White Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce {Recipe}
These easy White Chicken Enchiladas are made with flour tortillas, shredded chicken, melty cheese, green chiles, and a delicious sour cream sauce.
White Chicken Enchiladas are ALL the rage, and for good reason. The flavor is incredible. Bold flavor but not spicy. Creamy comfort food, yet not too rich. These are a winner in all categories and will satisfy even the pickiest eater. (Yes even with green chilies and sour cream!)
This recipe gets all the accolades and compliments. Everyone loves these creamy and cheesy chicken enchiladas. Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas has been the #1 recipe on my site every year since 2012. It's just a classic favorite.
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Not your everyday Enchiladas...
These are not your typical enchiladas. Traditionally, enchiladas are made with corn tortillas and a red or green sauce. These are a "whole other thing"….and so so good.
I have a big family and we love to have big Fiesta Night dinners. Tacos, taquitos, nachos, and of course these enchiladas are a must. There are never any leftovers (I blame the Sour Cream and green chillies!).
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Easy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
This is a great recipe for a busy schedule. If you have a busy day, cook the chicken in the slow cooker and then shred it and assemble the enchiladas, and make the sauce at dinner time.
If you have a busy late afternoon, make the the full recipe up to 12 hours in advance and keep in the fridge and just bake them at dinner time.
I like to put these on the Menu for Monday because I can cook the chicken in the slow cooker on Sunday and assemble everything and stick the pan in the fridge. Then when we get home Monday from school, activities, appointments, and general chaos that comes with the beginning of the week, I can pop these in the oven and know that we will all be looking forward to a delicious dinner.
Ingredients for White Chicken Enchiladas
There are so many ways to make this your own. This recipe will give you the confidence to experiment. Onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, black beans, taco seasoning, chili powder, and all kinds of things to add as you cook the chicken and assemble the filling. Start with the basic recipe and then experiment as you like.
If you like to punch up the flavor and enjoy spicy, add chili powder to the chicken, add diced jalapenos to the sauce and use pepper jack cheese.
- Flour tortillas- I used a taco size tortillas, but you can also use the smaller ones and get more individual enchiladas. The flour tortillas do not become soggy or gummy.
- Cooked, shredded chicken- I have shared several ways above to make delicious and moist chicken and easy ways to shred it quickly.
- Monterey Jack Cheese- you can use any kind of melting cheese. Cheddar jack, pepper jack, and Mexican blend all work well here. If you are using mozzarella, mix it with cheddar for texture and melting.
- Butter and flour- this will be used to make roux as a base to thicken the sour cream sauce.
- Chicken Broth- use prepared chicken broth or bouillon base and water
- Sour cream- use full-fat sour cream. Full-fat Greek yogurt can also be used.
- Green chiles- these are diced and mild. They are not spicy, and they add great flavor.
See the recipe for quantities.
*You can add all the broth at once and stir while it cooks, coming to a simmer for 15 or 20 minutes and is nice and thick. Stir continually.
*Or you can add in only small amounts (½ to 1 cup of broth) at a time and let each addition thicken before adding more, it will only take about 10 minutes to simmer and thicken. Stir continually.
Serve with your favorite taco toppings and a side salad or fresh veggies.
If I am making this to serve a large family or big group, I figure 1.5 enchiladas per person and then go heavy on the side options. I like to warm up pinto beans (or refried beans) and corn and serve chips with salsa. There is always more sour cream and fresh avocado. Fresh lime wedges and diced tomatoes are wonderful. We also like sliced black olives and jalapenos.
Variations and Substitutions:
- Use corn tortillas. Tradiitional enchiladas use soft corn tortillas. Warm up the tortillas first so that when you roll them up, they won't split.
- Add chili. powder and taco seasoning to the chicken
- Add green chilies and onions to the chicken when cooking it.
What's The Best Way To Make Shredded Chicken?
*Slow cooker- use 4-5 boneless chicken breasts and cook on low with ½ cup water and seasonings for 6 hours. Shred and enjoy.
*Oven roasted- Drizzle olive oil over 4-5 boneless chicken breasts and season with cumin, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Shred and enjoy.
*In a large pot filled with chicken broth, boil chicken breasts for 20 minutes or so until cooked through. Shred and season.
*You can also buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it for a quick solution. Even faster, I love buying the packaged shredded rotisserie chicken from Costco.
Top Tip
*For an easy way to shred chicken, you can use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and shred it on low while the chicken is hot. you can also use an electric hand mixer with beaters just be careful not to mash or pulverize the chicken.
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover enchiladas in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Can I freeze White Chicken Enchiladas?
This recipe, as a whole, does not freeze well. The chicken rolled up in the flour tortillas will make the tortillas gummy when thawed. The sour cream sauce doesn't freeze well and separates when thawed. To use your freezer in meal prep for this recipe, cook your chicken with prices and any mixins. Cool and then freeze in a zip top freezer bag for 2-3 months. You can then thaw and roll it up in the tortillas, make the sauce, and bake it as directed.
