The best White Chicken Enchiladas recipe quenched in a creamy and cheesy sour cream sauce. Get ready to dip into a mouthful of creamy rich flavor!
Around here, we definitely eat Mexican inspired food fair several times a week. What is there not to love about having a fiesta with cheese, tomatoes, and salsa? Know what I mean!
And one thing I can always count on to clear the entire pan is white chicken enchiladas.
Made with a simple sour cream white sauce and poured over chicken and cheese tortillas, these chicken enchiladas are a great recipe to add to your normal weeknight dinner routine.
Now, normally I do step by step professional image photos so readers can follow along when they make recipes.
However, in this case, I was simply making my dinner for my family and decided to share this one, so it’s just a few cell phone shots to showcase the reality of the meal and give you an idea you are on the track.
I hope you love this recipe as much as my family does!
Chicken Enchiladas With White Sauce Recipe Ingredients
This creamy chicken enchiladas recipe ticks all the boxes.
✔Kid-Friendly ✔Mexican Inspired✔ Super Easy Recipe
The key to this recipe is to make sure the chicken is pre-cooked before starting the recipe.
Ingredients you need to make the best chicken enchiladas with white sauce:
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups cooked shredded or chopped up chicken
- 8-10 medium-sized tortillas
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
RELATED RECIPES: Sour Cream Enchiladas (no sauce), Salsa Chicken, Beef and Tortilla Casserole, Sheet Pan Quesadillas, Baked Taquitos, Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Dip
What Is The Best Cheese For White Chicken Enchiladas?
Cheese is an essential ingredient in Mexican dishes.
You can’t go wrong with the following recommended shredded cheeses:
- Mexican four-cheese blend
- Cheddar cheese
- Monterey Jack
How Many Enchiladas Can You Make With This Recipe?
The sauce will generously cover about 8 medium/large size tortillas. If you tightly pack the tortillas in the casserole dish, you can typically add a few more if there is room.
Step By Step Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Step 1: Prep dish with tortillas, chicken, and cheese
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. I use a 9 x 13 dish.
- Chop or shred pre-cooked chicken and divide evenly between tortillas.
- Top chicken with cheese and roll-up.
- Place filled tortillas into your casserole dish, seam side down.
Step 2: Create sour cream enchilada sauce
- Melt butter in a pan on the stove.
- Add 3 tablespoons of flour once butter is melted to make a roux.
- Add chicken broth into the roux.
- Leave sauce on medium-high heat until the sauce begins to thicken. This takes a few minutes. Be mindful of the hot pan to prevent burning.
- Once thickened – pull white sauce off the heat and add 1 cup of sour cream.
- Whisk the enchilada sauce into a consistent texture.
Step 3: Top enchiladas with sour cream sauce
- Pour sour cream enchilada sauce over prepped tortillas. Fully cover all areas of the tortillas, including the corners.
- It’s fine to use a spatula or spoon to spread the sauce.
Step 4: Place in oven
- Add any remaining cheese or sauce.
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes until heated, bubbly, and golden brown.
Best Tips For Cooking And Shredding Chicken
There are many ways to cook and shred your chicken when making the best white chicken enchilada recipe. I like cooking my chicken breasts in my Ninja Foodi for convenience. It boils down to your preference of texture and taste at the end of the day.
- Add spice and flavor to season your chicken if you don’t like the overpowering creamy cheesy sauce. My favorite flavors come from the spices of my chicken tender recipe.
- As long as your chicken is cooked, you can prepare your chicken any way you prefer: air fry, broil, pan-fry, bake, grill, or pressure cook.
- If you’re short on time, you can’t go wrong with a hot and juicy store-bought rotisserie chicken.
- Shred your chicken once cooked. You can use any mixing bowl such as a stand mixer to get the job done faster. You can also use a plate to mix manually with your clean hands or forks.
Corn VS flour tortillas for white chicken enchiladas
Mexican enchiladas are typically made with corn tortillas. Many will argue only corn tortillas should be used for enchiladas. You have the option to do what you like for the food your taste buds want!
Here are some things to consider if you’re deciding which tortillas to cook with:
Using corn tortillas for white chicken enchiladas recipe:
- Made from masa harina (dough flour) and water
- Naturally gluten-free
- Has more flavor
- Generally are smaller in size
- Courser, dryer, and porous texture than flour tortillas
- Can be hard to fold
Using flour tortillas for white chicken enchiladas recipe:
- Made from finely ground wheat flour
- May become soggy and gummy
- Texture wise: it’s soft for easy bending and folding
- Come in bigger sizes
- Likely to not break as easy compared to corn tortillas
How to store, freeze, and reheat white chicken enchiladas
I don’t blame you for cooking too much of the White Chicken Enchiladas recipe. After all, you’ll want to enjoy them for days! Or if you find yourself so full with no more room in your stomach, then storing your white chicken enchiladas for another feast never fails!
How to store white chicken enchiladas:
Make sure your white chicken enchiladas are cooled to room temperature before storing. Place your white chicken enchiladas in a sealed container or wrapped in aluminum foil in the fridge. They will last up to 3 – 4 days before spoiling.
