Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Shortcut Green Chicken Enchiladas - Perfect for Your Americanized, Unauthentic Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

This recipe doesn't pretend to be anything it's not - this is simply a super-fast casserole that shares a few similarities to chicken enchiladas. If you are Mexican, and were/are lucky enough to enjoy authentic enchiladas, this will not remind you of Mom's - or even Dad's.

But having issued the standard ethnic recipe disclaimer, I'll say, these aren't bad. As long as you choose a high-quality green sauce and a decently cooked rotisserie chicken, you should end up with a nice, easy, fast dinner.

Please buy some good cheeses and grate them yourself. You'll see me using a pre-grated Mexican cheese blend, which was me not wanting to waste a product sample I had received for a review (the verdict? Grate your own cheese!)

This low-quality video was posted on YouTube a long time ago, but for whatever reason was never posted here. In fact, I don't even have a decent photo of the final dish, which is why you see this crappy screen shot here. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese
8 oz cheddar cheese
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
3 cups green enchilada sauce
10 corn tortillas
2 tbsp hot sauce

Photo (c) Flickr user Sung Sook


44 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember this vid it was near to when I found Chef John's vids...that was couple years ago--I made it and it was good. The Thai chicken coconut soup has become a staple here for me thanks to those YT vids. Wow--I have been visiting your site a couple years now. No wonder I have gained 20 lbs. Thanks again for inspiring folks like me to cook again.

Jessica said...

The finished product looks so much better than the false advertising!

CollegeGourmet said...

God, I remember this recipe from way, way back. Foodwishes 1.0; those were good times, but then again, so are these!
I made this a few days after the original posting, and I think I used leftover pork (carnitas style, because that's how I roll). It was mmm, mmm good.

Unknown said...

Yum, I'm going to see if I have stuff to make this, or add things to my shopping list. I love green sauce with cumin too, and sprinke cilantro on it, YUM!

Or sour cream with a small can of jalapenos run through the blender (juice and all).

Or mole with chipotle would probably be good, since it was good in tamales.

Hubby doesn't like it as much if make it in 'caserole' style (using the tortillas like lasagna noodles), but he thinks it tastes much better if they're rolled ROFL

Anonymous said...

this looks absolutely terrific! Great work John :)
I really like the avocado garnish.. spectacular!

MOAR VIDEOS PLOX..<3

Anonymous said...

YEAH, THAT'S HOW I ROLL
I'm gonna roll those tonight!

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef,

I remember you telling us umpteen times that while cutting meat, always cut across the grain, to keep it tender. But in the video, as you were shredding the chicken, it was coming apart all strandified. Wasn't that against the rules?

Chef John said...

cooked chicken is always going to be soft. It doesn't have a grain, and shredded chicken is nicer than chopped chicken for things like this and salads, soups, etc. Across the grain cutting is for meats, so you are chewing shorter stands of protein and not long chewy ones.

Charlemange said...

Good. Now I have something to make for tomorrow's dinner.

Unknown said...

Can I use flour tortillas?

Chef John said...

sure, they just get a little softer.

Alberto said...

oh boy... I thought this was from the learn2cook times :D

Anonymous said...

Chef, I am making this tomorrow, thank you for a great recipe.

Cheers
JD

Jesse from Detroit said...

Food Wish: How do you make a good pan sauce? (Mine always come out like thick gravy...)

Chef John said...

actually if you check out the "sauce" category in the sidebar you'll see I've done several pan sauce videos.

Luatica said...

Oh yeah. I found an online store in France that delivers mexican ingredients such as dry chiles, salsa verde, fresh corn tortillas and such. Today I got my order so I decided to give a try to these (just came back to work so im not going to do a chilie or something) with some chicken breast i had in the fridge.

Now waiting for it finish baking but it already smells great.

Also just noticed today is the Cinco de Mayo, so I'm quite amused.

My boyfriend is staring at the microwave combo oven for the enchiladas to come out.

Anonymous said...

Do u have homemade green sauce recipe?

Chef John said...

not yet :-(

Bill said...

I modified this one just a bit to meet my pantry. I've always been skeptical about tomatillo-based sauces and would chose tomato-based ones instead. I shouldn't have been picky. It was great!

I tried a homemade pepper puree this morning on my huevous rancheros. I hydrated the peppers and tried to process them smooth, but skin wouldn't puree well. I think I should have skinned them first.

tethys said...

HI Chef John, Maybe this is too old to comment on - Im a new reader pouring over all the missed posts!!

I wonder if you might be able to suggest a "high quality" enchilada sauce brand? I assume you mean no artificial ingredients but am not sure if there are other things you look for as well.

Thank you!

Chef John said...

just one that's mostly the vegetables and peppers, not a bunch of artificial stuff. (probably the most expensive one!)

Anonymous said...

