Juicy shredded chicken is rolled up in flour tortillas and topped with the creamiest cilantro lime sauce to make the best-ever green chicken enchiladas.
These chicken enchiladas doused in green sauce are fast, easy, and oh so flavorful.
The sauce comes together in 5 minutes with the help of your trusty blender and is made extra creamy thanks to the addition of ripe avocados and heavy cream.
To keep this recipe extra easy breezy, a store-bought rotisserie chicken is shredded and used for filling the tortillas. Any pre-cooked chicken will do, but why make life harder than you have to?
Green chicken enchiladas are hearty and filling, yet bursting with the fresh flavors of cilantro, lime, and green onion. Mexican food is truly the best.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- I prefer using flour tortillas in this recipe because I love the way they nearly melt into the cheese. If you’re looking for something a little heftier, go ahead and give white corn tortillas a try.
- Store-bought rotisserie chicken is the easiest to shred, and I typically go at the bird using just two forks and some willpower.
- Unlike traditional enchilada sauce, the green sauce in this recipe isn’t cooked and is bursting with fresh ingredients. Because of that, it’s best prepared and used right away.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Cooked chicken — Cook a rotisserie chicken, pick one up from the grocery store, poach or bake a few chicken breasts, or amp up the flavor by grilling some cilantro lime chicken.
- Canned hatch chiles — The distinct fruity, smoky flavor of the hatch chiles really takes the filling to the next level. They’re not too spicy, but they definitely pack in some heat.
- Onion — Dice it finely so you don’t crunch down on big bites in the filling.
- Shredded Mexican cheese blend — Feel free to swap in another favorite cheese, like Monterrey Jack or cotija.
- Flour tortillas — Flour tortillas almost melt into the filling. If you’re a corn tortilla purist, fry them quickly in canola oil (about 10 seconds) to make them pliable and easy to roll.
- Heavy whipping cream — Makes for a creamy sauce and balances out any spiciness from the hatch chiles.
- Avocados — Lends the sauce even more creamy richness without making it taste heavy.
- Chicken broth — Thins out the sauce without making it taste watery.
- Fresh cilantro — Since the green enchilada sauce gets blitzed in the blender, you can use both the stems and leaves.
- Lime juice — Brightens up the sauce and cuts through the heavy cream.
- Spices — A little ground cumin, garlic salt, and kosher salt are all you need to finish the sauce.
How to Make Green Chicken Enchiladas
- Blend up the sauce. It’s as easy as adding everything to a blender and mixing until smooth.
- Make the filling. Stir together the shredded chicken, onion, and hatch chiles.
- Sauce them up. Add part of the green sauce to inject the filling with flavor and keep it moist.
- Roll ’em up. Add a little of the chicken mixture and shredded cheese to each tortilla, then roll the enchiladas. Place them seam-side down in your baking dish to avoid leakage in the oven.
Heidi’s Tip: I like to spoon a little sauce into the bottom of the baking dish to prevent the enchiladas from sticking and flavor them from the bottom-up.
- Sprinkle with cheese and bake. Finish the enchiladas with a final layer of sauce and a hearty sprinkling of cheese before baking until browned and bubbling. Cover the pan with foil to seal in the moisture and encourage even cooking before removing so the cheese can brown in the final few minutes.
FAQs
Enchiladas are a fantastic freezer meal to have on hand. Assemble the enchiladas, then cover tightly with plastic wrap and foil before freezing.
Bake the enchiladas from frozen (remove the plastic wrap first!) for 45 minutes, covered, then a final 10 minutes uncovered.
If you’re not in the mood for green enchiladas, swap out the cilantro lime sauce with classic red enchilada sauce or mole sauce.
Pop the enchiladas into the oven covered, then after about 20 minutes remove the foil. This ensures the enchiladas will be heated through with a golden layer of cheese on top without the danger of drying them out.
Storage Tips
Leftover enchiladas will last up to 5 days in the fridge, noting that the tortillas will continue to soften as they sit in the sauce. Reheat enchiladas for 30-second bursts in the microwave or covered in a 350ºF oven.
What to Serve With Green Chicken Enchiladas
- Toppings — Pico de Gallo, Pickled Jalapeños, or Spicy Garlic Guacamole
- Rice — Cilantro Lime Rice or Spanish Rice
- Beans — Homemade Refried Beans or Pinto Beans
- Sides — Mexican Coleslaw, Elote, or Mexican Kale Salad
- Drinks — Mango Margaritas or Coconut Margaritas
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Green Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Ingredients
Enchiladas
- 4 cups cooked and skinned shredded chicken meat, (about 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken)
- 2 4- ounce cans diced Fire Roasted Hatch Chiles
- ½ medium white onion diced
- 2 ½ – 3 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, , or just Monterey Jack if you prefer
- 8-10 large flour tortillas, (7 to 8 inches)
- ¼ cup chopped green onion, for garnish
Green Sauce
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 avocados
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, stems and leaves
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- juice of one lime
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- To prepare the sauce: Mix whipping cream, chicken broth, 2 avocados, cilantro leaves and stems, cumin, garlic salt, lime juice and ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a blender and mix well to combine. Season with more salt if needed.
- In a large bowl mix together chicken, chiles and onion. Add half of the avocado cream and stir to mix well. Add more salt if needed (this will depend on how salty your rotisserie chicken is.)
- Prepare a 9×12-inch baking dish by giving it a light coat of cooking spray and ¼ cup of avocado cream spread evenly on bottom of baking dish.
- To assemble enchiladas: Place about ⅓ cup chicken mixture along the bottom third of tortilla and top with ¼ cup of shredded cheese. Carefully roll the tortilla and place it seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat placing tortillas side by side until you've run out of space. Pour avocado cream evenly over the tortillas and spread 1 cup cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until enchiladas are cooked through and cheese is lightly browned.
- Garnish with chopped green onion, cotija cheese, additional avocado, cilantro leaves and salsa or fresh tomatoes.
Nutrition
More Easy Enchilada Recipes
- Chicken Mole Enchiladas
- Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup
- Beef and Butternut Squash Enchiladas
- Salsa Verde Chicken Enchilada Casserole
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Disclosure: This is a working partnership with Avocados from Mexico and Muy Bueno Cookbook. I was compensated for recipe development but as always my opinions are my own and my opinion is I love avocados.
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