Easy chicken enchiladas are the weeknight dinner of your dreams! My recipe is kid-friendly, customizable, and seriously so simple to prepare. Only 4 ingredients and ready in just over 30 minutes! Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Easiest Chicken Enchiladas
Spaghetti meat sauce, crispy chicken tacos, sloppy joes, pizza, repeat…is your weeknight dinner routine feeling a bit too routine? If so, my quick and simple chicken enchiladas will be a welcome addition to the mix. Easy, cheesy, and crowd-pleasing, this recipe requires just four ingredients (!) and finishes in less than 45 minutes (and most of that is bake time)!
Why You’ll Love It
- Fast, weeknight worthy dinner. Only 15 minutes to prep before it gets nice and melty. Everything is pre-cooked, so we are really just warming it through when it goes in the oven.
- Customizable with your favorite cheeses, enchilada sauce, tortillas, fillings, etc. Make it as spicy as you want, add some beans to the filling, swap red enchilada sauce for green…have fun with it!
- Kid-friendly, and adults love it too of course! Around here, we love a meal that can please the whole family 🙌
- Super simple ingredient list. Make things even simpler with pre-shredded chicken, canned enchilada sauce vs. homemade, pre-shredded cheese, and if you’re REALLY short on time, pre-chopped onion (or just leave that out entirely!). We all have those nights–I get it!
Jump to:
Ingredients
Be prepared for this extremely brief ingredient list–are you ready? 😉
- Shredded chicken. This could be leftover grilled chicken, a picked rotisserie chicken, or even my slow cooker shredded chicken. Usually I will just cook the chicken a day ahead of time in my Crockpot or Instant Pot.
- Cheese. I talk more about this below, but essentially you want a good melting cheese (cheddar, colby jack, etc). I personally like to shred mine myself for the best melting (just like when making my baked mac and cheese), but pre-shredded will still work just fine here. If you’re short on time, just use pre-shredded!
- Onion. This is optional, I like the additional depth of flavor it adds to the filling mixture. Sweet onions, white onions, or yellow onions will all work.
- Enchilada sauce. Use your favorite! A batch of my homemade enchilada sauce works perfectly for this recipe and gives you a great flavor.
- Tortillas. Corn tortillas are traditional and what I use, but you could use small flour tortillas if you don’t like corn. Flour tortillas are easier to roll than corn tortillas, which can be prone to breaking and need a little extra attention before using.
That’s it! Simple, right?!
SAM’S TIP: Sometimes I add a 4oz can of chiles or half a can of drained beans in with the chicken to bulk it up or add some variety. You’ll obviously have a little more filling if you do this, so I just make a few extra enchiladas.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Chicken Enchiladas
Make the filling
Stir together the filling ingredients (shredded chicken, onion, 1 cup of the cheese, and ¾ cup of the enchilada sauce) in a large bowl until everything is evenly combined and coated in the sauce.
Now, prep your baking dish. Pour a thin layer of your sauce into your pan and spread so the entire bottom is evenly covered.
Roll & add sauce
Let’s get rolling! Heat your tortillas, then add about ¼ cup of filling to each one. Roll ’em up and place seam side down in your baking dish
Bake
Time to bake! Pour the remaining sauce over your enchiladas, then add your remaining cheese overtop. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and the enchiladas are thoroughly warmed.
SAM’S TIP: While these chicken enchiladas are great on their own, a bit of sour cream, cilantro, and/or guacamole takes them to the next level!
Frequently Asked Questions
My best tips here would be to use good quality tortillas, grate your own cheese, add onion to the filling, don’t over-stuff your tortillas, and bake properly; over or under-baking can ruin your results.
I don’t recommend covering your enchiladas if you follow my recipe. We don’t have them in the oven too long that you need to worry about the cheese burning and covering could lead to soggy results, so skip it here.
A blend of flavorful melting cheeses works best! I like monterey jack, cheddar, and colby jack.
What to Serve With Chicken Enchiladas
Need a dessert to pair with your enchiladas? Try my tres leches cake or churro cookies 😋
Enjoy!
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Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 cups (265 g) shredded chicken
- 2 ¼ cups (532 ml) enchilada sauce divided
- 2 cups (226 g) shredded cheese (I like monterey, colby jack, cheddar, or a blend of these), divided
- ½ cup (70 g) sweet white, or yellow onion finely chopped (optional)
- 10 6 ” corn tortillas
Recommended Equipment
- 9×13 baking dish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
- In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken with ¾ cup (177ml) of enchilada sauce, 1 cup (113g) of shredded cheese, and onions, if using.2 cups (265 g) shredded chicken, ½ cup (70 g) sweet white, or yellow onion
- Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce over the bottom of a 9×13” (23x33cm) baking dish, set aside.
- Warm tortillas one at a time in a heated skillet, about 10 seconds per side.10 6 ” corn tortillas
- Lay tortillas flat and scoop about about ¼-⅓ cup of filling per tortilla. Fold the edges of each tortilla over the center and place seam side down into the prepared baking dish. Repeat with all tortillas/filling.
- Drizzle remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, and evenly sprinkle remaining 1 cup (113g) of cheese overtop.
- Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and enchiladas are heated through.
- Serve warm plain or with sour cream, guacamole, and/or cilantro.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Nancy
Can you substitute ground beef in place of the shredded chicken? If so, how much ground beef … 1lb?
Sam Merritt
Hi Nancy! I haven’t personally tried it with ground beef, but I would probably keep the same 2 cup measurement. 🙂
Melissa
I cooked it for my boyfriend and I today at lunch and also made your enchilada sauce. It was reallyyyy good. Will make again for sure.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed both recipes, Melissa! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment 🩷
Lisa Valdes
I love how this recipe looks very easy but I have not made it yet. Question, are the onions that are added to the chicken mixture, which you mentioned not to cook, crunchy after the casserole is heated up? Also, where is the enchilada sauce recipe? I would love to make that too. Thank you.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lisa! As long as you chop them finely, the onions will cook in the oven and lose their crunch. Here is the homemade enchilada sauce recipe 🙂
Gina
These are easy to make and very good. I followed the recipe, exactly as written, even used your recipe for the enchilada sauce. I will be making these again! Thanks, Sam!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed both recipes, Gina! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review–we really appreciate it!
Renee
Looks delicious I’m making it tonight for dinner yum 😋
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We hope you love them, Renee!
Cheryl
I have rarely eaten enchiladas, just never a favorite. And I never considered making them until I saw this recipe. Seemed like a good weekend meal and I had all the ingredients so I gave it a try. This recipe just changed all that, and it’s now a favorite! And the enchilada sauce recipe made it perfect. My husband is a big fan too! Thank you!! 😉❤️
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! So glad this one was a hit for your family, Cheryl 🩷
Ari
No surprise; these were delicious! The enchilada sauce recipe is really good and easy. I only wish I had more of it! So when I make this again I’m going to double the sauce. Thanks so much!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed both recipes, Ari! Thanks so much for the review 🩷