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👍 Why We Love These Red Chicken Enchiladas
Fast! Like all of our recipes, our Easy Red Chicken Enchiladas can be made in 28 minutes or less! The key is to work strategically to prepare your enchilada casserole and finish with the broiler.
Easy- With minimal steps, these chicken enchiladas make a great weeknight meal. They also make a great celebratory dinner for Cinco de Mayo!
Mild - We love using a red sauce for our enchiladas because of its sweet and mild flavor!
Kid-friendly- To keep this dish simple, we incorporate some of our kid staples- chicken, cheese and tortillas- and slip in some veggies-onions, peppers, tomatoes and olives. This dish truly meets kids and grown-ups in the middle!
Healthy twist- We put a healthier spin on red chicken enchiladas by using whole wheat tortillas and healthy fillers (onions, green peppers, tomatoes and un-breaded chicken).
🛒 Ingredients
Notes on Ingredients:
- Tortillas- We recommend whole wheat tortillas to make this dish a tad healthier. The Spruce Eats has a great, simple breakdown of this. In creating white flour, the process includes stripping the flour of a lot of nutrients and also fiber. Because whole wheat flour has not undergone that processing, it is way higher in nutrients and fiber.
- Chicken- We love chicken thighs, but if you're in a time crunch, you can use a cooked rotisserie chicken from the store.
- Red enchilada sauce- We love Old El Paso's medium or mild red enchilada sauce for its sweet and mild flavor.
- Olives- If your kids aren't fans of olives, simply omit them or offer them as an optional topping.
- Cheese- We prefer a Mexican blend. While we opted to include cheese in this dish, cheese isn't necessary. OR you can use a lower fat cheese to keep this dish a tad healthier.
👩🍳 Instructions
Step 1: Make the Filling
First and most important is the filling. Not only is the filling the heart of the enchiladas, but it also requires the most time. Total time: 10-12 minutes
🥄 Kids Step: Help chop veggies! We're big fans of these kid-friendly knives.
Step 2: Assemble Enchiladas
The assembly of the enchiladas can go pretty quickly, especially if you have a good setup and maybe a little helper. Total time: 5-8 minutes
🥄 Kids Step: Assemble! On their own, your child can scoop the chicken/sauce mix onto the tortilla, sprinkle cheese and olives atop, roll up the tortilla and place it seem-side down in the baking dish.
Step 3: Broil Enchiladas
Because they can burn easily, be sure to keep an eye on the enchiladas while they are in the oven. Total time: 3-5 minutes.
✔️ Cooking Tips and Tricks
- Save time by using canned, chopped green chilis and jarred enchilada sauce!
- Speed up assembling enchiladas by setting up up an assembly line on the counter as follows (from left to right): pan of chicken/sauce ---> tortillas ---> cheese & olives --> baking dish.
- Scoop the filling a little left of center in the tortilla when assembling enchiladas. After that, you'll find it's much easier to roll up the tortilla.
- Keep an eye on the enchiladas while they are in the oven as they can burn easily. Once your red chicken enchiladas are as crisp and bubbly as you desire, take them out and serve!
🍞 What To Serve With Easy Chicken Enchiladas
These red chicken enchiladas taste great topped with a dollop of sour cream and chopped cilantro. You and also add diced tomatoes, extra cheese or slices of avocado. As far as sides go, we recommend:
- Beans: Pour a can of black beans into a small pot, add salt and taco seasoning and cook for maybe four minutes.
- Rice: We love Uncle Ben's Ready Rice packets that cook in your microwave in 90 seconds.
- Chips and Guacamole.
- Salad/veggies: Our Three Bean Salad would be so good on the side! Any other simple salad or sliced veggies, like carrot sticks or sliced cucumbers, would do the trick!
🧂 Red Chicken Enchilada Variations
These chicken enchiladas can easily be modified or customized to your preferences. You may decide to...
- Use corn tortillas instead of flour or whole wheat tortillas: Since corn tortillas are typically smaller, you may need to use more of them!
- Use other veggies: You can also use other veggies like bell peppers, mushrooms and corn. Lots of options.
- Make your own enchilada sauce: If you really wanted to go for a fully unprocessed meal, you could even make your own red OR green enchilada sauce. However, we can't guarantee our 28 minute cooking time with that choice.
- Use different protein: While we love chicken in this recipe, shredded pork, beef or shrimp would also work nicely.
- Make vegetarian enchiladas: Simply use a vegetarian filling. Replace the chicken with pea protein crumbles. I'm a huge fan of Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles. Another option is to replace the chicken with rice, roasted peppers and corn (or hominy).
