White Chicken Enchiladas
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White chicken enchiladas are made with shredded chicken, monterey jack cheese, and a delicious green chile sour cream sauce!
This creamy white chicken enchiladas recipe is so simple to make and always a hit at dinner time. Serve it with other Mexican inspired favorites like Mexican street corn and pineapple margarita!
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White Chicken Enchiladas
White Chicken Enchiladas
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Why you’ll love this chicken enchiladas with white sauce recipe!
📌 Creamy and filling!
📌 A great way to use up leftover chicken.
📌Easy to adjust to your family’s tastes.
White Chicken Enchilada Ingredients
- Chicken – Cooked and shredded. Pictured is white meat (breast), but dark meat also works well in this recipe.
- Tortillas – Traditionally corn tortillas are used in enchiladas, but our family preference is flour tortillas. You can use whichever you like best!
- Onion – Yellow onion, finely diced.
- Oil – Olive oil or mild vegetable oil.
- Seasonings – Cumin, salt, pepper.
- Butter – Salted butter.
- Flour – All purpose flour.
- Broth – Chicken or vegetable broth or stock.
- Green chiles – Canned chopped green chiles.
- Sour cream – Full fat sour cream (alternatively you can substitute plain Greek yogurt).
- Cheese – Monterey Jack cheese, shredded.
How do you make white chicken enchiladas? (step-by-step directions)
⭐ First, sauté onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper in oil until onion is tender. Add shredded chicken and continue cooking until heated through. Remove from heat and fold in shredded cheese.
⭐ Next, in a saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in flour. Slowly add chicken broth and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and green chiles. Season with salt and pepper.
⭐ Then, spread some sour cream sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. Divide the chicken mixture into equal portions and place each portion into the center of a flour tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down into the casserole dish. Pour remaining sour cream sauce over the tortillas followed by remaining cheese.
⭐ Finally bake at until heated through and bubbling around the edges.
Scroll down to the printable recipe card toward the bottom of this article for ingredient measurements and detailed cooking instructions.
Preparation
What is white enchilada sauce made of?
Our cream white enchilada sauce is made of butter, flour, chicken broth, sour cream, and green chiles.
What kind of cheese for creamy white enchiladas?
This recipe calls for shredded monterey jack cheese.
Are corn or flour tortillas better for enchiladas?
Authentic enchiladas use corn tortillas. That said, try it both ways and see which your family prefers. You can always go half and half in the dish if there’s a split vote!
(We’re team flour tortillas at our house.)
Storage and leftovers
How long do white chicken enchiladas last?
The leftovers will keep for 3 – 4 days. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for best results.
Can you freeze creamy chicken enchiladas?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze this dish. My preference is to freeze before baking.
Wrap the dish tightly in foil, then again in plastic wrap. Store in an upright freezer for up to 3 months or a deep (chest) freezer for as long as six months.
Can you cook it from frozen?
To cook the dish from frozen, remove plastic wrap but keep foil on. Bake for forty-five minutes with foil, then remove foil and bake according to recipe directions.
Make sure that your dish is safe to go from freezer to oven before heating this way.
Tips, tricks, and frequently asked questions
✅ Try it with corn and flour tortillas and let the family vote on their favorite version.
✅ Make a double batch and freeze one for an easy dinner later.
✅ Add a few tablespoons of pickled jalapenos to make it spicy!
✅ Try it with leftover shredded beef or pulled pork.
What to eat with white enchiladas (serving suggestions)
Round out the meal by serving this with crema salad and refried beans. For dessert make a batch of our famous lime bars!
More delicious Mexican inspired recipes
- Mexican cornbread casserole
- Roasted salsa recipe
- Taco casserole with ground beef
- Sheet pan fajitas
- See all our easy Mexican recipe ideas!
Other awesome chicken recipes to try
- Chicken alfredo recipe
- Chick fil a nuggets recipe
- Classic chicken pot pie recipe
- Easy chicken parmesan
- See all our chicken dinner ideas!
Tools we love
- Glass casserole dish with lid – I love this dish, it can go from freezer to oven!
- Metal spatula – We like a metal spatula for getting lots of cheesy chicken and peppers.
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How to Make White Chicken Enchiladas
White Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1.5 - 2 pounds chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 8 tortillas flour or corn
- ½ medium yellow onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1 can chopped green chiles 4 ounces
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups shredded monterey jack divided equally in halves
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium sized skillet, then add the onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Sauté until the onion is tender, then add the shredded chicken and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese. Set aside.
- In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Allow to cook about a minute, then slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream and green chiles. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Spread about ½ cup of the sour cream sauce onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
- Divide the chicken mixture into 8 equal portions. Put each portion into the center of a flour tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down into the casserole dish.
- Pour the remaining sour cream sauce evenly over the rolled up tortillas, then sprinkle the remaining cup of monterey jack cheese over the top.
- Bake at 350° F for 20 to 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling around the edges.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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White Chicken Enchiladas
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Love enchiladas? Try our enchilada casserole or classic beef enchiladas next!
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The only thing I did different when making this excellent dish was put a pinch of thyme into the White sauce and a pinch of thyme in the onions & garlic when I sautéed them.
Very delish!!
I have trouble with my corn tortillas tearing when I roll them. Any idea why or what I’m doing wrong?
try warning up the tortillas in the microwave first.
I lightly fry mine in olive oil first.
i layer them out flat on top of half the sauce. layer of chicken n cheese (I added olives also) another layer of shells, later if chicken, cheese, and olives. sauce. sprinkle cilantro.
Very easy and a great basic recipe. I prefer more kick to our food so I added some gachujang paste and some crushed red pepper. Perfect!
we all loved this and super easy to prepare!
Awesome! This is a great recipe.
My picky family loves this meal. I use shredded rotisserie chicken and don’t change anything! It is a go-to when I bring a meal to someone’s home and I’m usually asked for the recipe afterwards 🥰
These were so good!! My husband would have liked them more spicy but I cannot have a lot of spice so he just added some Cholula to his. I served it with some yellow rice on the side. Can’t wait to make it again.
These are the best enchiladas – the sauce is so delicious and creamy. I’ll never make another enchilada recipe.
The first time I made this recipe I followed directions. The sauce was good, but not enough flavor for our family. This time I poached 3 chicken thighs in a mixture of chicken broth and salsa verde. I added chopped scallions to the meat mixture and on the top of the enchiladas. I also used pepper jack cheese. For the cream sauce I added green hatch chili powder.
This bumped the dish up to the heat level we prefer. A tip for keeping the tortillas soft: char them a little on flames, a comal or a cast iron skillet, the spread the inside of the tortilla with the sauce before adding the meat mixture.
First time making white chicken enchiladas and these were absolutely fantastic! I thought they would have lacked flavor as I am not accustomed to enchiladas but man oh man ! Simple , flavorful , creamy and delicious! Def keeping . Thank you so much!!!
This is one of my FAV recipes to make. All I do differently is add some Italian seasoning to the sauce. Also, I cook the sauce on the stove while the tortillas bake in the oven. That way my enchiladas aren’t soggy on the bottom. Thank you for their recipe!!!
We have a local Mexican restaurant we go to, my husband always gets the enchiladas with white sauce. This sauce is exactly the same! Delicious!!!