With a variety of ways to compose the dish and a tasty filling, you can be sure that there is a style of enchiladas for everyone in your family, even for those who can't have cheese or corn tortillas!
What you'll need to make it:
Boiled Chicken
Whole Chicken- Make sure to take out insides of the chicken (heart, liver, lungs and sometimes the neck) if you leave these in when boiling your chicken, it will give it a metallic taste to the meat.
Bay Leaves
Salt
Oregano
Pepper
Whole head of garlic- yes it sounds like a lot, but it's flavoring all of the meat and is only used when boiling the chicken.
Rest of the filling ingredients:
Shredded Chicken- From the whole chicken you boiled.
1 Large White Onion: No, you can't use a sweet or brown onion, the flavors won't turn out correct.
Salt
Pepper
Granulated Garlic- We prefer this to powder, as the powder we find tends to clump.
Granulated Garlic- Same reasoning as above.
Green Olives- These are optional, as everyone doesn't like Olives. They lend a brininess to the dish, when chopped finely most won't realize they are in the recipe.
Green Chilis- We like to use New Mexico green chilis when available, but you can use Anaheim Chilis instead or canned chilis for convenience.
1 can of Black Beans- This is optional as well, but I urge you to try it with them in the recipe.
Fresh Cilantro- For those who are opposed to cilantro, you can omit this.
Equipment:
Large Stock Pot- With enough space to where the chicken isn't pressed up against the sides and can have an inch of water above the chicken. The water needs to be able to flow around the chicken.
Tongs- I suggest 2 pairs of tongs to lift the chicken out of the pot when done, or a pair of tongs and a large metal spoon for lifting it out of the pot.
Cutting Board
Kitchen Knife- Either a Chef knife or Utility Knife for chopping is fine. I prefer the Santoku Knife as it's a great "all-around" kitchen knife.
Measuring Spoons
Can Opener- If adding in the black beans or canned chilis.
Oven Safe Baking Dish- I know it seems silly to specify that it needs to be oven safe, but a lot of the cute baking dishes out there surprisingly aren't oven safe, or have a low oven safe temperature to bake in. Make sure your dish can go up to at least 350 degrees in the oven.
Sauce pot- This will be for the enchilada sauce.
Grater- If you're lucky enough to be able to have cheese (sadly, I am not).
Large Bowl- This needs to be large enough to have all your filling contents into it, including the shredded chicken from the boiled chicken you made. Make sure it's large enough to be able to mix up the filling properly.
Shallow Container for sauce- This will be used to dip the corn tortillas into the enchilada sauce before rolling them.
Small Frying pan- To lightly fry the corn tortillas.
Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas 3-ways
Ingredients for Boiled Chicken:
1 Whole Chicken
2 Bay leaves
2 tbsp. Salt
2 tsp. Oregano
2 tsp. Pepper
1 Whole head of garlic- cut the top off of it.
water- Enough to cover the chicken by about an inch.
Ingredients for the rest of the dish:
1 White Onion- Chopped finely.
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tbsp. Granulated Garlic
1 1/2 tsp. Granulated Onion
3 tbsp Green Olives- Chopped finely.
1 lg. Green Chili- Chopped finely, you can also use a small can of chopped green chilis too, just drain them.
1 can of Black Beans- Drained and rinsed.
2 tbsp. Chopped Cilantro- Optional
Corn Tortillas- Or in my case, Casava Flour Tortillas.
Your favorite Red Enchilada Sauce- You can use Green Sauce if you prefer.
Canola Oil- For lightly frying the corn tortillas.
Optional
2 lb. Block of Colby Jack Cheese- If you're lucky enough to be able to have dairy. Grate it.
"Accidently" Vegan Cheese Sauce- For those who can't have dairy.
Directions:
Add your whole chicken to the large stock pot along with the bay leaves, 2 tbsp salt, oregano, 2 tsp pepper, and head of garlic with the top cut off. Slowly pour water into the pot while it's on the stove top (I usually use a pitcher for this, that I way I don't have to lift a heavy pot to the stove).
Once the first pitcher of water is in the pot, turn the burner on to a low/medium setting (on my stove that would be a 4 setting). Continue adding water (Careful not to splash) until there is about an inch of water above the chicken.
The water should resemble a simmer more than a boil, this will help ensure that you won't over cook the chicken.
Once the internal temperature reads 160 degrees, you can take the chicken out of the pot and let rest on a baking sheet. While it's resting the temp will still rise up to the safe temp of 165 for chicken.
While the chicken is cooking, I do the prep work for the rest of the filing.
Finely chop the onion, olives, green chili (if using fresh), and the cilantro. Put these ingredients into a large bowl.
Drain and rinse the black beans, add these to the bowl with the other filling ingredients.
Sprinkle the seasonings over the mixture in the bowl. Stir to combine, set aside.
Once the chicken is cooked and cooled, pull apart the chicken into shreds. Add the shreds to the bowl with the rest of the filling in it. Stir to combine, at this point if you can have cheese you would stir in about 2 cups worth of shredded cheese.
Reserve the rest of the cheese for the top. (if applicable)
Heat a small amount of canola oil in a small frying pan, just enough to lightly fry the tortillas, about 1/4 cup.
Once the oil is hot enough (350 degrees) lightly fry the tortillas, about 5 seconds per side. You want to be able to roll them up without them cracking. Place on a plate with some paper towels to drain the excess oil and to cool.
Warm your Enchilada sauce in the sauce pot. You want it a little warmer than room temp, any hotter and it will be too hot when you roll the enchiladas. Ladle some of the sauce into a shallow dish large enough for the corn tortillas to fit.
Heat oven to 350 degrees with the baking rack in the center of the oven.
Before starting to roll them, make sure you have everything you need in arms reach. The filling mixture, baking dish, cheese for the top (if applicable), dish with the enchilada sauce, and the plate of fried tortillas.
Dip one tortilla at a time in the sauce, then place it in the baking dish, starting at one end of the dish. Spoon in a bit of the filling into the tortilla, about two regular spoonsful should be enough. Roll up the tortilla, making sure to keep the filling inside as you roll. Repeat this step till the row is done, then continue till the baking dish is full.
Cover the top with more sauce, then the rest of the shredded cheese (if applicable).
Bake about 30-40 minutes or until cheese is bubbly on top.
Serve hot.
Variations and Suggested Sides:
If you are unable to have corn tortillas like me, I make my Enchiladas with Casava Flour tortillas. I lightly warm them on one of the stove burners, just to make them more pliable to roll. Then I follow the rest of the steps to finish my variation of enchiladas. I top them with more sauce a bake them in its own separate baking dish. When plated I top it with some of the "Accidently" Vegan Cheese Sauce (See the Sauce tab under the recipe section).
For the 3rd variation (yes, we have to make 3 variations each time), it's the same process as the recipe just with no cheese in it.
We like to serve these with a side of refried beans, and red rice. Additional toppings are chopped green onions, chopped cilantro, sour cream (for the lucky people who can have it), and of course extra enchilada sauce for us saucy people!