This cheesy and spicy chicken enchilada dish can feed a large group, and it tastes great re-heated as leftovers the next day.
Chicken Enchiladas
This cheesy and spicy chicken enchilada dish can feed a large group, and it tastes great re-heated as leftovers the next day.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 large white onion, (medium dice)
- 1 large tomato, (medium dice)
- 1 celery stalk, (finely sliced)
- 1 glove garlic, (minced)
- 1 Tbsp ground cumin
- 1 Tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 large jalapeno peppers, (finely sliced)
- 3-4 cups chicken stock
- ½ can chipotles in adobo, (blended)
- 10 dried guajillo chiles
- 5 dried adobo chiles
- 1 cup chopped cilantro, plus an additional ¼ cup for garnish
- 24 6” corn tortillas
- 2 cups vegetable oil ((for frying tortillas))
- 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 lb shredded cheddar cheese
- Sliced avocado, sour cream, lime wedges, chopped fresh cilantro, and your favorite hot sauce. (Garnishes)
Instructions
- Brown your chicken thighs whole in a hot pan and set aside.
- Turn heat to low, and deglaze the pan you cooked your chicken in with a splash of chicken stock to loosen up the bits on the bottom.
- Begin cooking your onions and celery on low heat.
- Add your dried spices, garlic, tomato, and jalapeno peppers and continue to cook on low heat, adding additional chicken stock if the mixture gets too dry or starts to take on color.
- Transfer this mixture to a larger soup pot and add the remaining chicken stock and your chicken.
- Braise the chicken at a low simmer in the liquid for roughly 40 minutes, or until the chicken is fork-tender and falling apart.
- Strain out the excess liquid and reserve and chicken and vegetables and the cooking liquid.
- The remaining cooking liquid will be incorporated into the enchilada sauce.
- To make the enchilada sauce, begin by gently toasting both sides of your dried chiles, and then remove the tops and seeds from the insides of the dried chiles.
- Place the chiles in a bowl and cover with enough hot water to submerge.
- Place plastic wrap over the bowl and allow to sit for 20 minutes.
- Remove the chiles from the water, and blend at high speed with ½ can of chipotles peppers in adobo and your remaining chicken stock from earlier.
- Return this mixture to a pot on the stove and cook for an additional 20 minutes, adjust seasonings to taste.
- Fry each side of each tortilla quickly in hot oil and reserve the fried tortillas on paper towels.
- You don’t want the tortillas to cook until they are crispy, they should still be rollable--This helps the tortillas maintain their integrity and hold together when they later get covered in sauce and baked.
- Pull your chicken apart into tiny pieces and mix with the onions and vegetables.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning.
- If the mixture is too dry, feel free to add some of the enchilada sauce that you made earlier.
- Take a 9”x13” casserole dish and grease the insides with butter or vegetable oil.
- Add 1 cup of the enchilada sauce to the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Place 3-4 Tbsp of filling in each tortilla and roll up.
- Place the tortillas carefully in the casserole dish on top of the sauce layer.
- Add a layer of cheeses, followed by another coating of enchilada sauce.
- Add another layer of rolled tortillas and top with additional sauce, and top with a final layer of both cheeses.
- Bake in the oven at 350F for 45 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown and the enchiladas are heated through.
- Serve with sliced avocado, lime wedges, sour cream, fresh cilantro, and your favorite hot sauce!
Notes
You can easily scale this recipe up or down, depending on the total number of servings you want.