So it’s a bit delayed, but hey, good things take time. 🙂 I actually almost skipped this for another post, but then remembered that I used my actual camera to take my food photos, not my cell phone – oops!
This recipe holds two things that D either hated or disliked and thus it was a rare occasion that I ever made them, sour cream and cheese. He didn’t necessarily hate cheese, but pick a random day and it would be blamed for any gastric issues he had, especially if it was something I had cooked. He may very well have a real issue with lactose. I know several folks who do, but they seem to know exactly what they can and can’t have, and often how much of it can they or can’t they have without having a reaction. He could down a whole cheese pizza without a complaint, but if I made one of my chimichanga’s that he raved about and had the exact same cheese inside he would blame it for any upset his tummy may have. So I never really knew if he had an actual lactose intolerance, or if he just was using this as a way to complicate my life. He did the same thing with juices until I discovered he was drinking them with no problems when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. Anyway – the sour cream and cheese combo meant I didn’t get to eat one of my favorite dishes that Mom made when I was growing up. I did make it a couple of times, but I had to make the extra effort of making regular beef enchiladas with red sauce. I think he DID have a small serving of the chicken enchiladas at one point, and he may have said they were good, but not enough to risk a full serving.
Feel free to customize and play with it if you want. Some of my sisters don’t like the green chili’s so they leave them out. I’ve made it with corn tortillas or even flour tortillas and both work well, though I think the corn held up a bit better as leftovers and in the freezer. I like to make this in two small pans so I can cook one for now, and freeze the other one uncooked for later.
Eventually I’ll make cool printable recipe pages, but for now I’m lazy and just take pictures.
Use whatever brands you have. Make it easy. I wish I could be brand loyal, but my shopping decisions are made by the price tag.
If you want more heat, you can use other chili peppers. I like the flavor of the green chili’s so I keep with them. If you don’t can your own chicken you can just use whatever boneless skinless chicken is affordable at the grocery store. If you don’t cook your own meat (because some folks don’t) and you want super easy access to cooked poultry, one of those ready to eat rotisserie chickens from the grocery stores work as well. I’m actually a big fan of those chickens because I use the carcass to make bone broth when I’m done getting the meat off of it.
Dump the Cream of Chicken Soup, Sour Cream, and Green Chili’s into a large sauce pan. I know the recipe says to add salt, but I tend to omit that until the end because sometimes things are salty enough.
Mix it up until it is smooth (save for the chunks of chili’s and chicken from the soup)
While the sauce is doing it’s thing, get the next phase ready.
You can fit the whole recipe in a large pan (9×13) or two small ones, or even several small ones – whatever works for you.
Ready for the sauce!
You can do rolled enchiladas if you want, but I don’t typically have the time for that or patience for cleaning up. So, sure this could be classified as a non-enchilada thing, but I like to think of it as a lazy girl enchilada where you just layer it.
And you just keep layering; tortilla, chicken, cheese, sauce, repeat. Until you are at the limit of the dish or you run out of ingredients. I always try to end with a layer of tortilla and sauce so I can add extra cheese (I like cheese).
I put the glass pan in the oven to cook until all the cheese is melted and the sauce is all bubbly. The round pan I wrapped in like bazillion layers of plastic wrap (I know Mr. Bishop, Bazillion isn’t a real number) and then a plastic bag then freeze. Don’t cook it before hand, the tortilla will survive the freezing and cooking process better.
And after an amount of time that works for your oven and size of your pan (usually about a half hour give or take) you take this gorgeous golden brown dish out of the oven and let it cool (bummer I know, I always burn my mouth because I want it right now and don’t wait). It will not only save your mouth from be burned by hot food, but the enchiladas will cut and come out of the pan easier.
Serve with something healthy, like asparagus, or a cookie. 🙂 You pick.
My fe-lions helping with chicken broth from the canned chicken. I try not to let anything go to waste.
And that, my friends, is how I do my chicken enchiladas. This also reminds me that I have that small round one in the freezer – now to talk to mom and see if I have to defrost it before I cook it – I always forget. 🙂
Hope you have a nice sunny weekend and get some sun (but not too much because that could be bad for you). So nice to not be cold, though I wish a nice mild spring had happened.
Chicken A-La-Queen