Take a tortilla and spoon the chicken mixture into the middle of it, roll it up tightly, then place it, seam-side-down into the pan with the sauce already spread on the bottom. Keep repeating this process until you’ve used up all the filling. - Pour the remaining white sauce on top of the tortillas and top with the rest of the cheese. From there, I tent the pan with a large piece of foil (use two if you need to) so that the foil is not resting right on top of the cheese but just over it. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is totally melted. Pop it under the broiler for another 1-2 min at the end to brown the cheese a bit (take the foil off for this part). Top with your favorite toppings and serve!
Expert Tips and Customizations
While these enchiladas are amazing on their own, there are many ways you can change them up if you want! From adding veggies to swapping sauces, here are a few ways I plan to change these in the future.
- Change out the shredded chicken for shredded beef or pork.
- Go vegetarian by adding black beans instead of meat and swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth.
- Mix sauteed mushrooms and peppers or corn and zucchini with the chicken for a little extra veg.
- Change the green enchilada sauce by using red instead. Even better? Make your own with my Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce!
- Use your favorite cheese or whatever you have on hand. Sure, if you use cheddar, it will no longer be a “white” dish, but it’ll still be a delish dish!
- Add a little bit of nutritious greens by stirring in torn or chopped kale, spinach, or another green into the chicken mixture, or sprinkle shredded lettuce on top before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve found the best way to shred the chicken is to first boil it. It’s fast and since it’s being cooked in water, it’ll stay moist. However, it will be quite bland.
One way I work around this is by cooking chicken breasts with one cup of water and some seasonings (see note, below) or you could use just a jar of salsa instead of water and spices. Cook in the slow cooker for about 4 hours on low. Or you could cook in the Instant Pot for 6 minutes followed by a quick release.
The chicken will fall apart and shred easily with two forks and have some flavor to it. I try to start this around lunch time so by the time I’m ready for dinner, the chicken is ready too.
Recipes to Try Next
- Tuscan Garlic Chicken Fettuccine
- One Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken and Rice
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- Crispy Instant Pot Pork Carnitas/
Did you try this Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas recipe? YAY! Please rate the recipe below!
Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded chicken , see note
- 1 cup green enchilada sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- 10 8-inch flour tortillas
for the sauce
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- 4 ounces diced green chiles
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella , or 1/2 mozzarella + 1/2 pepper jack
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1-2 cups shredded cheese for topping, mozzarella, pepper jack, or Mexican blend all work great
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch pan.
Prepare the sauce
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Stir in flour for 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in chicken broth until completely incorporated and smooth.
- Stir in sour cream, green chiles, cheese, and salt until smooth and creamy. Remove from heat.
Assemble the enchiladas
- Spread half of the white sauce in the bottom of your prepared pan.
- In a medium bowl stir together chicken, green enchilada sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese.
- Spoon mixture into the middle of the tortillas, roll tightly, and plate seam-side down in the pan, side-by-side, repeating until you've use up all of the tortillas and filling.
- Top enchiladas with remaining white sauce and remaining cheeses.
Cook the enchiladas
- Tent the pan with a large piece (or two pieces as needed) of foil so that the foil is not resting directly on top of the enchiladas. (If it is resting on the cheese, the cheese will stick to the foil and be pulled off when you remove the foil!)
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until cheese is completely melted and bubbly. I like to broil mine for 1-2 minutes at the end, completely optional.
- Add any desired toppings (fresh cilantro, avocado, onions) and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Outstanding recipe! My family loved the recipe. My daughter said it’s a keeper!
I don’t know what I did but these were not good.
Could these be frozen? Recommendation for reheating?
Im sure they can! I would reheat them in the oven or in an air fryer if it were me!
For freezing would you leave off the sauce and then add when they are cooked?
I would assemble them as the recipe instructs and then make sure they are wrapped tightly or in an air tight container. As for adding the sauce and cheese. It depends on how you’re cooking them. If you choose to do them in the air fryer I would add the sauce and cheese on top of them after they’re cooked. But if you choose to cook them in the oven, I would then follow the instructions in the recipe (putting sauce and cheese on before cooking and tent foil over them, etc.)