Easy Enchiladas Verdes

Hello everyone! I hope you are well on this Wednesday. If you saw my Instagram stories yesterday, you might have gotten a hint as to what we are working with today. Remember Monday’s Spatchcock Roasted Chicken? Today, those leftovers are destined for Enchiladas Verdes! This recipe has a number of steps, but every one is easy and can be done leisurely; there’s no pressure to get it all together at the same time. Shall we get to it? Here’s how to make Enchiladas Verdes.

Salsa Verde

I found the recipe for this salsa verde from Pinch of Yum. Her preparation is a little different, but the main ingredients are the same. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the husks off of 12-15 tomatillos and place them on a sheet tray with 3 whole jalapeños and 3-5 whole cloves of garlic. Leave the skins on the garlic, it’s easier to peel them once the garlic is roasted. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Kosher salt and roast for 30 minutes, turning everything over midway through. Once they come out, reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

If you can’t find tomatillos, or don’t feel like making this sauce from scratch, you can use store-bought salsa verde. Then mix that with the rest of the sauce ingredients. The best option for store-bought would be a fresh salsa verde, found in the refrigerated section. You will want to use about 12 ounces.

Puree the tomatillos, jalapeños and garlic (be sure to peel it first!) and the juices from the pan. Then add the chicken stock, sour cream and cilantro. I didn’t want to open a fresh carton of chicken stock for only 1 cup, so I made my own by dissolving one teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon Roast Chicken Base in 1 cup of boiling water. This is also a more flavorful broth than store-bought stock or broth. Puree that all together to a smooth consistency and taste it for salt, and add more if needed. Set the sauce aside.

Tortillas

You can use flour tortillas for this recipe, if you prefer. If you do go with flour you can skip this step.

For corn tortillas though, I think lightly frying the tortillas is an un-skippable step, otherwise the tortillas might crack and break when you roll them. Another reason I like to lightly fry them is because they seem to retain their texture a bit better after baking and their corn flavor is more pronounced. Once the tortillas have been lightly fried like this, even after they go cold, they will still be more pliable than if they were straight out of the package.

Pour about 1 tablespoon of grapeseed or canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and once it’s hot and shimmery, throw a couple tortillas on and when they start to gently bubble, flip them with a pair of tongs. Flip them multiple times, every 10 seconds or so. You don’t want them to get crisp, just lightly toasted in some areas. You will notice they will get more floppy, and that’s what you want. Go two at a time, resting them on a paper towel-lined plate until all 9-10 are done.

Enchilada Filling

Use leftover chicken if you have it, or use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Pull and shred the chicken, you want around one pound of chicken. I think ended up with a bit more than that, but I didn’t weigh it. To the chicken we will add 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 can of white beans, about 6 ounces of shredded jack cheese and about half of the verde sauce.

The corn and beans are totally optional. As is my choice for pepper jack cheese. Use regular jack if you like. I like the pop of sweetness from the corn and the beans add a nice velvety texture. Add about half of a 12 ounce bag of shredded cheese and pour the sauce (about 2 cups of it) over the filling. Then mix together to coat everything in the sauce.

Assembly

I have a 9″x13″ casserole dish, and I spread a light layer of verde sauce on the bottom to prevent any sticking. This assembly station is simple: you can roll the enchiladas straight from the paper towel-lined plate the tortillas are sitting on, just place the filling bowl above the plate, and your casserole to the right of your tortillas and you’re set to roll!

My casserole dish fit seven Enchiladas vertically, then I laid two horizontally to fill the space on the right side. So, I have nine Enchiladas in this dish. Pour the rest of the verde sauce over the whole thing and cover with the remaining jack cheese. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that step before I put it in the oven, but I think you get the idea ! : )

Pop this in the 350 degree oven and bake it for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top is browning to your liking.

Enchiladas Verde

Let this sit for several minutes before cutting into it. You can get your toppings ready while you wait. I have some crumbled Cotija, pickled red onions and a few cilantro leaves. You can top with scallions, pickled jalapeño slices, sour cream, pine nuts, whatever you like!

I have been snacking on a lot of Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde with tortilla chips lately and it got me thinking that I actually hadn’t made my own tomatillo salsa before. While I like the store-bought version, the homemade version is so much more flavorful and fresh tasting. As long as I can find fresh tomatillos at the store, I will be making it from now on!

Like I mentioned at the top, this recipe has a bunch of steps, but they are simple and you don’t have to rush any part of it. You can make the salsa and/or the sauce ahead. Use leftover or rotisserie chicken. You can make the filling ahead too. Just cover and refrigerate it until you’re ready to assemble and bake. Also, I had quite a bit of filling leftover, so I vacuumed sealed it to freeze and make another batch of Enchiladas or nachos some other time (for the Super Bowl perhaps?!).

For the Love of Leftovers

If you’ve been following me for a bit now, you know I love leftovers, the challenge of creating new dishes with them is my kind of problem-solving! So, this is a great make-ahead-use-your-leftovers meal that you can pull out and assemble on a weeknight and have a hot, comforting dinner in about 30 minutes. I hope you give this Enchiladas Verde a try! Be sure to let me know if you do, and how you mix things up to make it your own. Thank you so much for stopping by today, have a beautiful Wednesday and I will see you here again tomorrow! Take care and be well, everyone. xo Kelly

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Easy Enchiladas Verde

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Dinner, Main Course – Mexican/American

By Adapted from Pinch of Yum – Serves: 4-8

Prep Time: 50 Minutes – Cooking Time: 20 Minutes – Total Time: ~1 Hour, 10 Minutes

Spicy, cheesy, Mexican casserole-style comfort food with chicken, corn, white beans and a fresh homemade tomatillo salsa verde.

Ingredients

• Verde Sauce
• 12-15 Tomatillos, husks removed
• 3 Jalapeños
• 3-5 Garlic Cloves, skins on
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt to taste
• 1 cup Chicken Broth (or 1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1/4 cup Cilantro, rough chopped and packed
• Enchiladas Verdes
• 9-10 8" Corn Tortillas (or flour, if you like)
• 12 oz. Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded, divided
• 1 lb. Cooked Chicken, shredded
• 1 cup Frozen Corn
• 1 can White Beans, drained and rinsed

Instructions

Verde Sauce

1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2

Peel the husks off of 12-15 tomatillos and place them on a sheet tray with 3 whole jalapeños and 3-5 whole cloves of garlic.

3

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Kosher salt and roast for 30 minutes, turning everything over midway through.

4

Once they come out, reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

5

Puree the tomatillos, jalapeños and garlic and the juices from the pan. Then add the chicken stock, sour cream and cilantro. Puree until smooth and set aside.

Enchiladas Verdes

6

In a large bowl, mix the shredded chicken, corn, beans, half the cheese and 2 cups of the verde sauce and set aside.

7

Heat a tablespoon of grapeseed oil in a skillet until hot and shimmery. Lightly fry two tortillas at a time until tortillas are soft and pliable, slightly browning in some areas. Let rest on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat for remaining tortillas, adding a little more oil if necessary between batches.

8

Spread a light layer of the verde sauce on the bottom of the 9"x13" casserole dish.

9

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mixture in the center of a tortilla and roll up. Place Enchilada, seam side down, in the casserole dish. Repeat until the dish is full with a single layer of Enchiladas (about 9-10 Enchiladas).

10

Pour the remaining verde sauce over the Enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

11

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and cheese is browning.

12

Top with crumbled Cotija, pickled red onions and a few cilantro leaves, scallions, pickled jalapeño slices, sour cream, pine nuts, whatever you like!