This easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe is flavorful, simple to do, and a meal the whole family will enjoy. This recipe uses a cooked rotisserie chicken and store-bought salsa for quick and easy shortcuts that gets dinner on the table quickly on those busy weeknights.
This Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe is perfectly cheesy and so easy to put together. It uses some store-bought shortcuts to simplify the process and get a tasty dinner on the table quicker than a traditional recipe. With the help of a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken and store-bought salsa, dinner is on the table in about 35 minutes!
I LOVE having leftover rotisserie chicken for shortcut meals. Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, and Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe are some of our favorite ways to repurpose that chicken, as is this delicious enchiladas recipe.
If you don’t have leftover rotisserie chicken, you can simply cook up some chicken breast or thighs and shred them.
This Tex-Mex style enchiladas recipe is simple and satisfying. It is nontraditional as it uses simplified ingredients and process. It also uses some not-so traditional additions like cream cheese to make a super creamy filling. So yummy!
In lieu of making a homemade salsa roja or enchilada sauce, store-bought salsa is used and saves me from a time-consuming task. You can use any red salsa you like for this recipe or even replace it with salsa verde if you prefer.
Why we love this Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe
- It’s delicious and satisfies even picky eaters!
- Chicken enchiladas is a great way to put leftover rotisserie chicken to use!
- This simplified enchiladas recipe uses ingredients I often have on hand already.
- Using shortcuts like pre-cooked chicken and store-bought salsa means this dinner can be ready in about 35 minutes.
- You can prep this dish in advance.
- Leftovers are just as delicious!
Ingredients in Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Veggies: Onion and red pepper are used in the filling. Additionally, you can top the dish with green onions and cherry tomatoes before serving to add extra veggies to the dish.
- Chicken: Cooked chicken, like leftover rotisserie chicken is used for this simplified recipe.
- Salsa: red salsa or salsa roja. If you prefer salsa verde, you can easily swap it in instead. The salsa is added to the filling as well as used to top the enchiladas. It is a large flavor component to this simple dish so be sure to choose a salsa your family loves.
- Cream cheese: I love adding cream cheese to the filling. It makes it extra creamy and delicious.
- Ground cumin: In addition to all the flavor that is already infused into the salsa, I like to add ground cumin for added flavor.
- Cheese: Mexican cheese, cheddar or Monterey Jack.
- Tortillas
- Sour cream: to serve.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post. **
Optional ingredients
In addition to the ingredients listed above, you can also add more to the filling to suit your own family’s preferences. Some options include:
- Corn
- black beans or pinto beans
- diced green chiles
How to make Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a casserole dish.
- Cook onions and peppers. Place oil in skillet and turn heat on stove to medium. Add onions and peppers and cook for 2 minutes.
- Complete the filling. Add the chicken, 1/4 cup salsa, cream cheese, and cumin and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese.
- Assemble the enchiladas. Spoon about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture down the center of a tortilla and roll it up. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down in the casserole dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
- Bake. Top the enchiladas with the remaining salsa and shredded cheese. Bake them for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle the baked enchiladas with chopped green onion and tomatoes, if desired, and serve with sour cream.
Can you prep this recipe in advance?
Yes! You can make dinnertime even easier by getting some of the prep work done ahead of time. Prepping ahead of time can include simple steps like pre-shredding your cheese and chopping your veggies ahead of time.
You can make things even easier for yourself by completely cooking the filling and assembling the enchiladas in advance. To do this, I recommend allowing the filling to cool and then assembling the enchiladas in the casserole dish as you would in the recipe. Since you are baking a refrigerated casserole dish, I recommend using an aluminum dish instead of a ceramic one as the temperature shock can cause it to shatter.
I don’t recommend topping the enchiladas with salsa and cheese until just before baking since letting them sit in the salsa can cause the tortillas to get soggy. Instead, you can cover the rolled up enchiladas in the casserole dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake them. Then you just top them with the cheese and salsa and bake.
Storing leftovers and reheating
Once cooled, leftovers can be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the fridge.
To reheat them, place them into a lightly greased baking dish and bake them at 350F until warmed through.
I hope you enjoy this easy recipe as much as we do!
-Cathy
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Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped
- 1 1/2 lbs cooked chicken shredded
- 1 1/4 cups salsa divided (red salsa or salsa roja)
- 125 g cream cheese cubed (4oz or half a brick)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup Mexican cheese blend shredded, divided (or cheddar or Monterey Jack)
- 8 large flour tortillas
- 2 green onions chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes chopped (optional)
- sour cream to serve, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a casserole dish.
- Place oil in skillet and turn heat on stove to medium. Add onions and peppers and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken, 1/4 cup salsa, cream cheese, and cumin and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese.
- Spoon about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture down the center of a tortilla and roll it up. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down in the casserole dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
- Top the enchiladas with the remaining salsa and shredded cheese. Bake them for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle the baked enchiladas with chopped green onion and tomatoes, if desired, and serve.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