How to freeze white chicken enchiladas:
Personally, I prefer enchiladas fresh and hot out of the oven. But, if you don’t want to eat immediately, you can freeze them for up to 6 months. Place in any sealed container. This method is convenient if you’re making a lot for parties ahead of time.
How to reheat white chicken enchiladas:
You’ll need to make sure you’ll want to reheat your white chicken enchiladas so they taste and look the way you first cooked them: to-die-for, mouthwatering, delectable!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Place your savory meal into an oven-safe dish and add any additional toppings
- If chilled, bake for 15 – 20 minutes. If thawed from being frozen, bake for 25 – 35 minutes.
- Once completely reheated, make sure the cheese is melted and you hear sizzling to your ears.
- Remove from the oven, and set them to cool down for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.
Can I add vegetables to the white chicken enchiladas recipe?
Whether you’re trying to increase vegetable intake for your family, this is a genius and easy idea. I recommend pre-cooking your vegetables beforehand then adding them to the enchilada filling.
Some vegetable ideas you can add to your white chicken enchiladas recipe:
- Bell peppers
- Riced cauliflower
- Mushrooms
- Spinach
- Onions
If you really want to go full-on and make vegetarian or vegan enchiladas, you absolutely can!
Your plant-based friends will love you. What’s even more amazing are the choices for vegetarian and vegan enchiladas are fully customizable and endless.
For an alternative plant-based enchilada recipe, make sure to:
- Replace chicken broth with vegetable broth
- Add your desired vegetables in replacement of the shredded chicken
- Use avocado oil or vegan butter as a butter alternative
- Substitute your favorite non-dairy cheese
- To replace the sour cream – cashew sour cream, coconut milk cream, or silken tofu-based sour creams still provide the creamy texture!
Regardless of your guests’ dietary needs, anyone can still celebrate a festive Mexican meal. Let us know how your vegetarian/vegan enchiladas turned out in the comments!
BONUS tips on how to make the best white chicken enchiladas recipe
- Prep your chicken and sauce the night before. You’ll save yourself time waiting. Especially when it’s easy to do with your all-in-one rescue Ninja Foodi with the slow cooking setting.
- For convenience, rotisserie chicken works just as well.
- For the final top-off to hit your guests’ taste buds with a bang – serve with Pico de Gallo, lime, guacamole, and cilantro. I have no doubt they’ll be coming back for seconds!
- Overstuffing your white chicken enchiladas will make it harder for you to roll them.
- Use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas for the best experience. Corn tortillas also freeze better compared to flour tortillas to avoid breaking or getting soggy.
Extra tip! If you have any leftover cheese sauce, don’t waste it! Save the sauce for your next breakfast when you have eggs for breakfast. Now that’s a good morning!
Best Side Dishes To Serve With White Chicken Enchiladas
You don’t need too many extra side dishes because chicken enchiladas are super filling! But sometimes we just crave a full meal.
Try adding slow cooker refried beans or topping the white chicken enchiladas with some cowboy caviar and freshly made pico de gallo.
More side dish ideas for your Mexican fiesta at the dinner table:
- Mexican Street Corn Salad – If you’re in a rush, the easy Mexican Street Corn Salad recipe only takes 15 minutes perfect for a potluck. This Mexican Street corn salad combines the tangy flavors of corn, lime, and delicious cheeses – goes great alongside grilled chicken too!
- Southwest Couscous Salad – Prepped with Black Beans, chopped peppers, and crunchy corn. This is a perfect side salad that can be served hot or cold. If you haven’t tried couscous, you must get behind healthy food that is served all over the world in international cultures.
- Cilantro Lime Rice – Easy Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe with fresh cilantro makes the perfect Chipotle Copycat. A side dish or a rice base for Mexican Dishes that are so flavorful
Our heartfelt thanks for visiting our recipe blog! We hope you and your family enjoy this savory recipe. Was there anything you did differently or added? Let us know what you guys think of the white chicken enchiladas recipe in the comments.
We are also open to your changes and feedback for this recipe on this blog.
Much love,
~Trisha & Char
White Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken cooked shredded or chopped up
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8-10 medium sized tortillas
Instructions
- Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350 and spray down a casserole dish with cooking spray. I use a 9 x 13 dish.
- Chop or shred cooked chicken and divide between tortillas. Top chicken with cheese and roll up tortilla.
- Place filled tortillas into pan, seam side down.
- Melt butter in a pan on the stove.
- Once butter is melted, add in 3 tablespoons of flour to make a roux.
- Add in chicken broth and stir to combine.
- Leave sauce on medium-high heat until sauce begins to thicken, which takes just a few minutes. Be careful the pan isn't too high on heat so the bottom doesn't burn.
- Once white sauce is thickened, pull off heat and add 1 cup of sour cream. Whisk together.
- Immediately pour sour cream cheese sauce over prepped tortillas, taking care to fully cover the tortillas. Its fine to use a spatula to spread sauce so it gets on the corners of the tortilla. Any exposed tortilla without sauce or cheese can harden in the oven.
- Once tortillas are fully covered with white sauce, add rest of shredded cheese.
- Place in oven for 20 minutes until heated, bubbly and golden brown.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying of full recipe to any social media is prohibited.
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