Cowboy Chicken Enchilada Sauce Recipe
Evagret Homestead
This is what I discovered when I went to college in the small town of Sherman near the Oklahoma border. Green sauce was gone, with sour-cream enchilada sauce to be found in its place. Different, yes, but just as satisfying.
The sour cream enchiladas were stuffed with shredded chicken that had been spiced with generous amounts of salt and black pepper, a simple formula that still yielded plenty of flavor. The sauce itself was a creamy blend of sour cream and chicken broth.
In August, I made two batches of chicken enchiladas for a birthday dinner: one batch had cheddar cheese and a basic red enchilada sauce and the other was a little fancier with a creamy poblano sauce and cheese. The poblano version was a recipe I found by Rick Bayless, famed Chicago chef who owns Frontera a restaurant specializing in Mexican cuisine.
Chicken rolled up in corn tortillas and topped with a creamy poblano-cilantro sauce. The richness of the sauce is balanced by the fresh herbs and squeeze of lime juice just before serving. A store-bought rotisserie chicken makes these easy to make.
Sprinkle half of the Italian Dressing Mix evenly over the chicken. Make note that Italian Dressing Mix and Italian Seasoning are different. In this recipe we use Italian dressing mix. You can buy this at the store on the salad dressing aisle, or you can use my homemade version of Italian Dressing Mix. If you are gluten free I recommend you use the homemade version. It is quick and easy to make and can be kept on hand for up to a year to make this dish again and again!
Cowboy Chicken is a meal in and of itself with the generous amount of toppings that smother the chicken. If you want a quick and easy truly one dish meal, you can have it with this recipe. If you are like me though, you always like to have an extra side or two to keep everyone in the family happy and let each person, customize their meal to a certain extent.
Yes, as long as the chicken is boneless and skinless it should work well in this recipe. The cooking time will likely change based on the thickness and cut of the chicken though. All poultry should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165F to be safe to consume.
Was a really easy recipe and so good! Served over rice today but planning on over lettuce or possibly a baked potato with the leftovers. Only had shredded rotisserie chicken so I heated it up in the pan with some water to moisten it up and added the seasoning. Worked great!
SO good and SO easy! I used chicken thighs because it was what I had on hand. My husband LOVES this recipe, he prefers it over rice but it is hearty enough to stand alone in my opinion. Shared it with my mom and she loves it, too! Thanks Erin!
So good! I only used 2 cups of leftover rotisserie chicken and used 8 oz Colby Jack and 8 oz pepper Jack cheese. I used homemade chicken stock and a tsp. of chicken base. It was delicious. We are not big meat eaters and I thought the recipe had an excessive amount of cheese for our liking. Great recipe, we will make this again!
Oh so good! Had it in mind to make this recipe for a couple of months and it did not disappoint. Used your homemade enchilada sauce. This is definitely a keeper, but then so is everything else I have tried in your site ?
This recipe is the BEST. I use the homemade red sauce. And I always grill the corn. I halve the black beans and double the corn. Sooo yummy. Must brooks for 6 min at end of baking time to make the top delicious.
I made the chicken mixture and now ready to assemble. Hoping it is okay to assemble several hours ahead and refrigerate until ready to bake. I made the homemade sauce but only ended up with under 2 cups. I must have simmered sauce too long. Ran for store bought and mixed it with my homemade. It looks good so far and expecting it to taste as good or better then it looks.
Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts work great here. Just be sure they are an even thickness and use a meat mallet to pound them out evenly if needed. You could also try this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken thighs but you might need to adjust the cook time.
Serving ideas: Serve cowboy chicken with some steamed brown or white rice. Or pair with a piece of cornbread or some biscuits. Add a fresh green salad or a marinated veggie salad. (Also, leftovers, with the chicken chopped up and mixed into the bean mixture, work great for burritos, rice bowls, nachos and more!)
I used good quality ground chicken and it seemed to be made for this recipe. I also added a few tablespoons of taco seasoning mix as I felt the cumin was not enough. Excellent. Thanks for the recipe.
I am excited to give this recipe a try but no matter how many times I scroll through there is no recipe for Chicken Enchiladas! There is a recipe for Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas but not the regular chicken enchiladas.
