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Such a good recipe!! Hubby loved it and said it tasted like a dish from one of our favorite Mexican style restaurants. Definitely is going on our favorite meals to make list!!
Megan
Okay, okay! Calling all my enchilada people to the table.
Today’s post is the fourth in our Feeding a Broken Heart series, which is a collection of posts meant to inspire you to make healing food for the people you know, love, and care about. If you’re new here, I would love for you to know that this series was inspired by our adorable son Afton, his early birth, his passing, and his definite would-have-been love of enchiladas. I’m his mom and I just know these things.
My friend Melissa was the one who got me back on the enchilada train after grief-eating (read: not eating) for a few weeks after we lost Afton. She brought over a small-ish size pan, due to our paranoid fear of freezer overload, of sweet potato black bean enchiladas which are totally not what I’m showing you today because she made it without a recipe, and I can’t try to replicate her genius level whimsy.
But that got me thinking: what about that roasted tomatillo enchilada casserole? The ones inspired from Bread & Wine (affiliate link), the ones I used to bring to my friends when they needed some home-cooked love, the ones with the magically delicious and zingy ROASTED TOMATILLOS? Couldn’t we step those up into enchilada form?
Answer: Yes. Enchiladas verdes reunion tour, happening now.
HOW TO MAKE OUR ENCHILADAS VERDES:
These enchiladas verdes take a little bit of time, as all the best enchiladas do.
But none of it is hard. Pinky promise.
That’s why I’m calling them Simple Enchiladas Verdes. Really, they are simple. You’re talking to a girl who has about 2% energy for any given task at any given time these days, and even I managed this.
Three steps.
- Sauce. Which mostly involves roasted vegetables and flipping the switch of the blender on.
- Filling. Mixing up whatever you want to be in your filling, and may I recommend the last-minute addition of sautéed mushrooms? yaaap. you’re so there with me.
- Bake. Roll em up, drown in more tomatillo sauce and an extra generous handful of cheese, and bake. Mwah.
And then your sprinkle cilantro down the middle, because you’re just that good.
To be honest, other than the rock-out sauce, these are pretty humble and basic and chill, which makes them a REALLY perfect food to bring someone who needs a home-cooked meal to heal their heart. In really dire situations, they might be a good excuse to find your way into the fridge for a totally weird and wonderful midnight snack. Hypothetically. If it helps.
Is it a diagnosis? a loss? an end to a season? Whatever it is, and whether it’s yours or someone else’s, just know that we’re sitting over here, eating these enchiladas, soaking up that same food-heals-everything power that you are. And all the better if we can do it by way heaping plats of cheesy enchiladas verdes, yeah? We are cheering for you.
Simple Enchiladas Verdes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Enchiladas Verdes, with a simple homemade roasted tomatillo sauce that will make your tastebuds rock out. Plus chicken and cheese and tortillas. Super yum.
Ingredients
For the Roasted Tomatillo Sauce:
- 15 medium-sized tomatillos, husks removed
- 3 jalapeño peppers, ribs and seeds removed
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup fresh packed cilantro
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- salt to taste
For the Enchiladas Verdes:
- 10 or so 8-inch tortillas – corn or flour will work
- 12 ounces shredded cheese – Pepper Jack or Monterrey Jack are my favorites
- 1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded
Instructions
- Make the Sauce: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos and jalapeños on the baking sheet. Wrap peeled garlic in foil and add to baking sheet. Drizzle everything with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway to prevent excessive scorching. Pulse everything in a blender (including juices). Add other sauce ingredients, blend until smooth. Season with salt to taste.
- Make the Filling: In a large bowl, combine about one third of the sauce (2 or so cups) with the chicken. Stir in about half of the cheese and any other mix-ins you want.
- Make the Enchiladas Verdes: Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Place filling on tortillas, roll up, and arrange in pan, seam side down. Cover with another cup or two of sauce and remaining cheese (just eyeball it). Bake for about 15 minutes, until bubbly and delish. Top with cilantro or cotija or red onion – all your favorite standbys are welcome.
Notes
You can make this really low maintenance by just layering all the ingredients like a lasagna. It ends up more like a casserole and it’s very delicious. (See this recipe.)
This makes a lot of sauce, so you might have 1-2 cups of sauce left over for later. Lucky you!
Dipping the tortillas in hot water, hot oil, or the sauce real quick before rolling them up is always a good idea. Keeps everything nice and soft while baking.
You can add any additional mix-ins you’d like – sautéed mushrooms, white beans, spinach, or whatever is striking your fancy.
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: enchiladas verdes, easy enchiladas, chicken enchiladas
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our flavor-packed jalapeño recipes page. Check it out!
Made enchiladas for the first time – omg they’re so good!!!! Love how clear is the instructions. Thank you Lindsay🙏🏻
Might I ask how much sauce is required? I might try subbing a store bought green tomatillo salsa 🙂
Any tips, when tomatillos are not available to you? Difficulty finding these, even canned ones, in Germany… I do have access to salsa verde in small quantities.
10/10. Can’t believe I waited so long to make this. Highly recommend!!
