Around my house, we usually go for a green enchilada sauce, something bright, verdant, and tangy. Most of the red sauces I have had fall into the smoky, deep, umami category and lack the acidity we tend to crave. This Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce and Cilantro-Avocado Salad recipe is driven by the flavors I love from dishes I’ve had, and staple items anyone can have in their pantry to make a bright sauce anytime.
Why I Love This Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce and Cilantro-Avocado Salad Recipe
This is the place for leftover roasted chicken or a store bought rotisserie bird. Use whatever mild cheese you keep in your larder. I used Monterey Jack, which is mild, sweet and melts nicely. I also used a yummy and fun Mexican cheese, Queso Oaxaca en Tiras, which has a similar texture to string cheese, so use that if that’s what you have.
Recipes should be guidelines, easily adaptable to what you have on had. Take this and use what you have and adjust the flavors you love. Use your favorite dried chilies, I like a combination of sweet, smoky, and heat. But mix it up, you could also through in fresh chilies if you have them on hand.
Making this Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce and Cilantro-Avocado Salad is Easy
This sauce comes together so quickly, with a couple of simple steps. Toast up the chilies, onion, lime, garlic and cumin. Add in your bouillon paste and water, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Puree in a blender. Toss shredded cooked chicken breast with grated cheese. Warm your tortillas, bath in your glorious sauce, roll around your meat filling, nestle into a pan with a little more sauce and cheese. While this bakes in the oven and fills your house with the promise of a cheesy, bright and acidic plate of food, toss together your Cilantro-Avocado Salad.
When the enchiladas come out of the oven, wait just a few moments longer, 10-ish. Then take straight to the table, serve with the cooling salad and a good drizzle of sour cream. These get better the longer they sit. What a treat to have some in your refrigerator for lunch or another dinner later in the week.
You can also freeze half of this recipe in a separate pan and have a delicious meal waiting for you when all you have the energy or time for is throwing something into your oven. Bake straight from frozen for an hour to an hour and a half at 350 degrees.
Things You Need From Your Pantry
- Dried Chilies, assortment of sweet, hot and mild
- Better Than Boullion, chicken
- Onions
- Garlic
- Limes
- Canned Tomatoes
- Corn Tortillas
- Cheese
- Ground Cumin
Things You May Need to Grab From the Store
- Rotisserie Chicken, or Chicken Breasts
- Serrano Peppers
- Cilantro
- Cheese
- Corn Tortillas
- Avocado
- Limes
Other Dinner Ideas To Try
Anyday Crispy Tacos
Bottarga Tagiolini
Spatchcock Za’atar Chicken with Blistered Carrots and Potatoes
Full Recipe Walk-Through Here
Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chili Sauce and Cilantro-Avocado Salad
Course: DinnerCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy8
servings30
minutes40
minutes1
hour10
minutesPantry staples make an easy and tasty red enchilada sauce to drown leftover chicken wrapped in tortillas. Use your favorite dried chilies, or stick to the recipe, either way you won’t be sorry.
Ingredients
- Red Chile Sauce
3 cascabel dried chilies, stem and seeds removed
2 ancho chilies, stem and seeds removed
4 pasilla chilies, stem and seeds removed
1 head garlic, cut in half
1 small white onion, quartered
2 limes, divided
1 serrano pepper, halved
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 heaping teaspoon Better Than Bouillon paste, roasted chicken
3 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 – 28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, shredded, divided
24 corn tortillas
1/2 pound Queso Oaxaca en Tiras, torn into 1/2 inch strips 4 inches long (sub more Monterey Jack, or string cheese)
- Cilantro-Avocado Salad
2 ripe avocado
1 small white onion finely diced
1 bunch cilantro, woody stems removed, roughly chopped
juice of 1-2 limes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Sour Cream for Serving
Directions
- In a heavy bottom pan over medium high heat, toast the dried chilies until fragrant and they start to soften and blister, 2-3 minutes, add the garlic halves, onion, 1 lime halved cut side down, serrano pepper, and cumin. Toast for another minute.
- Add the Better Than Bouillon and stir to combine. Add in the water and salt. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the chilies and onion are very sauce.
- Remove the chilies, onion, garlic, and serrano pepper from the broth and place in a blender. Add the can of tomatoes to the blender along with the juice of the remaining lime. Blend until smooth adding broth until you get a smooth, silky consistency. The sauce should be pourable, like a marinara. Taste and adjust seasoning. Place in a pie plate or pan the tortillas fit into. Ladel a couple of scoops of sauce into a 9 x 13 baking dish and spread to coat the bottom. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the shredded chicken and 2/3 of the shredded Monterey jack cheese in a bowl. Set aside.
- Heat a saute pan over medium heat, add tortillas one at a time and warm on both sides, 30-40 seconds per side. Add the warmed tortilla to the warm sauce and coat on both sides. Place on a sheet pan or cutting board and add a 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture and one strip of string cheese. Roll to enclose the filling in the tortilla, place in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas until all of the filling has been used and the baking dish is full.
- Spoon remaining sauce over the top of the filled tortillas until lightly coated. You do not want the enchiladas to be swimming in sauce or they will not hold their integrity when they are cooked. Top with remaining Monterey Jack and bake for 35-40 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown, and sauce is bubbling around the edges. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Top with Cilantro-Avocado Salad and sour cream.
- While the enchiladas are baking, combine the avocado, cilantro, onion and lime juice. Season with salt, taste and adjust with more lime juice and salt.
Notes
- In place of cooked chicken, you can poach 2 raw chicken breast in the broth during that cooking process.