Done! How easy was that? You can make this cheesy chicken enchilada dip in no time, perfect for any get together. Top with sour cream, more cilantro, and even some avocado/guacamole if desired (hey, why not?), and serve with tortilla chips.
Becky Hardin founded The Cookie Rookie in 2012 and has been creating trusted, easy, and delicious recipes ever since. The Cookie Rookie is known for simple dinner ideas, delicious crockpot recipes, creative chicken meals, desserts anyone can make, and so much more. We love creating recipes that make putting food on the table faster and tastier for busy families. Becky has been featured in The Kitchn, People Magazine, Home and Family, The Today Show, and more.
Store leftover cowboy chicken casserole tightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in a 350F oven covered with aluminum foil for 20-30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.
Becky Hardin founded The Cookie Rookie in 2012 and Easy Chicken Recipes in 2018. She has been creating trusted, easy, and delicious recipes ever since. Becky is known for simple dinner ideas, delicious crockpot recipes, creative chicken meals, and so much more. We love creating recipes that make putting food on the table faster and tastier for busy families. Becky has been featured in The Kitchn, People Magazine, Home and Family, The Today Show, and more.
Inside: This white chicken enchilada recipe tastes like takeout from the local Mexican restaurant, and by making your own homemade white enchilada sauce, the enchiladas are fresh, creamy and delicious.
Start by browning the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. When the beef is about halfway browned, add the onion and cook until the beef is fully browned and the onions are soft. Now reduce the heat and add the garlic, cooking for about 1 minute and stirring constantly. Then add 1 cup of the enchilada sauce, beans, and green chiles. Stir to combine cooking over low heat for a few minutes. Now spread a couple of tablespoons of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish. Layer 1/4 of the tortillas on the bottom, then spread 1/3 of the beef mixture and 1/4 of each cheese. Then repeat these layers two more times. Finally, top with the last layer of flour tortillas, the remaining enchilada sauce, and the remaining cheese.
This turned out delicious! Great for dinner meal prep for the week or even a one-night dinner to feed a crowd. Definitely go with a homemade enchilada sauce if you have time and corn tortillas, such great flavor.
I would use the link attached in the recipe and make home my homemade enchilada sauce. I would also purchase no salt black beans and low salt tortillas. I would guess that the sodium is way overstated on the nutritional facts. The software that is available to us is only so good. I am sure the only way to calculate that one was by using a commercially prepared enchilada sauce which is very high in sodium.
These are great tasting, only thing I didn't like was the soft texture off the tortilla after they were cooked with the sauce. I am of Hispanic descent and traditionally enchiladas are made with corn tortilla, however you must soften them a little bit by placing the corn tortilla in a pan of hot oil on each side so that it is soft enough to roll up. This can be tedious and time consuming. Next time I try this recipe I will definitely try with corn tortillas and some chopped cilantro sprinkled on top. Thanks for the great recipe.
I am not a big fan of enchiladas because I don't care for red sauce and corn tortillas, but everyone else in my house loves them. I made these for dinner last week and they were a HUGE hit with everyone and I even loved them. I will definitely be making these again!
Hubby, oldest son & I love those Stouffer's chicken enchiladas in white sauce you can buy in the frozen food section. Really expensive and not enough to go around. Decided to try your recipe and oh my! These are so good! Better than the Stouffer's. We had them for dinner last night and oldest son asked me to make them again tonight! Only thing different I did was used corn tortillas rather than the flour taco shells. A bit more work as you have to dip the tortillas in the sauce before you put the chicken in and roll it up (messier too!) but they came out really well. I was thinking about adding rice to the bottom of the pan and putting the enchildas on top but honestly it doesn't need it. We will definately be adding this to our dinner rotation! Thanks!
I added chicken rice a roni with a half a onion sauteed in the rice. And instead of using all water I used half green enchilada sauce half water ( for the rice) similar to how I make my own but with the white sauce. they came out amazing. I highly recommend it.
These enchiladas were really good! They were quick and easy to make. The only addition I made was to saute' some frest mushrooms and 1/2 of an onion in a couple of tablespoons of butter. Then I added that to the chicken and cheese and followed the recipe as was written. Oh, and I used the new green oinon flavored Ranch mix. Thanks for a great recipe!
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