Chicken Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce

Hands down my chicken enchiladas are a huge crowd favorite. When I take it to pot lucks, I bring back a clean dish every time!

These enchiladas are filled with flavorful finely shredded chicken and topped with a delicious ranchero sauce + lots of Monterrey jack cheese. The cheese melts to perfection and is the best part. I like to top these with a little bit of crema before serving!

This recipe serves big portions, I think I made about 34 enchiladas with 2 lbs of chicken. It really goes along way! If you want to stuff a little more chicken into each tortilla you can definitely make about 2 dozen with my measurements. I was taking these to a large crowd today so I was trying to make the chicken stretch as much as possible!

If you try out this recipe, it will surely be a crowd favorite for your friends or family too! Hope you enjoy!

 

Ingredients

For the Chicken Filling

- 2 lbs boneless skinless 
  chicken breasts
- 2-3 tomatoes
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 3-5 cups of Water
- 1 1/2 tbs Caldo de tomate
- salt and pepper to taste

For the Ranchero Sauce

- 5 Tomatoes
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 jalapeños
- 35 ounces ounces chicken stock
- 1 1/2 tbs Caldo de tomate
- 4 garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika

For the Enchiladas

- 24-35 corn tortillas
- 30 ounces Monterrey Jack 
  cheese
- cilantro for garnish

Instructions:

In a large pot submerge the chicken breasts in water, add in the chopped tomatoes, bell pepper & seasonings. Bring to a boil and let simmer at a low – medium boil for about an hour and a half- or until the chicken is fall apart tender. Set aside

While the chicken is cooking, to prepare the Ranchero Sauce, bring a large pot with the chicken stock, chopped vegetables & seasonings to a boil. Simmer down to a low to medium boil for about and hour. Continue to salt and pepper to taste, adjust seasonings to preference. I typically play around with the sugar depending on the taste of the tomatoes, if the sauce is a little tangy, I will add a tsp of sugar to counteract the tanginess until it’s leveled to my preference.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take a very large baking dish or 2 medium sized baking dishes, and set aside for assembly.

With a spoon, lather some of the Ranchero Sauce to the bottom of your baking dish. On a microwaveable plate, place ten tortillas and cover with a paper towel, then microwave for 40 seconds. This helps the tortillas become more pliable for rolling. Continue microwaving the rest of the tortillas until you are out of filling. I usually microwave ten at a time until I run out.

To assemle the enchiladas, take one tortilla at a time and coat lightly in the Ranchero Sauce, fill the tortilla with 2-3 tbs of chicken then roll and place the enchiladas seam facing down on the baking sheet. Continue until all the chicken is used. Take the Monterrey jack cheese and cover the entire baking dish liberally. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and bake for 15-20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted throroughly.