More Enchilada Recipes
Do you love all enchiladas? I have recipes for more!
Delicious! I made my chiken in the crock pot in the morning and added: sliced onion, clove of garlic, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, chicken broth and jar of salsa verde. I let it cook on low all day and when I got home, all I had to do was make the sauce! I also added some fresh cilantro to the chicken mixture at the end. Lastly, I added more green chilis to the sauce. Delicious and easy!
How many people will this feed?
These looked good and my boyfriend like them - I on the other hand was not crazy about them. The chicken and cheese mixture inside was good (I grilled my chicken in the george foreman with some chili powder and garlic salt) but the sauce was not for me. Next time I'll mix he green chilis in with the chicken and top with green enchilada sauce and cheese.
Only change I made was diced onion to the chicken/cheese mixture and some cumin and black pepper to the cream sauce. This is the best thing I've ever made!!! Thank you!!!
One of my Hubby's new favorites!! I did add a little spice, not much but then my daughter thought it was to spicy. Great recipe though, thank you for sharing 😉
Not like you haven't had a million people tell you how oh-so-yummy these enchiladas are! I featured them on my blog as part of my Pinterest-ing Meals Challenge after doubting the recipe a little...while I'm a big fan of canned green chilis, I didn't think there would be enough flavor with so few ingredients. But WOW! Without being "spicy", they are so amazing and flavorful!! My husband voted them "best enchiladas" and I've since shredded my old recipes. 🙂 Thanks for this easy, inexpensive, winner of a dinner!
I've been making this recipe since last year and it is one of our favs! My husband has been out of town for 3 wks and will be back tomorrow....I asked him what he wanted for dinner, knowing he'd want some good homecooking...it's no surprise that these WONDERFUL chicken enchiladas are his pick!! Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe...we have four children, 2 are very picky and they LOVE IT!! As anyone with a big family knows it's hard to please everyone---this recipe isn't only a "people pleaser" it's an "everyone pleaser" thanks again!!
Oh yeah- and for anyone that says this recipe isn't great, I believe it may be your cooking skills, not the recipe 😉
This is an excellent recipe...easy to make and yummy! I substituted cream cheese for the sour cream, however. DH does not like sour cream.
I'm from Texas where we know good Mexican food & my family and I really like this recipe. Maybe So Cal people are so spice drunk they think everything should be drowned. Not offense So Cal people.. just sayin.
I will say the ONLY thing I added was some onion (for hub) & a little Adobo seasoning to the sauce & chicken mixture. Not alot though. Most people tend to add or leave ingredients out of recipes according to their tastes, these are not set in stone ingredients ya'll. Do what you like! Sheesh.
Great "jump off" recipe Joyful Momma! 😉
I normally make my enchiladas with a red sauce. Well, I made these tonight and they are so good! My 2 year old even gobbled them up. I added some of the sauce, extra sour cream and green onions to the chicken/cheese mixture. The sauce is so yummy. I can't wait for leftovers tomorrow!
If I freeze these, do I bake them (without the sauce) first?
Just tried this tonight. So good! Thanks!
Wow! This was very successful. There's none left after our little Labor Day get-together. I liked the idea of cooking the chicken with some spices, but getting a rotisserie chicken was so much easier. I purchased the rotisserie chicken, shredded it, and then mixed it with the suggested cumin, black pepper, and garlic powder. Also, for the cheese inside the tortillas, I substituted shredded pepper jack. I also used a little extra sour cream and jack cheese for the top. Delicious!
YUMMMMMM so dank!
Made these last night, added mushrooms, garlic, onion and extra cheese! YUM they were so good.
Made it tonight and we all loved it! very good. Added mushrooms & onions and extra cheese on top! YUM
oh, I also made these, sauce and all, the night before I cooked them. I put them in the oven straight from the fridge, short of "warming time" on top of the oven while it preheated, and cooked them for about 40-45 minutes. I skipped the broiling step altogether, and they were nice and golden.
These were SOOOOO good. I made them exactly as written, except I used more chicken and cheese to fill the tortillas, and still only had 8 at the end, then put more mont. jack. on top. I used shredded chicken from a whole chicken I boiled, and the broth it produced. Delicious. Served it with fresh tomato salsa (martha stewart) and homemade guacamole, plus cilantro, sour cream and shredded romaine. Plus black beans on the stovetop with cumin, salt, pepper. And tortilla chips. This is my new enchilada recipe : )
The sauce does freeze well without the sour cream. Add in the sour cream after reheating the sauce to use on day of cooking. Thank you for sharing freezing tips here too. I plan to make at least one pan of this to freeze in preparation for the newborn days after our third baby is born next year....
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