- Make gluten-free enchiladas. Simply use glutens-free tortillas, like Mission's tortillas. La Tortilla Factory makes gluten free tortillas from a few different ingredients. For example, they use ivory teff (a whole grain), cassava (a root vegetable), and cauliflower. Whole Foods makes almond flour tortillas.
🧊 Storing and Freezing
To make enchiladas ahead of time, simply make, cover and store in the refrigerator before baking for up to 24 hours. Note: To keep tortillas from getting soggy, just prepare the filling ahead of time and assemble right before baking.
To store leftovers, place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
To freeze enchiladas, let them cool completely and then store in a freezer safe container for up to one month.
❓ FAQ
Red enchiladas use a red enchilada sauce, which is made from a variety of red chilis. Green enchiladas, on the other hand, use a green sauce which is made from green chilis. Food Champs gives a great overview of the difference between red and green enchilada sauce.
Bon Appetit suggests quickly frying tortillas until they just start to crisp before assembling enchiladas. While this can add time, it's definitely a great strategy for preventing enchiladas from getting soggy.
There are many kinds, including corn, flour, whole wheat and sprouted grain. Most would argue that white flour tortillas are the least healthy (see Healthline's breakdown of flour vs corn tortillas). I like corn tortillas for smaller, open tacos ('street' tacos) and whole wheat for enchiladas and wraps.
There are very different opinions about this. Typically, people say to leave the broiler door slightly ajar for electric ovens and closed for gas ovens. On the other hand, some say to just do whatever you were taught. Food52 has an interesting answer to this question, and ultimately suggests following your oven's manual.
✂️ Craft For This Recipe
Hold onto extra tortillas so kids can color tortillas with edible paint! Kids will love painting tortillas that they can actually eat! After painting the tortillas, you can use them to make soft tacos, quesadillas, or enchiladas! Behold colorful, edible art!
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🫔Easy Red Chicken Enchiladas
Equipment
- medium/large skillet
- 13 x 9 baking dish
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped or half a large onion
- 4 ounce can chopped green chilis
- 1 ½ pounds boneless & skinless chicken thighs, chopped into small pieces or thin strips
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups enchilada sauce divided
- cooking spray
- 6-8 medium sized (~8") whole wheat tortillas
- 2+ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 2.25 ounce can black olives
- 1+ cup sour cream optional
- 1 bunch cilantro leaves, de-stemmed, for garnish optional
Instructions
- Prepare the filling. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 2 mins. Stir in green chilis and chicken, and cook for 4-5 mins, turning chicken frequently. Pour the tomatoes and 1 cup of the enchilada sauce over the chicken in the skillet and stir. Turn the heat to low-medium. Cook chicken in sauce 2-4 mins, until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through [165 degrees].
- Assemble enchiladas. First, set oven to broil. Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon the remaining enchilada sauce into the pan and spread evenly. Set aside. Spoon ⅓ cup of chicken mixture onto a tortilla, and sprinkle some black olives and cheese on top. Roll tortilla and place it seam side down in casserole dish. Repeat 6-8 times until casserole dish is full. Sprinkle the casserole with more shredded cheese.
- Broil enchiladas. Place casserole dish in the oven on top rack for 3-5 mins, or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve enchiladas with a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of cilantro on top.
Notes
- Save time by using canned, chopped green chilis and jarred enchilada sauce!
- Speed up assembling enchiladas by setting up up an assembly line on the counter as follows (from left to right): pan of chicken/sauce ---> tortillas ---> cheese & olives --> baking dish.
- Scoop the filling a little left of center in the tortilla when assembling enchiladas. After that, you'll find it's much easier to roll up the tortilla.
- Keep an eye on the enchiladas while they are in the oven as they can burn easily. Once your red chicken enchiladas are as crisp and bubbly as you desire, take them out and serve!
Nutrition
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. While we are not certified nutritionists, we work with a Wordpress-integrated nutrition API to calculate our recipes' ingredient values.
Enchiladas are my go-to meal when I'm craving Mexican food! I love how hearty and flavorful these look. Plus they are so customizable, which is great for picky eaters!
Thanks, Kait! Yes...customizable meals are like the key to making kids happy. Lol.
-Julie
Yummmm these enchiladas look so delicious!!
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy them! -Marcie
This looks awesome! Pinning for later!!!
Thanks so much, Kelly! Please let us know if you try them! -Marcie