This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
Everybody loves enchiladas, but I think when most people think of enchiladas, they picture a red sauce. Those enchiladas are delicious, but I also love an alternate version with a white sauce. These white chicken enchiladas are not part of any kind of restricted diet plan, but they’re worth trying! Instead of a red sauce, you make a homemade white sauce that is flavorful and creamy.
White Chicken Enchiladas
This is a recipe, and parts of it do require measuring. But this recipe is also really flexible! That’s the kind of recipe I need in my life; I don’t know about you.
The first step is to make the sauce for the enchiladas, which you’ll do by making a roux. A roux is a sauce made with three main components: fat, flour, and liquid. The roux for this sauce is made with butter, flour, and chicken broth.
Melt 4 tbsp. butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Then add 4 tbsp. flour, stirring constantly.
Once the flour and butter have mixed together and are starting to brown a bit, it will look like this.
Slowly add the 2 cups of chicken broth, while continuing to stir. Reduce the heat if it starts to bubble too much and continue to cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Once the sauce is thick enough, remove it from the heat and let it cool while you work on the other parts of the dish.
Stir together the taco seasoning with the cooked, shredded chicken (you can make homemade taco seasoning if you want, and also check out how to make Instant Pot shredded chicken).
Put the green chiles and the sour cream in a large bowl, then add the cooled roux (butter/flour/chicken broth mixture). Then add a big dollop of the sauce to the cooked chicken and taco seasoning.
Line up the ingredients for making the enchiladas: Tortillas, chicken, cheese, and sauce.
For each enchilada, put about ½ cup of chicken and ¼ cup of cheese down the center of each tortilla.
Then roll it up and put it in a 9×13 pan. Do this until you have 8 large enchiladas. These enchiladas are so big, 1 enchilada is plenty for a serving! (I ended up making an extra half batch this time, hence the second pan!).
Top the enchiladas with the sauce and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
If you want, you can also sprinkle parsley or cillantro over the top for some color and a bit of added flavor. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
When it’s done, you’ll be able to enjoy all the cheesy goodness!
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked chicken, shredded
- 4 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 1 packet taco seasoning or homemade taco seasoning
- 1 4-oz can of green chiles
- 4 tbsp. Butter
- 4 tbsp. Flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8 large tortillas
Directions
- Melt 4 tbsp. butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Then add 4 tbsp. flour, stirring constantly.
- Once the flour and butter have mixed together and are starting to brown a bit, slowly add the 2 cups of chicken broth, while continuing to stir. Reduce the heat if it starts to bubble too much and continue to cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Once the sauce is thick enough, remove it from the heat and let it cool while you work on the other parts of the dish.
- Stir together the taco seasoning with the cooked, shredded chicken (you can use my homemade taco seasoning recipe and also check out how to make Instant Pot shredded chicken).
- Put the green chiles and the sour cream in a large bowl, then add the cooled roux (butter/flour/chicken broth mixture).
- Then add a big dollop of the sauce to the cooked chicken and taco seasoning.
- Line up the ingredients for making the enchiladas: Tortillas, chicken, cheese, and sauce.
- For each enchilada, put about ½ cup of chicken and ¼ cup of cheese down the center of each tortilla, then roll it up and put it in a 9x13 pan. Do this until you have 8 large enchiladas.
- Top the enchiladas with the sauce and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- If you want, you can also sprinkle parsley or cillantro over the top for some color and a bit of added flavor.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
A few notes on this recipe:
- You could make these into smaller enchiladas and use the same amount of ingredients, just put them in two pans (or however they will fit).
- If you don’t have chicken broth, you can use water instead. Just add about 1 tbsp. of poultry seasoning (or add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc. until you think it tastes good!).
- You could totally add some kind of vegetable into the enchiladas… I’m thinking zucchini or spinach would be delicious!
