Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce — Restaurant Quality

Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce will delight your entire family. Cheesy, make-ahead, and so satisfying — no restaurant required!

Say hello to one of my very favorite family dinner recipes that’s not only easy to assemble, but so delicious that I make a double batch each time I pull the recipe out.

Hiii, Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce!

Between my husband, three kids, and myself, we easily finish a full recipe, so the double batch comes in handy for having tasty leftovers for lunches later in the week.

This luscious chicken dinner recipe is a STAPLE in our house!

Watch How to Make Them

Restaurant-Style Chicken Enchiladas

The secret to achieving restaurant-style chicken enchiladas at home is to use homemade red enchilada sauce. Truly, no store-bought sauce compares and, lucky for you and me, homemade red enchilada sauce takes less than 10 minutes to make with pantry staples.

Plus the sauce freezes beautifully so you can multiply the recipe then stock the freezer with pre-made, ready to rock, homemade enchilada sauce!

Ingredients Needed

For the Red Enchilada Sauce:

• Oil: vegetable oil or another neutral-flavored cooking oil like avocado oil or canola oil is used to toast the dried seasonings.
• Flour: use a measure-for-measure / 1:1 gluten free flour versus a single-ingredient flour like coconut or almond flour. You can use all-purpose flour if you don’t need to eat gluten free.
• Chili powder: use mild chili powder to keep this dish mild/medium, or go with hot chili powder to spice things up.
• Onion powder: lends onion flavor without having to chop an onion.
• Dried oregano: use dried oregano leaves vs ground dried oregano.
• Garlic powder: adds garlic flavor without having to peel then mince garlic.
• Cumin: for a hint of smoky flavor.
• Tomato paste: adds that signature red color and rich flavor to the enchilada sauce.
• Chicken broth: to create the sauce.
• Salt: a pinch to amplify all the flavors.

For the Chicken Enchiladas

• Shredded chicken: cook then shred chicken breast for the enchilada filling using any method you like. I’ve made this recipe using everything from Roast Chicken (Costco Rotisserie Chicken is an easy option!) to Crock Pot Salsa Chicken, or shredded sauted or poached chicken. Feel free to use chicken thighs, or a mixture of shredded thighs and chicken breast.
• Corn tortillas: I like Mission brand Super Soft Corn Tortillas, which come in yellow or white corn — either is fine. You can use flour tortillas if you prefer the taste / texture and don’t need to eat gluten free.
• Shredded Mexican cheese blend: is a blend of cheeses that melt and stretch like the cheese does inside restaurant enchiladas.

The Tortilla Debate: Corn or Flour?

Even if I didn’t have Celiac Disease and need to eat gluten free, I’d still use corn tortillas to make Chicken Enchiladas. They become soft and creamy draped with the homemade red sauce. Mmm!

While corn tortillas are prone to cracking after rolling (check out my tips below for helping to prevent this) you’ll never be able to tell once the enchiladas are covered in red sauce and shredded cheese.

That said, if the texture of corn tortillas just isn’t for you, you can use your favorite flour-style tortilla in this recipe.

Best Cheese for Chicken Enchiladas

While cheese isn’t as central to this chicken enchilada recipe as it is to Cheese Enchiladas, I still recommend you use a Mexican-style shredded cheese blend which is stuffed inside each enchilada with shredded chicken, and sprinkled on top of the enchiladas before baking.

These blends contain the perfect mix of cheeses that both stretch and melt when hot. Here are two blends to look out for (though there are lots more!):

1. Monterey Jack cheese, Asadero, Queso Quesadilla
2. Oaxaca and Asadero

What to Serve with Chicken Enchiladas

Honestly one of the reasons why I love making Chicken Enchiladas for dinner is because I can serve it with a simple side salad and call it a day — or rather, dinner. That said, these other recipes pair very well with enchiladas:

Ok, let’s get you some Chicken Enchiladas!

How to Make Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Step 1: Make the homemade Red Enchilada Sauce

Heat vegetable oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat then whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.

Add seasonings and spices then continue to whisk until they’re toasted and fragrant but not burnt, ~30 seconds.

Finally, whisk in tomato paste until smooth then slowly pour in chicken broth while whisking to create a smooth sauce.

Increase the heat to medium-high to bring the sauce to a simmer, then turn the heat down to medium and continue to simmer while stirring until the sauce has slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes. Pour the sauce into a glass measuring dish — preferably with a lip — then let the sauce cool slightly. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

• Tip: make the red enchilada sauce up to 5 days ahead of time. Store in an airtight container in the fridge (glass recommended as plastic will stain) then re-warm before using.

Step 2: Roll the Chicken Enchiladas

Scoop 1/2 cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9×13″ nonstick sprayed baking dish then spread it into an even layer.

Next, wrap half the tortillas in a damp paper towel then microwave for 30 seconds to warm them up — this helps prevent the tortillas from cracking. Don’t worry if they still crack since the enchiladas will be covered in sauce and cheese anyway.

One by one, place a warm tortilla onto a clean, dry surface like a plate or cutting board then spread shredded chicken evenly across the center. Top with a sprinkling of shredded cheese then roll the tortilla and place seam-side down in the baking dish.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients, warming the second batch of tortillas when needed.

Step 3: Cover with sauce and cheese then bake.

Pour the remaining red enchilada sauce over the tops of the corn tortillas, taking care to make sure there are no uncovered parts as they’ll become tough and dry after baking.

You might not need to use all the red enchilada sauce to completely cover the chicken enchiladas.

Sprinkle more shredded cheese on top then cover the baking dish with a piece of nonstick sprayed foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the cheese on top has melted and the enchilada sauce is bubbling.

Let the enchiladas cool for 10 minutes before scooping onto plates and serving.

I MEAN. Tell me this wouldn’t perk up any ho hum weeknight?!

Let the Chicken Enchiladas sit and cool for 10-15 minutes then serve with any/all toppings and side dishes.

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

Although my husband makes it his personal mission to try and devour every last drop of Chicken Enchiladas each time I make them, as I mentioned, I tend to make a double batch so we can reheat leftovers for lunches later in the week. Here’s how:

• To store: Transfer leftover enchiladas into an airtight container with a lid then refrigerate for 3-4 days. I recommend a glass storage container as the red sauce can stain plastic.
• To reheat: Reheat individual-sized portions in the microwave until hot.

How to Make-Ahead

I love having this casserole in the fridge ready to bake. Here’s how:

1. Assemble the casserole up until the point of covering the enchiladas with red sauce. Cover the enchiladas with plastic wrap then refrigerate separately from the sauce.
2. When it’s time to bake, re-warm the sauce then pour it over the enchiladas and bake according to recipe directions.

How to Freeze

Chicken Enchiladas also freeze well — freeze them before baking, vs after. Here’s how:

• To freeze: Ensure the enchilada sauce is COLD, otherwise the tortillas can absorb the warm sauce, then assemble the chicken enchiladas according to recipe directions. Cover the baking dish in plastic wrap, then foil, and then freeze for up to 3 months.
• To bake: Thaw the chicken enchiladas in the refrigerator then remove the plastic wrap, recover with foil, and bake according to recipe directions.

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Photos by Ashley McLaughlin