These quick and easy Green Chicken Enchiladas are cheesy, creamy, and oh-so-delicious. They are stuffed full of tender chicken, cream cheese, and spicy green chilis, slathered in enchilada sauce, and finished with melted cheese and all of your favorite toppings.
If you are looking for more enchilada recipes, you can also try our Red Enchiladas or this Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup.
Jump to:
- Easy Green Chicken Enchiladas
- Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas Recipe Video Tutorial
- What to Serve with Enchiladas
- Ingredients You Will Need
- How to Make Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Tips and Tricks
- Storing and Make-Ahead Instructions
- Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
- Here are some more of our favorite Mexican-inspired recipes:
Easy Green Chicken Enchiladas
We’re not kidding when we say these Green Chicken Enchiladas taste as good as the creamy chicken enchiladas from your favorite Mexican restaurant. You can follow the directions as is, or take the liberty of making substitutions so that you can use whatever you have on hand and make these as often as possible! We love to make these with leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken. Add red enchilada sauce or smoked cheese,
Another thing to love about this dish is that you can make it the day of, the day before or even freeze for later. You can also take some simple short cuts (rotisserie chicken for the win!) to make dinner even easier.
Our family likes flour tortillas—as a bonus, they are easier to fill and roll up. But, if you want to stick to tradition, go ahead and use corn tortillas. Finish these bad boys off with your favorite toppings like salsa, sour cream and avocados, and you’ve got yourself a simple, satisfying dinner that the whole family will love.
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas Recipe Video Tutorial
What to Serve with Enchiladas
If you are looking for other Mexican and Tex Mex sides to pair these Green Chicken Enchiladas with, we’ve got you covered. Some of our favorites include:
- Easy Spanish Rice
- Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice
- 7 Layer Bean Tip
- Best Guacamole (with your favorite tortilla chips)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Enchilada Sauce - this recipe calls for green enchilada sauce, but you could easily substitute red if you prefer.
- Chicken - a great way to make this recipe even more simple is to use rotisserie chicken. This recipe is also perfect for leftovers, or to use with slow cooker shredded chicken. Some chicken recipes that would work great include Copycat Chipotle Chicken, Southwest Chicken Breast, Salsa Verde Chicken, or our Green Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe, so good!
- Cream Cheese - you want this to be room temperature so it is easy to mix with the other ingredients.
- Green Chilis - you should be able to find canned green chilis in the Mexican section of your local grocery store.
- Shredded Cheese - we like to use shredded cheddar, but you could also use a Mexican blend, pepper jack, or Monterey jack.
- Tortillas - while corn tortillas are the more traditional tortillas to use, we usually use flour tortillas because they are easier to roll and they make for perfect portion size.
- Toppings - some of our favorite toppings include sour cream, salsa, chopped tomatoes, avocado or guacamole, and black beans.
How to Make Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
- Mix: In a medium-sized bowl, combine chicken, room temperature cream cheese, green chilies, and 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Mix well to combine.
- Roll: Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of chicken mixture and roll-up.
- Assemble: Spray a 9”x13” baking dish lightly with non-stick cooking spray and spread about 1 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom. Place the filled, rolled tortillas seam side down into the prepared baking dish. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the rolled tortillas, then sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese.
- Bake: Bake uncovered in a preheated 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the enchiladas are heated through and the cheese is golden brown.
- Serve: Top with your favorite toppings and serve warm. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
People have very strong opinions about their tortillas. If you want to be completely traditional, then go ahead and use corn tortillas. They are smaller, so you won’t be able to fit as much filling in them and you will need to use more like 12.
Either white or yellow corn tortillas will work great - just be sure to pre-warm them so that they don’t break on you when you roll them up. Hint: The quickest way to warm your tortillas is to cover them loosely with a paper towel and microwave for about 1 minute.
We almost always use flour tortillas because they are much easier to roll and can hold more filling, making them the perfect serving size. You want to look for the 8” size flour tortillas so that they will fit nicely into your 9”x13” baking dish.
More Tips and Tricks
- Additions - try adding a little extra seasoning, such as garlic or onion powder, salt and pepper, a dash of cumin or even cayenne powder.
- Substitutions - you can substitute ground beef or carne asada for the chicken if you want to mix it up. Or, if you want to make them vegetarian, nix the meat and add vegetarian refried beans instead. You can also substitute cheddar cheese for pepper jack, or use corn tortillas instead of flour.
- Chicken to Use - really any type of cooked chicken works great. Rotisserie chicken is super simple, but if you have leftover chicken to use up, this is a perfect recipe for that, too.
Storing and Make-Ahead Instructions
Green Chicken Enchiladas are a great dish to make ahead of time. You can make a day ahead, or as much as 3 months ahead if you decide to freeze them.
