For this dinner recipe, I must admit that I used a recipe that I found online to help guide me since I had never made enchiladas before. However, once I read the recipe, I decided that I could handle it and while the recipe was a nice guide, I ultimately made my own dish. The recipe that I used as a guide is as follows:
Chicken Enchiladas
Source:https://bunnyswarmoven.net/chicken-enchiladas-with-homemade-red-enchilada-sauce/
Ingredients
- 2 whole chicken breasts, uncooked
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 Teaspoon garlic powder
- one 10 ounces can diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 4 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 Teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the diced onion, tomatoes, garlic powder, chicken broth and the whole chicken breasts in a large saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken breasts are tender enough to easily shred. Let the mixture cool. Remove the chicken breasts and shred, discard the remaining ingredients in the pot.
- Spread 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce onto the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking pan. Spread about a 1/2 Teaspoon enchilada sauce onto the middle of each of 12 corn tortillas. Place 1 Tablespoon of shredded chicken on top of the enchilada sauce followed by a sprinkling of both kinds of cheese. Roll the corn tortilla up and place it in the 13×9 inch baking pan. Repeat for the remaining 11 tortillas.
- Top the rolled enchiladas with the remaining enchilada sauce and both shredded kinds of cheese. Bake at 400 degrees, uncovered for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce directions:
- Place the flour and oil in a medium-size saucepan under medium heat. Whisk and cook the mixture until it starts to boil, then boil another minute or two to remove the flour taste. Whisk in the seasonings until well blended. While still whisking, add the chicken broth to the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Doing it my way
So, first I needed to figure out what basic ingredients I would need to make chicken enchiladas.
- Chicken breast
- Tortillas
- Cheese
- Enchilada sauce
- Spices
I took the ingredient list and grabbed what I had on hand to suffice.
- Thinly sliced chicken breast (4 pieces)
- Spinach Herb tortilla wraps (4)
- Colby jack shredded cheese (2-3 cups worth)
- Fat-free chicken broth
- Spices as listed in the original recipe
So, what was I missing? I didn’t have any diced tomatoes on hand so that ingredient from the original recipe got left out. I also left out the onion simply because chopping onions makes me blind from tears. I also did not have any cayenne pepper seasoning on hand so I added more chili powder.
What did I add? I had some leftover rice and broccoli in the freezer from a previous meal. I thought it would work well as an additional ingredient to stuff the enchiladas with, and I was right!
I paired my enchiladas with premade garlic knots which were good but ended up being an unnecessary side for this dish. In the future, I would probably serve the enchiladas alone or with a small side salad.
I cooked the chicken down in the chicken broth and garlic powder mixture, but I was unable to shred the chicken so I decided to chop the pieces slightly and put them on the tortilla wrap nearly whole. I do not recommend this if using whole chicken breast pieces, it only worked in my favor because they were thinly sliced breast pieces already.
I made the sauce as instructed and then I put the dish together as instructed in the original recipe. I was nervous that it wouldn’t have enough flavor but boy was I wrong!
I would happily make this recipe again and I would also love to try other variations of the recipe or experiment with ingredients such as queso cheese, avocado slices, bacon, beans and more!
