I'm committed to making some chicken enchiladas tonight, but have never done it before.

I have chicken breasts already cooked sous vide from a meal earlier this week which was the inspiration for making chicken enchiladas. They aren't seasoned.

I am going to use a tomatillo sauce and have that down, but feel free to leave your own recipe for tomatillo if you really love yours. Mine is a pretty classic tomatillo.

Here's my basic plan, but feel free to suggest changes:

- shred chicken by hand and sprinkle with some S&p and cumin.
- Soften white corn tortillas
- spread a few tablespoons of tomatillo on bottom of greased glass casserole
- roll shredded chicken and a sprinkle of Oaxaca cheese Inside warmed tortilla and place seam side down in dish; repeat until dish is full
- spoon tomatillo over top of enchiladas, and sprinkle generous amount of Oaxaca and a sprinkle of cotija.
- cook in oven at 440-500 until cheese is just starting to show a little color

I'll take any advice I can get, but I have a few specific questions:

- how to soften tortillas, briefly in butter or oil, or even dipping in tomatillo?
- a little cheese inside the enchilada, yes or no?
- since the chcken was cooked unseasoned, I was thinking about softening some diced onions and garlic and throwing chicken in there for additional flavor before stuffing. Thoughts/ideas?
- my kids like the Chuy's chicken enchiladas which has some gravy. I'm afraid that this recipe might be too much tomatillo for them. Any ideas on a complementary chicken enchilada gravy?
- I'm going with what I had on hand for the cheese, but if anyone has another suggestion for cheese I'm game. I do have some mild cheddar I could sprinkle on as well.
- sour cream, crema, or neither on top ?

I'll take any advice I can get, but I have a few specific questions:

- how to soften tortillas, briefly in butter or oil, or even dipping in tomatillo?
A: Soften in oil, only takes a few seconds on each side, once all your tortillas are soft dip them in the sauce before filling them.

- a little cheese inside the enchilada, yes or no?
A: I don't put cheese inside of chicken enchiladas, just on top, there's not a lot of room inside a corn tortilla from the store.

- since the chcken was cooked unseasoned, I was thinking about softening some diced onions and garlic and throwing chicken in there for additional flavor before stuffing. Thoughts/ideas?
A: If the chicken wasn't pre-cooked i would suggest braising it in the enchilada sauce, which would have been the preferred method. Also I would have used thighs instead. Maybe just warm up your chicken in the sauce and shred it liberally coated in the sauce.

- my kids like the Chuy's chicken enchiladas which has some gravy. I'm afraid that this recipe might be too much tomatillo for them. Any ideas on a complementary chicken enchilada gravy?
A: I'm not sure what Chuy's gravy is like, but this is a standard Tex-Mex gravy that works with basically anything.
https://www.homesicktexan.com/2007/01/essence-of-tex-mex.html

- I'm going with what I had on hand for the cheese, but if anyone has another suggestion for cheese I'm game. I do have some mild cheddar I could sprinkle on as well.
A: I normally do a mix of monterrey jack and cheddar

- sour cream, crema, or neither on top ?
A: I stick with cheese, but do whatever you feel like.


If you were starting from scratch these are a big hit in our household for the next time around:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pressure-cooker-fast-and-easy-chicken-enchiladas-food-lab-recipe.html

Ironically Binging with Babish did an episode on chicken enchiladas yesterday, you can watch step by step if you've never done it before.
https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/enchiladas-*****ts-creek





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Definitely mix in some of the sauce with the chicken, and warm it up. If you put the chicken in the tortilla dry, you will have dry chicken.

Chicken enchiladas with mucho mas Monterey Jack and sour cream sauce..

Thanks to everyone for the tips on this.

Enchiladas turned out great. I have two big fans of Chuy's chicken enchiladas in the family, and they both loved these and actually thought they were a little better. My one son who's not even a big chicken enchilada fan had 4, which was probably the biggest compliment.

I cut and then shredded the chicken breasts by hand, and sauted some garlic and then added the shredded chicken to the pan to warm it along with enough tomatillo to provide some moisture and flavor to the chicken. The chicken was already fairly moist because it was sous vide, but the sauce added the perfect amount of additional moisture as well as some good flavor.

I added a few tablespoons of tomatillo sauce to the bottom of the casserole dish before placing the enchiladas.

I did sprinkle a little Oaxaca cheese inside with the chicken when rolling the enchiladas.

I separated some of the tomatillo sauce and melted in some velveeta to create something similar to Chuy's boom boom sauce. Mine was a little more tomatillo-ish, but was a nice addition.

Before baking I spooned enough straight tomatillo sauce to wet the tops and sides of the enchiladas, and then I generously drizzled the "boom boom" sauce on top, and then sprinkled a moderate amount of Oaxaca on top before baking until the cheese just started to darken in a couple spots.

Served with charro beans and some storebought Mexican rice (HEB's mi tienda pre-cooked rice which was just supposed to be heated in microwave- it was horrible and went straight into trash). Enchiladas turned out great, and will definitely be a regular part of the rotation from now on.

If you like sour cream sauce here's my stupid simple really good recipe.

1 cup heavy cream
1 ounce butter
2 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream (more or less to taste /consistency desired). I err on the side of more.
Cumin, salt, and pepper to taste.
Optional: paprika, chili powder, diced green chilis.

Heat on medium first 3 ingredients plus a pinch of s&p until it forms a film and is about to boil. Stir frequently.

Lower heat to low and add sour cream and stir.
Add a few shakes of cumin.
S&p to taste.

DTP02 said:

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Served with charro beans and some storebought Mexican rice (HEB's mi tienda pre-cooked rice which was just supposed to be heated i microwaveit was horrible and went straight into trash).

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For quick and easy in the future, you might get some Bolner's Fiesta Brand Spanish Rice Seasoning. Just follow the directions on the bottle. They carry it at a lot of stores.