roasted chicken and red chile enchiladas

Not much can go wrong when you start with ingredients like this. Thank you Whole Foods for the mid-winter colors.

All of which became a feast to bring to a friend in honor of their newest little family member.

And another one for us because it’s perfect for January and family dinners.

This recipe is a keeper. I see lots of recipes for enchiladas with ingredients like beans and corn but I’m not drawn to them. I personally love the flavors of this roasted red sauce, chicken and delicious melty cheese–leaving the world’s best beans as a side dish.

This recipe requires a little prep but mostly it’s about setting up and making an assembly line.

White corn tortillas are my favorite for making enchiladas. Brush them lightly with olive oil on both sides, stack them on a cookie sheet and heat in a preheated 350° oven for 3 minutes to soften. Set aside and cover with a towel until ready to go.

Shred the cooked chicken–I used about 3/4 of a rotisserie chicken this time.

Puree and cook the sauce.

Shred the cheese.

Assemble.

This recipe can be made by toasting guajillo chiles or using ancho chili powder.

Guajillo chiles look like this:

Ancho powder is actually dried poblano peppers. I’ve made this recipe both ways and love them equally as much. If you use any other kind of chili powder, adjust the cumin addition as chili powder is usually a mix of additional spices. I love the depth of flavor pure ground chiles like ancho and guajillo add to this sauce, I think you will too.

To toast dried guajillo chiles, slice them open and remove the seeds.

Flatten out the chile pieces and press down in a heated pan as needed, toast the chiles on each side for about 15 seconds until fragrant, not smoking. If they smoke, you are probably burning them so turn down your heat. (Work quickly and don’t inhale deeply or you’ll start to cry!)

Here’s the whole recipe:

roasted chicken and red chile enchiladas

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Ingredients

• 4 guajillo chiles seeded and toasted or 3 tablespoons of ancho chile powder
• 2 large garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 28 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 5 cracks of ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 12 white corn tortillas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups of shredded chicken
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups of Chihuahua Mexican melting cheese or Jack Cheese
• Optional toppings: sour cream diced white onion and chopped cilantro

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• If toasting your own guajillo chiles: seed, stem, and cut dried chiles into flat pieces. Flatten out the pepper pieces and press down in a heated pan as needed, toast the chiles on each side for about 15 seconds until fragrant, not smoking. If they smoke, you are probably burning them so turn down your heat. Toss toasted chiles into blender jar and continue on with the recipe.
• To a blender jar, add the tomatoes with juices, ancho powder or toasted guajillo chiles, chopped garlic, cumin and pepper. Blend until smooth and all the chunks are pureed. In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If you are using guajillo chiles strain your sauce with a strainer or mesh colander, pressing sauce through strainer into pan to remove any larger papery chile pieces. Once sauce is in your pan, cook for about 7 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thickened. Stir in the broth and turn the heat down to simmer for 10 minutes.
• While the sauce is simmering, lightly brush tortillas with olive oil on both sides. Overlap and stack on a cookie sheet. Heat in preheated oven for 3 minutes. When they are softened, stack them up in a pile and cover with a clean dish towel.
• To finish your sauce give it a couple pinches of sugar to cut any sour edges to the sauce and salt to taste. Spread 1 big ladle of sauce across the bottom of your baking dish, add another 1/2 cup or so of sauce to the shredded chicken and stir. Take one tortilla, add approximately two tablespoons of sauced chicken, roll tortilla up and lay it snug in the dish, seam side down. When finished ladle the remaining sauce over the rolled up tortillas and sprinkle with the shredded cheese.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has started to brown and juices are bubbling.
• Optional toppings: sour cream, diced white onion and chopped cilantro

This post contains affiliate links to products I know and love. I recommend any of them for this recipe!

Servings :12 enchiladas

Author: Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless

Did you make it? Mention @heatherbursch or tag #shemadeit so we can admire your work!

This meal is one of our favorites. When you add these beans and this rice you have something to celebrate for sure. If you are very very lucky, Tim or your person within reach, will hand you one of Ina’s Margaritas while you are cooking. Yes to that.

After our little Mexican feast this past weekend, our kids decided we should have another baby so we could be brought more awesome meals. While not convincing, the memory of the 5 pm doorbell ringing and hot food being brought over is an incredible gift to remember and one I love to give back.

Enjoy!

~Heather

Last Updated on June 15, 2022 by Heather Bursch