Wow, just wow. These are the best enchiladas I’ve ever made. They’re reminiscent of the microwave chicken chimichangas that I loved so much as a child but without all the extra ick. I’d make these every week if I weren’t afraid of wearing out the recipe. Also, my spouse is allergic to garlic and these still tasted great without any garlic!
We love these! Can they be frozen for a make ahead meal??
Love these! Have you ever tried it with canned tomatillos, when fresh are harder to come by? You can get 26oz cans of whole tomatillos in the “mexican food” aisle. Wondering if this would work, not sure I’m brave enough to risk an entire recipe on the experiment.
This was the best Enchiladas Verdes recipe that I have ever made. It was also very easy too!
I really want to try this! Do you think canned whole tomatillos would work? That’s all I can find here.
We haven’t tested this out with canned whole tomatillos before, but we’d love to hear if you give it a try! Let us know how it turns out.
I don’t really ever leave reviews, but these are 10/10!!! Absolutely amazing. Would make 100x over. Worth it to roast all the sauce veggies first! My whole family adored it and I made it as written. (did use one less jalapeno because kids).
Hi Lindsay! I was just given 5 gallons of tomatillos! They are the size of half of a golf ball or a very large grape.
My sister told met your enchilada sauce was out of thIs world, but could you give me the gram/ounce weight for those 15 larger tomatillos in this recipe, so that I’m sure to use enough of these little ones? Thanks mucho mas! ~Jannalee in Oregon
Hi, Jannalee! Unfortunately, we don’t have the weight in grams or ounces for the tomatillos here. It sounds like you’ll need to double the amount of tomatillos though based on how big you’re describing yours. Hope this helps!
YUM!!! The sauce was so easy and delicious. I had a little extra sauce so froze it and made a small batch of enchiladas again last night. My kids (1 and 4) LOVED them. Next time I’ll double the sauce as it froze well!
So thankful for you Lindsay, and for your recipe development skills! Made this tonight and it was the best enchilada I’ve ever had, period. I live in Southern California and have legit Mexican food at my fingertips, so that says a lot. Thank you for equipping me to make enchiladas that I can customize to my liking and at a better price point too. Been hooked on your website since your fluffiest blueberry pancakes recipe!
I was checking for an enchilada recipe and read your post. I’m so sorry for your loss and I understand your pain we lost our daughter a year and a half ago as I type with tears in my eyes I won’t lie to you & tell you it’s gets easier. But keep on going because that’s what your little guy would want. In sympathy
Looks great, you lost me at flour tortillas though. I’m Mexican and enchiladas don’t taste the same with flour tortillas. I’ll try your recipe on corn tortillas. It looks great!
Enjoy Jen!
sounds delicious, will try it for sure
Do you think you could put them in the freezer before cooking and bake a few days later? Trying to do some weekend food prep!
Thanks for the comment, Sara! The enchiladas would probably be fine in the refrigerator for a couple days, but we’re hesitant to say that they’d cook fine after freezing. We cooked an enchilada-type casserole from frozen not too long ago, and it ended up being watery and mushy.
I have to tell you this is the recipe that made me sign up for your emails. this is outstanding! I did add an onion when roasting the rest of the veggies but that is the only change I have made. (OH, other than omitting cilantro. I can’t stand the stuff!) But this recipe is a KEEPER!!
Hi! I’m planning on making these tonight for dinner and have a lot of fresh spinach I would love to add, but I’m not really sure how much or how to prepare it. Any suggestions??
You could try cooking in down in a pan and adding it to the filling. Enjoy!
Hi! I have made this many times…so so good!
Do you think this recipe would freeze well?
Thanks!!
We’d probably freeze it before baking and cover it with foil. When ready to bake, you can either let it thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed, or if you want to bake directly from frozen, it just might need more time (closer to an hour).
This recipe is fantastic! The homeade sauce makes all the difference. I used a rotisserie chicken and it turned out great. I’m making it again today and adding some fresh spinach.
Great idea to use rotisserie chicken here, Teri!
Made this tonight! Absolutely delicious. I added grated zucchini to my filling 🙂
Yummy! Thanks for sharing, Valerie!
I made these enchiladas to put in the freezer and have ready when my baby boy was born, but we couldn’t even wait until then to dig in and figured the pregnant lady (me!) deserved to go ahead and have some. Now, a year later, I’m making them again a week before his first birthday and it’s bringing back all the feelings! Thanks so much for lovely recipes that make our hearts and bellies happy.
Yay! This is so special, Holly! Thanks for sharing!
Love this recipe. I fill the enchiladas with roasted portabella mushrooms and spinach
Sounds delicious!
Would this freeze well? Obviously leave the cheese out until ready to bake.
Hi, April! We’d probably freeze it before baking and cover it with foil. When ready to bake, you can either let it thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed, or if you want to bake directly from frozen, it just might need more time (closer to an hour).
This is my go to enchiladas recipe! It’s so delicious and simple. I keep a jar of salsa verde on hand now and just use that as a short cut. Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this, Caitlin!