- Day Before: Prep as directed up until the point where you would normally put into the oven to bake. Instead, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. The next day, remove the plastic wrap and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.
- To Freeze: If you plan to freeze these, we recommend making them in a disposable tin foil baking pan. Prep as directed but instead of baking, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you want to eat, remove from the oven and let sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
- To Reheat: You can store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat individual portions, transfer to a microwave-safe dish and heat for 30 seconds at a time until warmed through. Otherwise, you can remove from the fridge for about 30 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then remove the plastic, cover with foil and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until warmed through.
Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Ingredients
Green Enchilada Ingredients
- 18 oz Green Enchilada Sauce can substitute red
- 3 cups Rotisserie Chicken or leftover cooked chicken, cubed
- 8 oz Cream Cheese room temperature
- 4 oz Canned Green Chilies
- 3 cups Cheddar Cheese shredded (plus more for the top if desired)
- 8 large Flour Tortillas
Toppings for Enchiladas
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- ½ cup Salsa
- ½ cup Chopped Tomatoes
- 1 whole Avocado sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish lightly with non-stick cooking spray and spread about 1 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine chicken, room temperature cream cheese, green chilies, and 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Mix well to combine.
- Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of chicken mixture. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with all 8 tortillas.
- Pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the rolled tortillas, then sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese.
- Bake uncovered in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the enchiladas are heated through and the cheese is golden brown.
- Top with sour cream, salsa, chopped tomatoes and sliced avocados, if desired, and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Here are some more of our favorite Mexican-inspired recipes:
- Homemade Taco Pizza
- Cheesy Green Chili Rice Casserole
- Steak Fajitas
- Shredded Beef Tacos
- Oven Chicken Fajitas
- Chipotle Chicken Burritos
More Chicken Recipes you'll love...
- More Quick Weekday Meals
- More Dinner Ideas
- More Chicken Recipes
- Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken
These yummy Green Chicken Enchiladas are quick, easy, and just as good as the ones from your favorite Mexican Restaurant. They are stuffed full of tender chicken, cream cheese, and spicy green chilis, slathered in enchilada sauce and finished with melted cheese and all of your favorite toppings.
Rod
I made this today. DELICIOUS!!!! I made a few changes….using Sour Cream rather than Cream Cheese and roasted Musco peppers rather than Green Chilis (just because we had them) and a good shake of Cumin. I also used a 29 ounce can of Enchilada Sauce.
I will be making these regularly. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Georgette Moss
I made these they were delicious!
Pat
I usually don’t comment when I don’t like a recipe but this was so bland it was not eaten. Maybe it was the brand of green sauce that was bad. Not sure. We ate as soon as it was done and the tortillas were soggy and disgusting. I will not make this again.
JulieKS
I have only had glowing reviews from making this! I have used corn or flour tortillas whatever I have on hand, and both were great!
Kelley
mine are in the oven as I'm typing this. The only thing I'd did differently was add a little cumin to it. can't wait to try them!
M Tompkins
Just made these tonight. Everyone loved them. Will definitely make again.
Tami
Do the flour tortilla get really soggy this way? lsst time i followed a reipe similar to your i had a soggy mess. I put some sauce in my filling mix and also warm sauce on the side to put on after baking.
Jill Baird
As long as you're cooking the enchiladas within a couple hours, the tortillas don't get soggy.
Jeannie
I’ve made these a few times and have gotten soooo many compliments on them.!!!! Thank you for sharing it with us all.!! Think I’ll try corn tortillas next time.
As far as being soggy - I’ve never had them turn out soggy, must just be the cook.?.!
Priscilla
I meant to give these 5 stars
Priscilla
These are delicious! I made them with shrimp and added some salsa to the filling mixture. Definitely a keeper!
Roberta David
Hi! I love the look of this creamy, chicken enchilada recipe. I was wondering if I can mix some pork carnitas along with some leftover chicken breasts that I made this week. Do you think it would taste okay? I know that this is an older post, so I think I probably won't get an answer, but if anyone else reads this, please leave me an opinion. Thanks!!
Jill Baird
I would probably just split the sauce for the filling in half and make some of them pork and some chicken... pork enchiladas sound amazing!
Deb L
These enchiladas are delicious! I used corn tortillas and cooked the chicken meat in the oven and shredded for this teceipe. But otherwise I followed this receipe. Very good.
Jill Baird
Corn tortillas sound delicious too!
Nellie Tracy
LOVE these! Can't wait to add them to my weeknight diner rotation.
The Carefree Kitchen
They're so easy, right? I'm so glad you love them as much as we do!
Katie
I always love a green chili enchilada. I know my family would love these too!
The Carefree Kitchen
I hope your family loves them as much as we do!