I made this for lunch yesterday with enough leftover for dinner. Everyone loved it. I might skip the salt for the meat mixture next time; the sauce had plenty enough salt in it. Thanks for the recipe!

Hector Enrique Torres said...

Hmmmm, I would be interested
In seeing this recipe revised. Would like to see a more tastier version. Something thay just yells out; Wow!

Anonymous said...

Saw these and had to make a batch. Love enchiladas! I'm disappointed that my store (Wegman's) didn't have a green enchilada sauce (high quality anyway). I ended up using a can of El Paso and a jar of Frontera Tomatilla Salsa. We'll see how they come out. I'm serving to some not so fussy eaters.;-)

mely said...

I just want to let you know that I do really love your disclaimer. Coming from you means a lot to me a Mexican. :)

Love your blog, always helpful.
Have a great day!

Mely

PS. Where is the George Clooney photo? :)

S/V Blondie-Dog said...

This is by far my favorite Food Wishes recipe...

It's super easy to put together, budget friendly, lots of flavor, and most importantly it pairs up perfectly with cold beer.

Yeah mon! My lady-friend does think that I be a great cook!

Danielle said...

Would you be willing to give me a name brand for your high quality verde sauce?

For now, I'm making this tonight with a red sauce.

~Danielle

Chef John said...

Sorry, it was so long ago I don't remember the brand!

ChefJohnsBiggestFan said...

Looks easy n fab! NOW, although this may be the WRONG place to leave a food wish wish i would like to ask you humbly to make a CHICKEN MOLE recipe. I want you to know that i watched a foodnetwork recipe that looked great- went out spent 40 bucks on all the ingredients, came home made it and it was so bad that my family couldn't even EAT it. My 6 year old tells me everything i make is great "Except for those chocolate tacos!" she will never let me live it down.

Anonymous said...

Chef - forgive my ignorance please...if I wanted to roll these up ahead of time (like, before going to a movie), could I just do it like up to the sauce, and then pull them out of the fridge, sauce them and then bake them? And do you need to bake them longer or sit for a few minutes before putting them in the oven to make up for them being cold? (Sorry so stupid, but I'm learning a lot from you)

Chef John said...

You can make ahead! May bake a few minutes longer.

Allisa4757 said...

Twice in one week! I do love these! I used "Hatch" brand verde sauce, but next time will try "Las Palmas" after googling for the best green sauce. I am puffy enough after eating these and I really think an extra t. of salt is overkill. I only had really sharp high quality white cheddar and a "striped" artisan Jack cheese, I thought they would wrong for this dish, but they worked. Thanks Chef John, this is yummy:)

Martin said...

I cannot seem to find enchilada sauce and corn tortillas in canada visiting 3 of our biggest supermarkets.

So instead I got nacho sauce, blended it smooth and used that instead, and used flour tortillas.
This came out so great, my fiance said it's the best tasting dish I made so far :)

Thank you for making recipe so easy and good tasting.

Tabitha said...

What if I wanted to use ground beef instead of chicken? Just brown it first?

Lyndsay said...

Hi Chef John!

I made this recipe tonight but combined it with another because I didn't have green enchilada sauce. (can you believe it?) I only had a fresh green enchilada but it ended up being delicioust.

I substituted the enchilada sauce for a fresh one sauteed to soften (although I thought maybe roasting it would have been better as an afterthought) butter and flower to thicken it and 2 cups chicken broth and a cup of sour cream. They turned out fantastic and I think I will be making these a lot!

Just thought you might like to know and maybe even try!

Carolyn said...

Thanks for the great recipe! I made this tonight and will be adding it to my favorites! It was packed with flavor and very easy. I added some sliced black olives on top as well. Also, I was happy to see that green chile enchilada sauce is very low in calories:)

DeTigero said...

What to do when you can't buy the enchilada cause?? bummer!!!

BBTGoss said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chef John said...

hard to say. would be pretty soggy after a week.

Trevor Toth said...

Thank you Chef John for
this recipe.. I am making it tonight.. Enjoy the Day :-)

cookinmom said...

I use a cake pan and put green sauce in it to dip both sides of the tortilla and then roll it up. So easy!!

PJ said...

I have made this again and again and everyone loves it every time i make it. Thank you for posting... My one and only culinary talent is my ability to follow your directions!

sdf said...

This has become one of my favorite recipes (esp with a fat juicy Costco chicken for just $5!!). I've gotten even lazier than Chef J normally allows, however - we also make tacos from the kit (disgraceful I know) and there are always taco shells left over. I collect them and when I have 6-7 I make this with the taco shells! It's great and the shells get crunchy and even more delicious. Don't forget the cumin.

Unknown said...

I always go to chef John's trusted site for any recipe that I'm looking for and this one did not disappoint at all! Delish!! ps. I used Monterrey Jack cheese with jalapeno's for that extra kick!